What Statistics Reflect About Trump's H-1B Visa Hike Impact On Silicon Valley?
US President Donald Trump’s push to raise the H-1B visa fee is likely to disrupt Silicon Valley, which depends on external talent from abroad. The move has resulted in the emergence of alternative options for talented workers, as China has revisited its K-Visa and Dubai, emphasizing various visas, including its coveted Golden Visa.
Silicon Valley depends on highly skilled foreign workers, especially in AI, data science, and software engineering. Stricter visa costs could discourage hiring and skill gap.
As per the US Citizenship and immigration Services via Statistics, Amazon tops the US business giants with regard to the number of H-1B beneficiaries and their employers, with a staggering 31,956 visa holders. Tata Consultancy follows with 19,994 visa holders, followed by Infosys with 17,489.
Google (15,010), Microsoft (14,707), Meta (13,338), Apple (11,890), and Cognizant Technology (11,746) are among the biggest Silicon Valley beneficiaries of H-1B. The high rates of recruitment by the top tech companies are likely to impact their hiring options and processes.
Read also: How Trump’s $100,000 Fee On H-1B Visas Impacts Indians, The Largest Beneficiaries Of The Visa
Out of the total H-1B Visa holders, 63.9% work in Computer-related fields, 10.2% in architecture, engineering & surveying, 6% in education, 5.4% in administrative specialisations, 4.2% in medicine and health, 1.9% in life sciences, 1.7% in management, and 4% in others.
The highest visa holders in computer-based fields expect to hit the computer technology field significantly.
As per the data from FY 2024 of the immigration service, a total of 283,397 H-1B visa holders are from India, followed by China (46,680) and the Philippines (5,248).
Now, after the fee hikes, companies may hire talent abroad instead of bringing them to the US, accelerating offshore development centres in India, Eastern Europe, or Latin America.
