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H1-B Visa row: Indian IT giant will no longer apply for fresh visa applications, ‘We are hiring locally’
LTIMindtree's CEO Venugopal Lambu announced the company will no longer submit new H-1B visa applications, prioritizing local hiring.
LTIMindtree, a global technology consulting and digital solutions firm headquartered in India, will cease to submit new H-1B visa applications in the future, according to a report by Moneycontrol. The CEO of the prominent IT company, Venugopal Lambu (Venu), recently informed the Indian news outlet that the organization will concentrate more on recruiting local talent abroad.
Lambu’s recent statement arises amidst a contentious discussion in the United States regarding the ‘specialty occupations’ nonimmigrant visa category. Additionally, the Trump administration implemented a blanket fee of $100,000 for new H-1B applications via a proclamation issued in September.
Numerous MAGA politicians and their supporters have consistently voiced their concerns about companies within the nation, particularly technology giants, heavily depending on outsourcing talent from foreign countries rather than hiring American workers. This situation has prompted many to perceive even the legal frameworks supporting the work visa category as a “fraud” or “scam.”
‘No new applications on H-1B’
“We are hiring, we are hiring locally, and one of the things that I have made clear is that we are not going to make any new applications on H-1B,” Venu Lamba stated in an interview with Moneycontrol. “Unless (we) have a strong business case to spend $100,000, we are not going to do that.”
Providing additional insight into the company’s recent decision, he informed the outlet that the new regulation would take effect for new petitions in the upcoming H-1B lottery cycle. Therefore, renewals of current visas are not included in the negative stipulation, similar to how Trump’s new $100,000 fee is applicable only to new petitions and not to renewals. As a result, it can be concluded that the extra visa fee significantly impacted the company’s decision.
Lambu also confirmed to Moneycontrol that they would reevaluate this decision if there are changes to the regulations in the future.
How many H-1B workers are employed by LTIMindtree?
Lambu stated to Moneycontrol that 4,000 of LTIMindtree’s employees (out of more than 86,000 total employees) in the US hold H-1B visas.
Given the company’s relatively low dependence on this visa category, the CEO remarked during the interview, “In the short term, since we already reduced the dependence on H-1B and we had machinery in place to do the onsite hiring.”
Moving ahead, Lambu emphasized the importance of continuing to hire locally.
Focus on increasing revenue
He further informed the news outlet that their choice to refrain from H-1B sponsorships in the future was due to their dedication to enhancing revenue by avoiding new filings. “If you examine our first half (H1FY26), we generated an additional $64 million in revenue,” he stated to Moneycontrol, highlighting that LTIMindtree's net experienced headcount actually decreased during this timeframe.
In outlining a vision for the company's future, Lambu expressed that the IT firm harbored significant aspirations of boosting revenue without proportionally increasing the workforce. “If we are growing 2X over the next five years or so, you should grow probably at 1.2X or 1.3X of your headcount,” he stated to Moneycontrol.
