Amazon, TCS, Microsoft: These Firms May Be Worst Hit By Trump's H1-B Visa Fee Hike

TCS ranks as the second-largest H-1B visa holder with 5,505 approvals, according to USCIS data.

Federal data shows Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) secured the second-highest number of approved H-1B visas in 2025, with over 5,000 approvals, trailing only Amazon.

The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) reports that Amazon employed 10,044 H-1B visa holders as of June 2025. TCS followed with 5,505 approved H-1B visas.

Other major beneficiaries of the H-1B program include Microsoft (5189), Meta (5123), Apple (4202), Google (4181), Deloitte (2353), Infosys (2004), Wipro (1523), and Tech Mahindra Americas (951).

The Trump administration has announced a dramatic increase in H-1B visa fees to USD 100,000 annually, a policy change that could substantially impact Indian IT professionals and companies operating in the US. The administration stated this measure aims to address "systemic abuse" of the visa program.

In July, USCIS announced it had received sufficient petitions to reach both the regular cap of 65,000 H-1B visas and the 20,000 advanced degree exemption (master's cap) for fiscal year 2026.

US President Donald Trump signed a proclamation titled 'Restriction on entry of certain nonimmigrant workers' on Friday, limiting entry to H-1B visa holders whose petitions include a payment of USD 100,000.

The proclamation is set to remain in effect for 12 months from its effective date of September 21, 2025, unless extended.

According to the proclamation, foreign STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) workers in the United States more than doubled between 2000 and 2019, increasing from 1.2 million to almost 2.5 million, while overall STEM employment grew by only 44.5 percent during this period.

In computer and math occupations specifically, the foreign share of the workforce increased from 17.7 percent in 2000 to 26.1 percent in 2019. The proclamation identifies abuse of the H-1B visa system as the primary facilitator of this foreign STEM labor influx.

The document asserts that information technology firms have "prominently manipulated" the H-1B system, causing significant harm to American workers in computer-related fields. IT workers' share in the H-1B program grew from 32 percent in Fiscal Year (FY) 2003 to over 65 percent on average during the past five fiscal years. Many of the most prolific H-1B employers are now IT outsourcing companies.

The proclamation states that employing H-1B-reliant IT outsourcing companies provides significant cost savings for employers, citing a study showing a 36 percent discount for H-1B "entry-level" positions compared to traditional full-time workers. It claims companies close their IT divisions, dismiss American staff, and outsource IT jobs to lower-paid foreign workers to take advantage of artificially reduced labor costs incentivized by the program.

The proclamation references data showing many American tech companies have laid off qualified and skilled American workers while simultaneously hiring thousands of H-1B workers. It cites specific examples, including a software company approved for over 5,000 H-1B workers in FY 2025 while announcing layoffs totaling more than 15,000 employees.

Additionally, the proclamation mentions another IT firm approved for nearly 1,700 H-1B workers in FY 2025 that announced layoffs of 2,400 American workers in Oregon in July. It references a third company that reduced its American workforce by approximately 27,000 since 2022 while being approved for over 25,000 H-1B workers during the same period. A fourth company reportedly eliminated 1,000 jobs in February while receiving approval for over 1,100 H-1B workers for FY 2025.