New Delhi, Sept. 21 -- In a sweeping policy shift, the White House has announced a new directive that imposes a $100,000 fee on every new H-1B visa petition filed for foreign workers outside the US.

Effective 21 September 2025, this measure will likely cause tectonic shifts across the technology sector, which has long relied on the H-1B programme to bridge gaps in skilled labour-especially in fields like software engineering, data science and artificial intelligence (AI).

This rule could reshape talent acquisition, workforce planning and even long-term business models for both Indian and US tech majors.

The H-1B visa programme, designed to let US employers hire foreign nationals in specialty occupations, has long been debated. Critics ...