TCS to End H-1B Hiring, Focus on Local Recruitment in the US

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has announced a major shift in its overseas hiring strategy, confirming that it will stop recruiting new employees on H-1B visas in the United States. The IT services giant plans to strengthen local recruitment efforts and build a regionally rooted talent base to support its global operations.
TCS has historically been the largest employer of H-1B visa holders in the US. Between 2009 and 2025, the company sponsored 98,259 workers, surpassing other major technology firms. In 2025 alone, TCS hired 5,505 H-1B professionals, ahead of Microsoft, Google, Apple, and Meta.
However, this long-standing approach is now evolving. According to K. Krithivasan, CEO of TCS, the company already maintains a strong presence of H-1B professionals in the US and has no plans to expand that workforce in the near term. Renewal decisions for existing visa holders will continue as required, but future hiring will prioritize local talent.
The move aligns with TCS’s global localisation strategy, which emphasizes hiring in key regions such as Latin America, the Middle East, and Asia-Pacific. The company believes that new business demands—particularly in artificial intelligence and digital transformation—require closer client collaboration, diverse expertise, and deep local market understanding.
Industry analysts see this as a turning point for Indian IT companies, which have traditionally relied on H-1B visas to deploy engineers to the US. As regulatory costs increase and AI-driven projects expand, firms like TCS appear to be pivoting toward sustainable, localised workforce models that better reflect global client expectations.

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