H-1B visa applications may have declined by as much as 50% due to new policies, including a substantial $100,000 fee for certain petitions and a shift to a wage-based selection process. Experts predict registrations could fall from 400,000 in fiscal 2025 to between 250,000 and 300,000 in FY26.
The changes disproportionately impact entry-level positions and recent international student graduates, whose lower wage levels reduce their selection odds. Major IT outsourcing firms and companies relying on high-volume, entry-level filings are feeling the sharpest economic impact.
Consequently, employers, including big tech companies, are expected to hire more selectively, focusing on senior and specialized roles that command higher wages.
Main Topics: Decline in H-1B visa applications; new US policy changes (fee and wage-based selection); impact on students and entry-level workers; shift in employer hiring strategies.
The number of applications for the H-1B US visa for skilled non-immigrant workers may have declined as much as 50%, following radical policy changes by the Trump administration, according to immigration experts.
"We are down about 50% filings compared to the previous year partly due to the $100,000 fee for H-1B petitions and partly due to wage-based selection," said Rajiv Khanna, managing director at Immigration.com.
VisaNation Law Group managing attorney Shilpa Malik expects registrations to fall from 400,000 in fiscal 2025 to between 250,000 and 300,000 in FY26.
Every year, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) opens up registrations for H-1B visas. Registrations for this year began on March 4 and will end March 19. Thousands of petitions are usually filed, of which 85,000 are selected through random lottery annually. Indians have been one of the biggest beneficiaries of the visa programme. They accounted for about 71% of all approved visas in FY24.
All this is changing under the current Trump administration, which introduced a $100,000 fee for fresh registration and wage-based selection of petitions that will affect students the hardest. The USCIS had earlier clarified that the $100,000 does not apply if the petitioner is on an F-1 (student) visa and changing the status to H-1B through employment. But immigration attorneys are still seeing lower demand for such petitions.
Boundless Immigration cofounder & CEO Xiao Wang said he sees potentially fewer registrations for change of status, primarily due to the lower odds for entry-level roles due to the weighted lottery. He pointed out that most companies will wait to see the real impact and shift depending on the success rates of recent international student graduates at lower-wage levels.
Khanna of Immigration.com said people graduating have a lower chance of getting their H-1B petition selected as their wage levels would be at level 1 or lower.
VisaNation's Malik said: "The sharpest impact is being felt by IT outsourcing firms and employers that historically relied on high-volume, entry-level filings. That model is becoming economically unsustainable under the new framework."
According to data from the USCIS H-1B Employer Hub, Tata Consultancy Services and Infosys were among the top H-1B employers, ranking second and fourth with 1,518 and 1,139 approved petitions, respectively, as of December 31, 2025.
Even those hiring locally are being selective, immigration experts said. Malik said big tech companies will hire more selectively, focusing on senior and specialised roles that command higher wage levels.
"We are down about 50% filings compared to the previous year partly due to the $100,000 fee for H-1B petitions and partly due to wage-based selection," said Rajiv Khanna, managing director at Immigration.com.
VisaNation Law Group managing attorney Shilpa Malik expects registrations to fall from 400,000 in fiscal 2025 to between 250,000 and 300,000 in FY26.
Every year, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) opens up registrations for H-1B visas. Registrations for this year began on March 4 and will end March 19. Thousands of petitions are usually filed, of which 85,000 are selected through random lottery annually. Indians have been one of the biggest beneficiaries of the visa programme. They accounted for about 71% of all approved visas in FY24.
All this is changing under the current Trump administration, which introduced a $100,000 fee for fresh registration and wage-based selection of petitions that will affect students the hardest. The USCIS had earlier clarified that the $100,000 does not apply if the petitioner is on an F-1 (student) visa and changing the status to H-1B through employment. But immigration attorneys are still seeing lower demand for such petitions.
Boundless Immigration cofounder & CEO Xiao Wang said he sees potentially fewer registrations for change of status, primarily due to the lower odds for entry-level roles due to the weighted lottery. He pointed out that most companies will wait to see the real impact and shift depending on the success rates of recent international student graduates at lower-wage levels.
Khanna of Immigration.com said people graduating have a lower chance of getting their H-1B petition selected as their wage levels would be at level 1 or lower.
VisaNation's Malik said: "The sharpest impact is being felt by IT outsourcing firms and employers that historically relied on high-volume, entry-level filings. That model is becoming economically unsustainable under the new framework."
According to data from the USCIS H-1B Employer Hub, Tata Consultancy Services and Infosys were among the top H-1B employers, ranking second and fourth with 1,518 and 1,139 approved petitions, respectively, as of December 31, 2025.
Even those hiring locally are being selective, immigration experts said. Malik said big tech companies will hire more selectively, focusing on senior and specialised roles that command higher wage levels.
Meridiano
