- Piyush Goyal said tighter H-1B access could benefit India by retaining skilled workers and attracting technology work.
- USCIS approved 406,348 H-1B petitions in fiscal year 2025; beneficiaries born in India received 283,772 approvals.
- The separate PERM suspension affects green-card applications, while existing H-1B visas remain unaffected automatically.
India’s Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal argued on October 9, 2026, that tighter access to the H-1B visa could help India retain skilled workers and attract more technology work. He made the case at the ET Startup Awards 2026 in Bengaluru.
“Every H-1B visa not granted is a big win for India,” Goyal said. He tied the prospect to work shifting toward Indian offices and companies building their local operations.
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That is his forecast, not a measure of work already transferred. Goyal said the shift could also give Indian startups, especially deep-technology businesses, more momentum.
The workforce link is substantial. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services approved 406,348 H-1B petitions in FY 2025, including 283,772 for beneficiaries born in India, approximately 70% of the total.
A separate U.S. action had just targeted a green-card process used by major Indian technology companies. The processes are related politically, but the suspension does not itself cancel existing H-1B visas.
Indian offices are central to Goyal’s case
Goyal said companies increasingly recognize the value of establishing global capability centers in India. He named Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune, Gurugram, Noida, and Mumbai as destinations for more work.
“Bulk of the work is now coming to Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune, Gurugram, Noida, Mumbai,” Goyal said. He connected the move partly to the post-pandemic work model.
Many assignments, he said, no longer require an employee to be physically present in the United States. Companies can perform them from India or other offshore locations. That is the business change he expects restrictions to accelerate.
Goyal also argued that keeping more Indian-origin entrepreneurs, researchers, and engineers in India could strengthen startups. He pointed to talent that left over the past three decades.
“Some of our best talent in the past three decades has gone to the US. When I see Indian-origin billionaires in the US, imagine if they would’ve done their business and research in India,” he said.
His investment figures were also presented as evidence of potential expansion. Goyal said he held 19 one-on-one meetings during a recent U.S. trip with business leaders representing companies worth $50 billion to $60 billion.
He said those companies described plans to expand in India. One of the largest U.S. investors was considering investing $100 billion to $150 billion in the country, he said.
Manufacturers and insurers were among the businesses seeking a stronger presence, including through centers in Bengaluru, Hyderabad, and Pune. The investment plans and the predicted shift in work are Goyal’s account of company interest, not confirmed outcomes.
PERM restrictions do not cancel current H-1B status
A U.S. administration decision on October 8, 2026, suspended new and pending applications involving Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys, Wipro, and HCL Technologies under the Permanent Labor Certification program, known as PERM.
PERM is an employer labor-certification stage in the employment-based green-card process. The action restricts that route toward permanent residence for affected cases. It does not automatically revoke an existing H-1B visa.
The separate H-1B measures include a $100,000 payment requirement for certain new workers hired from abroad. A federal judge in Massachusetts vacated the policy implementing that requirement on June 8, 2026.
The administration appealed. On July 24, 2026, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit denied its request to stay the judgment, leaving collection blocked while litigation continues.
The requirement was described as applying mainly to certain H-1B workers outside the United States. Current H-1B holders and foreign graduates already in the country were described as exempt.
President Donald J. Trump also signed an executive order on September 18, 2026, directing the Departments of State, Labor, and Homeland Security to consider recent or planned layoffs of similarly situated U.S. workers when reviewing H-1B applications.
On the same date, Trump extended for 12 months a separate restriction on certain H-1B workers outside the United States whose petitions lack the payment. That extension runs through September 21, 2027.
FY 2027 selection gives higher wages more entries
The Department of Homeland Security put a weighted selection system into effect on February 27, 2026, for the FY 2027 cap season. Positions at higher wage levels receive more entries in the selection pool.
| Wage level | Selection entries |
|---|---|
| Level I | 1 |
| Level II | 2 |
| Level III | 3 |
| Level IV | 4 |
Wage level, job location, occupation, and Department of Labor wage data can affect a registration’s weighting. The rule therefore changes the selection odds attached to wage levels, rather than changing the separate PERM process.
Goyal says visa mobility sits outside trade talks
Goyal said he had not raised H-1B visas or green cards with U.S. officials during his seven-and-a-half years as Commerce Minister. He said immigration is not directly part of a free-trade agreement.
“Immigration isn’t an FTA issue or directly related to trade,” Goyal said. He added that moving people to deliver services still has economic relevance.
On the India-U.S. negotiations, Goyal said, “Going by what the US itself has said, it has nothing more to add or offer, and the fine print is being worked out.” He identified the unresolved question as how the United States would provide India with the “comparative advantage” agreed upon in February.
Goyal said finishing the remaining work required legal expertise, not simply artificial-intelligence tools. His assessment differs from other public descriptions of the talks.
United States Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said a trade deal with India was not imminent. Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman described the talks as having reached a plateau, a more cautious assessment than Goyal’s account of the fine print being finalized.
Separately, Vice President J.D. Vance warned companies against using H-1B visas to replace American workers. The Department of Labor expanded investigations into alleged H-1B fraud, sham jobs, and worker exploitation.
Goyal’s comments put the potential business shift alongside the U.S. policy calendar. The weighted selection system now applies to the FY 2027 cap season, while the separate restriction involving certain overseas workers is scheduled to continue through September 21, 2027.
