H-1B Fee Spike Pushes Fortune 500 Firms to Offshoring India

(UNITED STATES) A sudden increase in the H-1B visa fee to $100,000 per new application in 2025 is pushing many large employers to move jobs overseas rather than bring new foreign workers to the United States. The policy, introduced under President Trump and limited to new H-1B hires, has sparked quick reactions from Fortune 500 companies and high-growth firms that rely on specialized talent. Executives and immigration counsel say the math no longer works for many roles. As one attorney told Reuters, clients are saying they “just simply cannot continue” under the new cost structure.

The shift is already visible in staffing plans and boardroom debates. Companies that once built teams in the United States are now weighing whether to expand in India or other hubs where skilled workers are abundant and local costs are far lower. The choice is not only about dollars. It’s about risk and speed. For roles that can be done from anywhere, firms are accelerating offshoring, setting up or enlarging operations abroad instead of absorbing the new H-1B charge. According to analysis by VisaVerge.com, the fee hike has become a tipping point that makes offshore builds more attractive than U.S.-based expansion for many corporate programs and product teams.

The fee applies only to new H-1B hires, not current visa holders, but that distinction matters less to leaders planning future growth. A Fortune 500 finance chief deciding whether to add 200 engineers will now see an added cost in the tens of millions of dollars if those hires require H-1B visas. That pushes projects toward India, where firms can tap strong local talent and scale quickly. Accenture’s plan for a new campus in Andhra Pradesh—with around 12,000 jobs—is one example of how global companies are reacting by growing headcount overseas. Smaller firms are moving too. Otter, the AI transcription startup, acknowledged that some roles may need to be offshored to “walk around this H-1B problem.”

Corporate response and early moves

Several sectors feel the pressure at once. Technology, finance operations, customer support, and research roles are among the first to move because the work can be done effectively from offshore centers.

• India has a deep bench across software engineering, data, cybersecurity, cloud, and business process functions.
• Firms report they can save 60–70% on total costs when they place teams in Indian tech hubs such as Bangalore, Hyderabad, Pune, and Noida.
• Those locations also offer round-the-clock coverage thanks to time zone spread and strong links to top engineering institutes.

This isn’t only about traditional outsourcing. Many companies are building or expanding wholly owned Global Capability Centers (GCCs) in India.

• As of 2025, India hosts more than 1,800 GCCs that employ roughly 1.9 million people.
• Industry projections estimate 2.8 million jobs and $110 billion in revenues by 2030.

A GCC lets a company hire, train, and retain its own staff rather than rely strictly on vendors. In practice, that means Fortune 500 firms can move entire product lines, back-office functions, and even advanced R&D to India while keeping tighter control over quality and culture.

Startups and mid-sized companies are making similar calculations. For young firms that depend on global talent, the new H-1B visa fee poses a direct hit to runway and hiring plans.

• A founder deciding between a small U.S. team with several H-1B hires and a larger India-based team may now choose the latter to avoid burning through cash.
• Legal experts say the fee increase is already causing founders to rethink where they incorporate, where they hire, and where they seek investment.

The move could also affect university-to-work pipelines. International graduates with U.S. degrees often look to the H-1B as the bridge to long-term employment. Higher entry costs for employers may reduce offers to those graduates, even when the candidates trained at top American schools. That has knock-on effects for labs, campus startups, and local ecosystems built around global talent.

Key takeaway: The new fee shifts hiring economics for both large and small employers, reshaping where companies choose to hire, incorporate, and scale.

Policy context and legal questions

Critics say the fee threatens U.S. innovation. A 2022 report from the National Foundation for American Policy found that more than half of U.S. “unicorn” startups had at least one immigrant founder. If higher costs push those founders to start companies elsewhere, the United States could lose both ideas and jobs.

• Reed Hastings, cofounder of Netflix, warned that the $100,000 charge could destroy the H-1B “lottery” system as we know it and limit allocations to only the highest-paid roles.
• That could shrink the pool of early-career and mid-level hires who often form the backbone of growing teams.

Some attorneys expect court challenges, arguing the administration may have gone beyond its authority by setting a fee of this size without new legislation. Business groups are weighing legal strategies while also hedging operational risk by accelerating offshore plans.

The policy debate is not happening in a vacuum. A proposed HIRE Act would add a 25% tax on payments to foreign companies for services used in the United States—a measure seen as targeting Indian software exports. Many analysts doubt the bill will pass in its current form due to pushback from U.S. corporations that depend on global services. But the bill itself signals that Washington is looking closely at how and where U.S. firms import talent and services.

Employers still hiring in the United States must follow standard H-1B steps, including:

1. Filing Form I-129, Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker.
2. If needed, paying for faster processing through Form I-907, Request for Premium Processing Service.

Official details on the H-1B category and filing rules are available from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services at the agency’s H-1B page: USCIS H-1B Specialty Occupations. Employers can find the forms here: Form I-129 and Form I-907.

While these filings remain standard, the new H-1B visa fee for new hires changes the cost equation in ways many firms say they cannot carry.

Implications for India and global hiring

For India, the trend offers a long-term opening: more high-skilled jobs, larger campuses, and deeper ties to global tech.

• India’s IT and business process sector reported about $225 billion in revenue in 2024.
• Employment reached roughly 5.8 million workers in FY25.

As U.S. companies rethink team structure, India stands out for scale, talent depth, and a policy environment that supports IT parks, specialized zones, and data protection rules that help global firms manage compliance.

At the same time, competition for top Indian talent is heating up. Companies are investing more in training, career growth, and programs that give staff global exposure.

Common corporate responses include:

• Hybrid hiring models mixing direct employment, vendor partnerships, and Employer of Record services.
• Onshoring key leadership roles to retain strategic control while offshoring execution to larger teams in India.
• Investing in training and career pathways to retain talent amidst growing demand.

The end result is a more distributed model where high-value decisions might still sit in U.S. headquarters, but much of the building, testing, and support happens offshore.

Effects inside the United States

The effects inside the United States could be uneven.

• Cities hosting large tech campuses or R&D centers may see slower headcount growth if employers route new roles abroad.
• Startups that once hired international graduates into early roles may scale teams in India first and only add U.S. hires later.
• Talent-intensive fields like AI, cybersecurity, and cloud architecture will likely keep leadership roles onshore, but supporting layers—data labeling, QA, customer operations, and mid-level engineering—could grow faster overseas.

That shift affects local tax bases, housing markets, and university partnerships that depend on steady employer demand.

For workers who planned to move to the United States on an H-1B, the message is mixed.

• Some highly paid, niche roles will still justify the fee, especially when firms must place experts close to customers or in regulated settings.
• Many candidates will now receive offers for roles based in India or other hubs instead.
• Families weighing a move must consider whether remote or hybrid arrangements meet their career and personal goals.

Employers are reworking mobility programs to support longer-term assignments abroad and shorter trips to the United States for key meetings.

Business leaders say they will keep watching how the fee is implemented over time. If legal challenges gain traction, or if Congress steps in, hiring plans could shift again. For now, though, the trendline points away from sponsoring broad cohorts of new H-1B workers and toward larger offshore teams. That is especially true among Fortune 500 companies with complex cost controls and multi-year product roadmaps.

The United States has long attracted global talent with high wages, deep capital markets, and strong universities. Those advantages remain. But a $100,000 H-1B visa fee for new hires is a powerful nudge to build elsewhere, particularly when companies can maintain quality using mature offshore models. Whether this becomes a lasting realignment or a shorter phase depends on courts, Congress, and corporate patience with higher costs at home.