H-1B visa approvals face massive drop — Top 7 Indian companies got only 4,573 nods in FY25; why it matters

The top seven Indian-based companies have seen a massive 70% drop in the number of H-1B visa approvals for initial employment in FY25 as compared to FY15, according to a National Foundation for American Policy (NFAP) analysis of United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) data.

The analysis reveals that the top seven Indian-based companies had only 4,573 H-1B visa petitions approved for initial employment in FY25. This translates to a 70% drop from FY 2015 and 37% fewer than in FY 2024.

“H-1B petitions for initial employment are primarily for new employment, which, for companies, are cases counted against the H-1B annual limit of 65,000, with an exemption of 20,000 for individuals with master’s degrees or higher from a US university,” the analysis said.

Only three Indian-based companies in FY25 were among the top 25 employers with approved H-1B visa petitions for initial employment, it found.

How do Indian companies compare to Amazon, Google and Meta?

The analysis found that Indian companies fared much better than the India-based companies in terms of H-1B visa approvals.

Amazon got the most H-1B visa approvals for initial employment in FY25 at 4,644.

Meta Platforms came second, with 1,555 H-1B visa approvals in the last financial year. Microsoft had 1,394 H-1B visa petitions approved, followed by Google at 1,050.

According to Stuart Anderson, the executive director of NFAP, these numbers show that Indian-based companies are now shifting towards delivering IT services to the US market using fewer H-1B visas.

“The numbers show Indian-based companies now deliver IT services to US businesses using relatively few H-1B visas, while the largest US technology companies are hiring many individuals, including recent foreign-born graduate students from US universities, to help build AI in the United States after investing several hundred billion dollars to develop artificial intelligence,” he was quoted by Newsweek.

The report further said that as many as 28,277 different employers in the United States were approved to hire at least one new H-1B visa holder in FY25. Fewer employers, 61% were approved for a single H-1B petition, and 95% were approved for 10 or fewer new H-1B visa applications.

Over half of new H-1B petitions went to employers with 15 or fewer approvals for H-1B petitions for initial employment, and 72% went to employers with 100 or fewer approvals, the report said.

Why H-1B visa approvals matter now

H-1B visa approvals are in the limelight at present, as debates have erupted over highly skilled immigration, workforce shortages and US competitiveness, amid US President Donald Trump's crackdown on immigration.

Even while imposing an exorbitant $100,000 fee on new H-1B visa applications, Trump said that the US does not have enough American talent to work in key US industries.

Recently addressing the US-Saudi Investment Forum, Trump said he will “welcome” to the US skilled immigrants who will “teach” American workers to develop complex products like chips and missiles, adding that he may take a “little heat” over this from his base which supports immigration restrictions.