Australia draws Indian tech workers after US visa curbs

Skilled migration by Indian nationals to Australia rose more than 700% on Deel's platform, which linked the increase to changes in US visa policy.

Data from the payroll and HR group showed 724% year-on-year growth in Indian nationals active on its platform in Australia in 2026. That compared with 142% growth in the UK, 139% in the US, 131% in Ireland and 121% in the UAE.

The figures come as governments tighten parts of their skilled migration systems. Deel said the United States had curbed H1-B skilled nonimmigrant worker visas and imposed an employer payment of $100,000 per worker, changing hiring patterns for Indian nationals across several markets.

Indian workers are a major part of global technology hiring. According to Deel, Indian nationals are the largest work visa group in Singapore and dominate the UK Skilled Worker programme, the European Union Blue Card and the US H1-B system, reflecting the scale of India's technical graduate pipeline.

In Australia, most Indian nationals active on Deel's platform were in prime working-age groups. Deel said 84% were aged 25 to 44, with sales and marketing and software developer roles the most common.

Worker shifts

Lauren Thomas, economist at Deel, said the data pointed to a redistribution of skilled labour rather than a change in demand for technical staff. Employers in the technology sector, she said, continued to recruit internationally for specialist roles.

"Half of US-based employees working in AI roles at top VC-funded start-ups on Deel are foreign nationals," Thomas said.

"It's a global business that attracts global talent. Since the United States restricted its H1-B visa, Australia has attracted a greater share of skilled Indian workers, while hiring of Indian workers has noticeably declined in the US and Canada. The UK's share of Indian skilled workers has also declined following that country's mid-2025 immigration crackdown," Thomas said.

Deel's figures also covered what it called top-funded start-ups, defined as companies founded between 2020 and 2025 that raised at least USD $100 million over that period. Those businesses employed nearly 4,000 staff through Deel's platform over the 12 months to March 2026.

Of those employees, 27.0% were in the US and 15.9% in the UK, followed by notable numbers in the Netherlands, Israel, Canada, Germany and Australia. More than 1,000 workers, or 26.7%, were immigrants, according to the data.

Australia's role

The figures suggest Australia has become a more prominent destination in the competition for internationally mobile workers, particularly from India. Deel also said the top destination for Australian nationals on its platform was Singapore, followed by the UK, US, Hong Kong and Thailand, while Australia was the preferred destination for Singapore nationals.

Pay data in the release showed higher median annual compensation for workers on a Talent Visa in Australia than for citizens. Deel put the median at $170,000 for Talent Visa holders, compared with $150,000 for Australian citizens.

The company also provided a role breakdown for Talent Visa workers in Australia. About 33% were in engineering, research and development roles, 28% worked in sales or revenue jobs, 19% were in operations or leadership positions and 19% were in compliance or specialist posts.

Thomas said employers were having to react to policy changes across several countries. "The talent competition is global and accelerating. Policy environments are shifting faster than most companies can track. The organisations that can execute on this are pulling ahead of the ones that can't," she said.

She also described a broader decline in the share of Indian nationals in hiring markets such as the US, UK and Canada, while Australia moved in the opposite direction. Deel said the percentage of active workers in Canada who were Indian citizens had been falling since early 2025, while the percentage in Australia had been rising through that year and continued to increase after the US visa changes.

"We can see that the percentage of active workers in Canada who are Indian citizens has been falling since January 2025. The percentage in Australia has been growing throughout 2025 and continued to grow after the H1-B announcement. The percentage in the UK has been falling since mid-June 2025, and the percentage in the US has also been falling since mid-June 2025, though it has levelled out in 2026. The UK also had a major immigration crackdown in 2025," Thomas said.

Thomas said the pattern in Australia began before the US visa changes but intensified later. "This evidence suggests that Australia might be picking up workers who otherwise would have gone to the US or UK," she said.