Why TCS and Infosys H-1B Filings Dropped in 2025-2026

For many years, Indian IT services companies operated a high-volume model of hiring workers, often on H-1B visas, and placing them at client companies to perform contracted technology work, frequently rotating placements across multiple clients over the life of a single visa. This model depended on filing large numbers of H-1B petitions annually relative to the actual headcount of permanent, US-based roles at the companies themselves. In recent years, both market conditions and immigration policy have pushed the industry away from this model, with major clients increasingly preferring to hire technology talent directly rather than through third-party staffing arrangements, and Indian IT companies themselves shifting strategy toward building larger US-based direct workforces rather than relying primarily on visa-dependent consultant placements.

A significant driver of the recent decline has been a proclamation imposing a substantial new fee, cited at $100,000, that applies to certain H-1B petitions, hitting the body-shop consulting and staffing model especially hard because that model's economics depended on filing large volumes of petitions at relatively modest margins per placement. Adding a fee of this magnitude to each affected petition fundamentally breaks the economics of high-volume, lower-wage-level staffing placements in a way it does not for direct employers filing smaller numbers of petitions for higher-wage, specialized roles. This fee has accelerated a shift that was already underway due to USCIS scrutiny trends, pushing outsourcing companies to file dramatically fewer H-1B petitions and instead lean more heavily on other visa categories, offshore delivery models, or direct US hiring of already-authorized workers.

For Indian tech workers who previously viewed TCS, Infosys, HCL, and similar companies as a relatively accessible entry point into US-based work authorization, this shift meaningfully narrows that specific pathway, since these companies are filing far fewer new H-1B petitions than in prior years. This does not mean opportunity has disappeared, but it does mean the center of gravity has moved toward direct employers, including large US technology companies and the rapidly growing AI sector, which are increasingly the more realistic sponsorship targets for skilled candidates rather than the traditional outsourcing firms. Workers already inside these companies on H-1B status generally remain unaffected in terms of their existing petitions, but should recognize that renewal, transfer, and future sponsorship opportunities within the same company model may be more constrained than in the past.

Some of these companies continue to sponsor selectively for specialized, higher-wage-level roles that are less exposed to the new fee structure and lower RFE risk profile, meaning candidates targeting genuinely specialized positions (rather than general staffing placements) may still find sponsorship opportunities, just at meaningfully lower volume than before. Workers already employed by these companies domestically in India sometimes pursue internal transfer opportunities to US-based roles that are structured more like direct employment than traditional consulting placement, which can carry a stronger specialty occupation and employer-employee relationship profile. For most candidates, though, the practical alternative is broadening the search toward direct employers and the expanding AI sector, using LCA and sponsorship database research to identify companies actively growing their H-1B filing volume rather than assuming traditional outsourcing employers remain a reliable primary path.