Business
Walmart pauses H-1B offers in response to $100K visa fee rules: Report
Walmart's new hiring guideline primarily impacts its corporate roles, affecting small fraction of its total 1.6 million US employee base.
A new barrier is rising for highly skilled foreign workers seeking jobs in the United States technology sector. Walmart, America's largest private-sector employer, has paused job offers to foreign candidates who require H-1B visas to work in the US, a company spokesperson told CNN.
This action represents a significant and immediate policy shift by a major corporation, illustrating how American businesses are adapting to the potential $100,000 fee proposed by the Trump administration on these visas.
The decision, first reported by Bloomberg, suggests that the administration's strict immigration agenda—aimed at curbing reliance on foreign high-skilled labour—is already triggering policy changes that will have broad ramifications for companies and the international talent pool that fills crucial tech roles.
Walmart's new hiring guideline primarily impacts its corporate roles, although the affected foreign workforce remains a small fraction of its total 1.6 million US employee base, according to Bloomberg.
"Walmart is committed to hiring and investing in the best talent to serve our customers, while remaining thoughtful about our H-1B hiring approach," a Walmart spokeswoman told Bloomberg.
Walmart currently utilises more than 2,000 H-1B visa holders to fuel its significant and rapidly expanding technology and e-commerce operations, as confirmed by government data reported by CNN.
The US H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa needed for foreign nationals who want to work in the US. The move is raising alarms, especially within India's IT sector, where a large portion of the US workforce could be directly affected.
H-1B visas are a cornerstone of the US tech industry, allowing companies to sponsor foreign workers with niche skill sets. According to media reports, currently, the US issues 85,000 H-1B visas annually, with India accounting for nearly 75 percent of these permits.
Data from the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), sourced by Times of India, shows that in FY2025, Amazon topped the list with 10,044 approvals for H-1B visas, followed by TCS 5,505, Microsoft 5,189, Meta 5,123, Apple 4,202 and Google 4,181. Many industry experts believe that such a move can impact both Indian IT services and US tech giants that rely on this talent pool in equal measure.
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