Indian technology companies and thousands of skilled workers around the globe are grappling with the fallout from a sweeping new U.S. immigration policy: a $100,000 fee slapped on every new H-1B visa petition. The move, announced by President Donald Trump on September 19, 2025, has sent ripples through the global tech industry and rattled Indian stock markets, exposing the deep interdependence between America’s technology sector and international talent.
According to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), the new fee is a one-time payment that applies strictly to new H-1B visa petitions filed after 12:01am EDT on September 21, 2025. Existing visa holders, as well as those seeking renewals, are unaffected. The fee also doesn’t apply to those currently holding an H-1B visa and traveling in or out of the United States—a crucial clarification that helped ease some initial panic among foreign workers and their employers.
The H-1B visa, a non-immigrant visa category, allows U.S. companies to employ foreign workers in specialty occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise. It’s a backbone of the American tech sector, with companies relying on it to hire tens of thousands of skilled employees each year, especially from countries like India and China. The visas are valid for three years, with the possibility of a three-year renewal.
“To be clear, the $100,000 is not an annual but a one-time fee that applies only to the petition,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt stated on September 20, 2025, via X (formerly Twitter). She emphasized, “Those who already hold H-1B visas and are currently outside of the country will not be charged $100,000 to re-enter. H-1B visa holders can leave and re-enter the country to the same extent as they normally would; whatever ability they have to do that is not impacted by yesterday’s proclamation.”
USCIS echoed these points in a set of detailed FAQs released late on Sunday, September 21, 2025. The agency clarified, “This Proclamation does not: Apply to any previously issued H-1B visas, or any petitions submitted prior to 12:01am eastern daylight time on September 21, 2025. Does not change any payments or fees required to be submitted in connection with any H-1B renewals. The fee is a one-time fee on submission of a new H-1B petition. Does not prevent any holder of a current H-1B visa from traveling in and out of the United States.”
The timing and scope of the announcement triggered immediate concern, especially in India, where the $283 billion IT sector depends on the U.S. for about 57 percent of its revenue. Last year, 71 percent of approved H-1B visa beneficiaries were Indian nationals, underscoring the policy’s far-reaching implications for the country’s massive pool of tech talent.
Markets wasted no time expressing their anxiety. On Monday, September 22, 2025, the tech sub-index in India dropped 2.6 percent, after an initial near-4 percent plunge following the news. In U.S. trading the previous Friday, shares of Infosys fell 3.4 percent and Wipro 2.1 percent. By Monday, all 10 stocks on the tech sub-index were in the red, led by Persistent Systems, which tumbled 4 percent. Industry giants TCS, Wipro, and Infosys each fell about 2 percent. So far this year, Indian IT stocks have been the worst performers, down 15.6 percent versus a 7.1 percent gain in the benchmark Nifty 50 index, according to Reuters.
For Indian IT companies, the new fee is not just a financial hit but a challenge to a long-standing business model. For decades, these firms have relied on sending skilled workers to the U.S. on H-1B visas, enabling them to serve American clients efficiently and cost-effectively. Now, with the $100,000 hurdle, even a one-time payment, the economics are shifting. As one analyst told Reuters, “Even a one-time $100,000 fee is prohibitive for the sector.”
The initial confusion over the policy’s scope led to a flurry of activity, with some H-1B holders reportedly rushing back to the U.S. out of fear they could be barred from re-entry. However, the White House and USCIS clarifications helped calm nerves, at least for now. Nasscom, India’s influential IT industry body, said the move reduced uncertainty, though it expects the new cost to have at least a marginal impact on the sector. In a statement, Nasscom stressed that H-1B workers make up only “a mere decimal point” of the overall U.S. workforce. “The industry is spending more than $1 billion on local upskilling and hiring in the U.S., and the number of local hires has increased tremendously,” Nasscom added.
Still, the fee is only part of a broader set of reforms on the horizon. The USCIS FAQ outlined that the Department of Labor is planning rulemaking to revise and raise prevailing wage levels for H-1B positions, while the Department of Homeland Security is working on rules to prioritize “high-skilled, high-paid workers” in the H-1B lottery. These changes are designed, according to the administration, to ensure that the program serves the U.S. economy’s needs and does not undercut American workers.
US Customs and Border Protection and the State Department have also issued parallel guidance to their offices, ensuring a coordinated rollout of the new rules. The Department of Homeland Security and Department of State have been authorized to take all necessary actions to implement the proclamation, signaling that the administration is serious about enforcement and further changes.
The debate over H-1B visas is hardly new. Critics in the U.S. have long argued that the program can be abused, allowing companies to replace American workers with lower-paid foreign labor. Supporters, on the other hand, point out that the tech sector faces chronic shortages of highly skilled workers, and that the H-1B program is vital for maintaining America’s global competitiveness in innovation and technology. The latest changes, with their steep price tag, are likely to intensify these debates on Capitol Hill and in boardrooms across Silicon Valley and Bangalore alike.
For now, companies and workers are recalibrating. The new fee, coming into effect with the 2026 visa cycle, gives firms some time to adjust their hiring strategies—perhaps by accelerating local recruitment or investing more in U.S.-based training programs. But the days of easy, affordable access to America’s tech labor market for foreign workers appear numbered.
Whether these measures will ultimately benefit the U.S. economy or simply drive talent elsewhere remains to be seen. What’s clear is that the $100,000 H-1B fee marks a dramatic turning point in the story of global tech migration, with consequences that will play out for years to come.
