New Delhi, Sep 22: The Indian IT and tech industry is spending more than $1 billion on local upskilling and hiring in the US, and the number of local hires has increased tremendously, the industry’s apex body Nasscom said on Monday.

Over the years, Indian and India-centric companies operating in the US have significantly reduced their dependencies on H-1B visas and steadily increased their local hiring.

“Moreover, with the fee being applicable from 2026 onward, gives companies time to further step up skilling programmes in the US and enhance local hiring,” according to Nasscom.

As per available data, H-1B issued to the leading India and India centric companies has decreased from 14,792 in 2015 to 10,162 in 2024.

“H-1B workers for the top 10 Indian and India centric companies are less than 1 per cent of their entire employee base. Given this trajectory, we anticipate only a marginal impact for the sector,” said Nasscom in a statement.

H-1B is high skilled worker mobility and a non-immigrant visa that bridges critical skills gap in the US. Salaries are at par with local hires. Moreover, H-1B workers are a mere decimal point of overall US workforce.

“Nasscom has consistently advocated for predictable and stable skilled talent mobility frameworks, which are critical for sustaining national competitiveness and have long fuelled U.S. innovation and economic growth,” said the industry body.

Skilled talent mobility will be central to enabling businesses to make forward-looking investment decisions, accelerate research, and strengthen nations’ position in the global innovation economy, it added.

On September 20, the White House issued clarifications on the recent proclamation introducing a $100,000 annual fee on H-1B visa applications.

The clarification makes clear that the measure will not affect current visa holders and will apply as a one-time fee only to fresh petitions. This has helped address the immediate ambiguity surrounding eligibility and timelines.

This also alleviates concerns on business continuity and uncertainty for H-1B holders that were outside the US.

(IANS)

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