The US administration under President Donald Trump has announced a new policy on H1B visas for immigrants. American enterprises keen on hiring Indians to work in the US would have to bear additional expenses to procure H1B visas for their staffers.
As per a policy directive, the additional expense is a fee of $100,000. Previously, the amount as per a Financial Times article, for an H1B visa application was set at $215 for registration. The processing fee for employees with a sponsor was estimated at and $780.
Previously there had been rumors about such an eventuality, however the official news gathered steam on Saturday, a day when Indian markets remain closed. A direct impact on Indian stocks could not be ascertained. However, a rise in H1B visa processing fees is likely to dent Indian businesses, especially Indian Information Technology and others who may have to bear additional expenses on H1B visas.
IT STOCKS AFFECTED?
Indian IT companies such as Cognizant Technologies, Infosys, Tech Mahindra, Tata Consultancy Services are likely to be affected from this decision. There may also be reactions from investors, those who own stocks of these companies on Monday. As regards investments, a lot of IT stocks are likely to be affected from America's latest H1B policy move.
The Nifty IT index reflecting 36,578.25 as of the time of updating this story, has already been trading below its 52 week high of 45995.80 (13th Dec 2024). The lowest was 32740.85 on 11th April 2025. Trump's directives are likely to affect the constituents on the index.
MAKING AMERICA GREAT AGAIN?
Speaking to media reporters after this order was passed, US' Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick defended Trump's proclamation. Lutnick was referring to prospective job-seekers and visa holders and was quoted saying, "either the person should be valuable enough or they should head home."
According to a Pew Research center finding, Indians had the second-highest share of immigrants to the US at 6 percent. Immigrants from Mexico were the highest at 22 percent and China's at 6 percent. As per this study, of the immigrants in US, 3.2 million were born in India (data as of mid-2023).
