Major tech company to cut H-1B visas amid Trump pressure, fee

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(The Center Square) – Tata Consultancy Services, a large employer of H-1B visa holders in the United States, will stop using the program due to new fees from the Trump administration.

Last month, President Donald Trump signed a proclamation imposing a one-time $100,000 fee for foreign workers coming to the country on H-1B visas. He cited wage suppression and a lack of jobs for American workers in his proclamation.

H-1B visas are typically issued for high-skilled foreign workers in science, technology and engineering fields. Tata Consultancy Services is a software company based in Mumbai, India, with offices in Maryland.

Tata Consultancy Services' CEO K. Krithivasan said the company has roughly 11,000 of its total 32,000 workers on H-1B visas.

“We have been progressively increasing local workforce participation, which will continue because the way of work has changed with new kinds of projects and AI coming into play,” Krithivasan said.

In addition to pressures from the Trump administration, Sens. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Dick Durbin, D-Ill., sent a letter to Krithivasan last month accusing TCS of firing American workers in place of H-1B workers.

Durbin and Grassley’s letter said TCS has received approval for 5,505 H-1B visas in fiscal year 2025, making it the second-largest employer of H-1B workers in the country.

“With all of the homegrown American talent relegated to the sidelines, we find it hard to believe that TCS cannot find American tech workers to fill these positions,” Grassley and Durbin wrote in a letter.

Grassley and Durbin also pointed out that TCS is currently under investigation by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission over allegations it fired older American workers in favor of South Asian workers. TCS denied it discriminated against American workers.

The two senators sent similar letters to Meta, Google, Apple, Amazon and Microsoft.

However, the software company’s move to pause from hiring workers on H-1B visas appears to be in contrast with other industry leaders. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang announced last week that the artificial intelligence company would continue to hire H-1B workers.

Krithivasan’s announcement represents a stark compliance with the Trump administration’s goal of reducing the number of H-1B workers in the United States. It is unclear if this move will affect company operations moving forward.

"We plan to hire more locally," Krithivasan said. "This is part of a consistent reduction in dependency on visa-based talent over time."