Amazon could be in trouble as U.S. President Donald Trump sends mixed signals about the H-1B visa program. According to data from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the $2 trillion tech giant has received the most H-1B visa approvals every year since 2020. USCIS data includes newly issued visas and renewals. The H-1B visa allows highly skilled foreign workers to live and work in the United States for up to six years, after which they can apply for a green card and become eligible to become naturalized citizens.

In 2024, Amazon Communications Services received at least 9,265 H-1B visas. Many of its subsidiaries, such as Amazon Web Services and Amazon Development Centers, also received visas in this category.

Poorvi Chothani, founder of global immigration law firm LawQuest in Mumbai, told the Rest of the World that US tech giants are increasingly relying on H-1B visas because they have "grown exponentially in the last few years and added more verticals... so they need more IT talent".

The Trump administration is divided over the visa program, with key figures such as Stephen Miller, the president's homeland security adviser and deputy chief of staff, advocating for tighter restrictions. Tesla CEO Elon Musk, an informal adviser to Trump, has argued for keeping the plan.

Trump has reversed his stance on visas in the past. In 2016, he vowed to "forever end the use of H-1B as a cheap labor program." However, at the end of 2024, he said, "I've always believed in H-1B. ... It's a great program."

On January 17, the Department of Homeland Security unveiled a series of measures to tighten the H-1B protocol — most notably requiring employers to submit more evidence of control over foreign employees to mitigate allegations of abuse of the program. The department also increased the non-refundable fee from $10 to $215 per entry during this year's application cycle.

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service has set a new annual cap of 85,000 H-1B visas, which will be allocated through a lottery system. More than two-thirds of visas are issued each year to skilled workers. Indian skilled workers typically obtain more than 70% of H-1B visas.

"Demand for these visas is still there and companies are just adapting to the changes. They are also submitting additional documentation and providing more information in their H-1B applications to reduce the risk of denial," Chothani said.

For much of the 21st century, Indian IT companies dominated the H-1B visa program, receiving thousands of approvals. By 2024, the balance has shifted: five U.S. tech giants, Amazon, Google, Meta, Microsoft and Apple, are among the top 10 companies to receive H-1B visas.

For years, Democrats and Republicans have proposed tightening the program to prevent American workers from being "ignored or unfairly disadvantaged."