H-1B Visa fee – boon or bane to the US

Published on October 15, 2025 by Anand Kumar

Introduction

We live in a global world order and while , the introduction of the sudden and exorbitant USD100,000 H-1B Visa fee has had ripple effects globally. Prima facie, it seems to have been introduced to overhaul the entire immigration structure to ensure companies do not misuse the H-1B Visa route to deploy cheap labour in the US economy on the pretext of highly skilled human resources. This may seem reasonable and justified from the policymakers’ point of view, but for corporate entities, this is certainly a steep hill to climb.

In this blog, we discuss some aspects and aftereffects of this new bill including how it can backfire in the long run. Of course, it needs to be legally validated and may be perceived as a deterrent to and skill mobilisation at large.

The devil is in the details

Quantitative data: India is the biggest beneficiary of the H-1B Visa regime, accounting for 73% of approvals, while China stands at a distant second (12% share). These two nations are also the fastest growing economies today, and such a policy may bring uncertainty globally.

Qualitative data: Almost two-thirds of H-1B Visa holders are involved in computer-related jobs. This means most IT and allied activities will be hit, which not only generate employment but also support almost everything that affects the day-to-day lives of people including banks, stock exchanges, asset management, aviation and defence infrastructure.

Plan B: Most employers using H-1B Visa extensively have a delivery/global capability centre operational in India. The fee hike may trigger an unexpected situational irony wherein employers are forced to rapidly increase the headcount in offshore centres, including India, not just because it is economical but also because these centres are home to skilled professionals. The matured delivery centres in India and the Philippines, among others, bear a testimony to this.

China’s moves: While the US is raising entry barriers to skill migration, China is busy making its Z Visa immigration framework easy and fast. This could pave the way for easy migration of skilled resources to China and help its booming economy fire on all cylinders.

Change management: Think tanks either support or oppose this change, which certainly looks like a hurriedly done act. It is all the more debatable because of the short time frame within which the new policy  has been implemented. In today’s world, it would have been prudent to provide companies more time to analyse the policy change and rejig their structure accordingly.

Domino effect: While large corporations with high H-1B Visa numbers are already operating from India, this move may have a domino effect, prompting even medium-sized and small firms to outsource work to third-party vendors operating from offshore locations since it is cost effective and there is no dearth of the requisite skills.

How Acuity Knowledge Partners can help

We reduce clients’ compliance workload while managing staff retention and adhering to best practices. Our dedicated team of above 150 compliance experts support global compliance teams, helping them address challenges in improving the effectiveness of their compliance programmes and manage with limited internal resources while providing high-quality output in less time and at lower costs.

Sources

• US H-1B visa program data and key facts | Pew Research Center

• IT Services Market Report | Industry Analysis, Size & Forecast Overview 2030

---

---