Google may have an 'India plan' to tackle H-1B visa restrictions

Google's parent company Alphabet is quietly assembling what could become its biggest overseas expansion yet—a massive office complex in Bangalore that might house 20,000 new employees, Bloomberg reported. The move comes as the Trump administration's proposed H-1B visa fee hikes—potentially reaching $100,000 per application—are making it increasingly expensive to bring Indian engineers to American soil.

According to Bloomberg, Alphabet has leased one office tower and secured options on two more in Alembic City, a development in Bangalore's Whitefield tech corridor. The total space spans 2.4 million square feet. The first tower opens to employees in the coming months, with the remaining two expected to be ready by next year.

Bangalore becomes Google's AI talent hub

If Alphabet exercises all its options, the expansion could more than double its India headcount from the current 14,000 employees. The company has already been advertising hundreds of engineering roles in Bangalore—from AI practice directors and chip designers to machine learning specialists, many requiring PhDs.

Google opened its largest campus in India last year, complete with indoor mini golf, pickle ball courts, and cafeterias serving cardamom tea. YouTube is also hiring engineers there to build generative AI tools.

Big Tech's India hiring spree

Google isn't alone in this pivot. The combined India headcount for Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, Netflix, and Google grew 16% over the past year—the biggest jump in three years, according to staffing firm Xpheno.

OpenAI and Anthropic have also recently set up operations in the country, with Anthropic appointing former Microsoft executive Irina Ghose to lead its India business in January.

Industry body Nasscom estimates that global capability centers—tech hubs run by multinationals—will employ 2.5 million people in India by 2030, up from 1.9 million today. For US tech giants navigating Washington's tightening immigration policies, India is becoming the obvious workaround.

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