H-1B visa approvals for indian IT firms fall by half since 2015

The top seven Indian-based IT companies saw a combined 7,299 H-1B visa petitions for new employment approved in fiscal year 2024, less than half the 14,792 approvals they received in FY2015, according to an analysis of official US data by the National Foundation for American Policy (NFAP) – a US-based non-partisan think-tank.

The 7,299 approvals accounted for 5.2% of the total approvals for FY24 and 0.004% of the US civilian workforce. Overall, H-1B denial rates remained low in FY24, at 2.5%, down marginally from 3.5% in FY23, the analysis found.

However, denial rates could increase if the incoming Trump Administration returns to the restrictive policies that employers saw in his first term, NFAP said. In FY24, Amazon had the most approved H-1B petitions for initial employment, at 3,871, lower than its totals of 4,052 in FY 2023 and 6,396 in FY 2022. This was followed by Cognizant (2,837), Infosys (2,504), TCS (1,452), IBM (1,348), Microsoft (1,264), HCL America (1,248), Google (1,058), Capgemini (1,041) and Meta Platforms (920).

Notably, Elon Musk-owned electric vehicle maker Tesla showed a significant increase in approvals in FY24, rising to 16th position after not featuring among the top 25 employers in previous years. It saw 742 – more than double its total of 328 in FY 2023 and 337 in FY 2022 “Given Tesla’s needs in manufacturing, research and development and other areas, the company requested H-1B visa holders to fill many positions for engineering, software, supply management and other specialties,” the report said.

The US has an annual limit of 65,000 H-1B visas, with an additional 20,000 for foreign nationals with master’s or higher degrees from US universities. About half the approved new H-1B petitions in FY 2024 (49.1%) were in professional, scientific and technical services, followed by educational services (11.9%), manufacturing (9.3%), and health care and social assistance (6.5%). —