New Delhi: The once-coveted H-1B visa is gradually losing its charm for Indian software engineers. Amid widespread technology layoffs driven by the rapid evolution of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and stringent immigration policies in the United States, Indian tech professionals are increasingly finding lucrative and stable opportunities in their home country.
Data paints a grim picture of the global tech job market, which has been heavily disrupted by the advent of advanced AI. According to tracking website Layoffs.fyi, over 2,53,000 tech jobs have been eliminated globally across 2025 and 2026 so far. Highlighting the root cause of this shift, Roger Lee, the founder of the platform, noted that AI was cited as a primary factor in 33 per cent of tech layoff events in 2026, marking a massive jump from just 1 per cent in 2024. This wave of automation has fundamentally altered the demand for traditional tech skills in the US, shifting the focus toward highly specialised expertise.
The employment crisis has been further exacerbated by recent regulatory crackdowns by the US administration. The recent suspension of the Permanent Labour Certification Programme (PERM) for several major IT outsourcing firms has effectively derailed the Green Card pathway for countless H-1B workers. This abrupt policy change has plunged thousands of professionals into a state of career uncertainty, prompting them to look for alternatives.
Despite these international hurdles, industry experts view this paradigm shift as a phase of transition rather than a tragedy. The rapid expansion of Global Capability Centres (GCCs) and a vibrant startup ecosystem in India are aggressively absorbing this highly skilled talent pool. Currently, India’s GCC workforce stands at a staggering 2.36 million personnel. To put this into perspective, this figure is nearly four times larger than the estimated number of Indians currently working in the US on H-1B visas. Additionally, according to the Startup India programme, DPIIT-recognised startups had generated over 2.33 million direct jobs by the 2025-26 financial year.
As multinational corporations establish their fully-owned captive service centres in India and homegrown tech ventures continue to scale up, the domestic demand for advanced skills in AI and complex coding is surging. Ultimately, global talent mobility naturally follows industry demand and economic growth. While securing an H-1B visa to work in the United States was considered the ultimate career milestone in previous decades, India’s booming digital economy is proving that tech professionals returning home face an abundance of promising opportunities.