U.S. senators have asked Tata Consultancy Services, India’s largest IT firm, to provide details about its hiring practices in the United States, including whether American employees have been replaced with H-1B workers and if there is wage parity between H-1B hires and local staff.

In a letter addressed to TCS CEO K Krithivasan, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Grassley and ranking member Richard Durbin pointed out that the company has announced plans to lay off more than 12,000 employees worldwide, including American workers.

According to the letter, TCS laid off nearly five dozen employees in its Jacksonville office alone.

"At the same time you have been laying off American employees, you have been filing H-1B visa petitions for thousands of foreign workers," the letter said.

The Senators cited data from fiscal year 2025, showing that TCS received approval to hire 5,505 H-1B workers, making it the second-largest employer of newly approved H-1B beneficiaries in the United States.

"With all of the homegrown American talent relegated to the sidelines, we find it hard to believe that TCS cannot find qualified American tech workers to fill these positions," Grassley and Durbin wrote in their September 24, 2025 letter.

The letter also noted that TCS is already under investigation by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission for allegedly dismissing older American workers in favour of South Asian H-1B employees, stating that the company "is doing itself no favours by replacing Americans with H-1Bs while this investigation is ongoing".

An email sent to TCS by PTI seeking a response did not receive a reply.

The Senators have raised nine questions for TCS and asked the company to provide a detailed response with supporting data by October 10, 2025.

Among the questions, they asked why TCS is continuing to employ foreign tech workers at a time when hundreds of thousands of American tech workers have been laid off in recent years, and whether the company makes a "good faith effort" to fill open roles with Americans before filing H-1B petitions.

"Has TCS displaced any American employees with H-1B employees," the letter asked.

The Senators also questioned whether TCS hides its H-1B hiring notices by posting them separately from general job advertisements.

"Are your company's H-1B hires provided the same salary and benefits as your American workers with the same qualifications? Please provide specific details," the letter said.

The lawmakers further asked whether TCS uses contractors or staffing agencies to place H-1B workers within the company.

"Of the H-1B workers currently working at TCS, how many of those workers are directly employed and paid by TCS...Of the H-1B petitions TCS received approval for in 2025, how many workers were outsourced to other companies and how many employees' salaries were paid by a firm other than TCS," the letter asked.

This comes at a time when H-1B visa applications are under intense scrutiny.

US President Donald Trump recently signed a proclamation increasing the fee for new H-1B visas to $100,000. The current visa fee ranges between $ 2,000 and 5,000, depending on employer size and other costs.

According to a note from Motilal Oswal Financial Services last month, the steep new fee, which could amount to $ 500 million if 5,000 applications are filed, may push IT companies to expand offshore operations or increase local hiring.

The  $ 100,000 fee will apply from FY27 for new petitions, while FY26 applications have already been locked in.