US H-1B crackdown could push Indian tech talent towards Australia

For years, the United States was seen as the obvious next step for many of India’s top tech workers. Study hard, prove yourself at work, and a global career in America felt within reach. That pathway now looks far more expensive and uncertain, and that shift could matter to Australia more than many people realise.

The trigger is a major change in the US immigration system. CBS News reported this week that the Trump administration’s US$100,000 fee on new H-1B visa petitions is already reshaping decisions for Indian tech professionals and the employers who hire them. In the same report, Y-Axis founder Xavier Fernandes described Indian talent as “the new oil, coal, or gas”, arguing that skilled Indian professionals are now a strategic resource for modern economies.

That may sound dramatic, but the broader point is hard to ignore. In the technology sector, countries are no longer just competing for capital and infrastructure. They are competing for engineers, coders, product specialists and senior technical leaders. When one country raises barriers, another country gets an opening.

Why Indian workers matter so much to the US tech system

This is not a small or symbolic issue. According to a 2025 USCIS report to Congress, 71 per cent of H-1B petitions approved in FY2024 were for beneficiaries born in India. That means Indian professionals are not a side story in the H-1B system. They are its backbone.

That is what makes the new fee so disruptive. The CBS report quoted one worker saying, “Nobody’s going to hire you and give $100K,” while another said he had decided to move to Canada instead. The same report also noted that some Indian professionals are now looking at Australia because the process appears more straightforward by comparison.

For Indian readers in Australia, this matters because it signals something bigger than a US visa debate. It points to a global rebalancing of talent. The question is no longer whether Indian professionals are valued. The question is which country will make it easiest for them to contribute.

Why Australia is part of this conversation

Australia is not offering an unlimited or automatic pathway, and it should not be portrayed that way. But it is still very much in the skilled migration game.

The Department of Home Affairs says Australia’s 2025-26 Migration Program is set at 185,000 places, with 132,200 places in the Skilled stream, designed to improve economic capacity and fill labour shortages. The same Home Affairs material shows that India was the top country of citizenship in Australia’s migration program outcomes in 2024-25, with 48,326 places.

That is important. At the exact moment the US is making one of its best-known skilled pathways significantly more expensive, Australia is still formally structured around skilled intake.

Australia also continues to maintain a skilled occupation framework to address shortages. Home Affairs says the Skilled Occupation List summarises the occupations Australia needs to fill, while the Core Skills Occupation List includes roles ranging from chief executives and finance managers to human resources and marketing managers, reflecting a broad skills-based approach rather than a narrow one.

Why this matters to Indian Australians

This story is not only about migration policy. It is about the Indian community’s economic position in Australia.

A DFAT-backed report described Australia’s Indian diaspora as a “national asset” and found that Indian-born residents are generally younger, have higher educational attainment, and are strongly represented in high-skill occupations, including technology-enabled roles with skills shortages and export potential. The report also noted that Indian migrants became Australia’s second-largest group of overseas-born residents, at more than 721,000 as of 2020.

That existing base matters. Australia already has Indian-origin professionals embedded across technology, health, education, finance and business. It also has the cultural networks, mentoring potential and industry links that help new migrants settle faster and contribute sooner. This is one reason the Australia-India relationship is now much more than trade statistics or summit meetings. It is increasingly built through people, skills and long-term professional presence.

For Indian Australians, that creates both opportunity and responsibility. If more skilled Indians begin choosing Australia over the US, the community’s influence here could deepen further, especially in industries where Indian professionals already have strong visibility.

Australia still has work to do

There is no reason for complacency. Canada remains a major competitor for global talent. Australia’s own system can still feel slow, technical and heavily dependent on occupation settings, salary thresholds and employer sponsorship rules. A good policy framework does not automatically create a welcoming experience.

But the opening is real.

If the US continues making Indian talent more expensive to hire, Australia has a chance to attract workers who bring not just qualifications, but global experience, commercial value and links to one of the world’s most important economies.

Fernandes’ line about Indians being the new oil may sound provocative. Yet his central point lands. In today’s economy, talent is a resource. Countries that understand that will gain. Countries that price it out may lose more than they expect.