India ranks at or near the top of every major skilled visa programme tracked globally, claiming the number one position as the source of US H-1B visas, number two for UK Skilled Worker visas, and number two for EU Blue Cards, according to a report released on Thursday, 11 June 2025 by workforce management firm Deel. The findings, drawn from hiring data across more than 40,000 companies in over 150 countries, confirm India's dominance as the world's foremost exporter of high-skilled talent.

India's Standing Across Major Visa Programmes

Indian professionals lead not just in Western markets but across the Middle East as well. Indians topped both UAE Golden Visa and standard employment visa categories, a striking figure given that Indians already account for 38 per cent of the UAE's total population. The UAE remains the single largest destination for Indian professionals globally, followed by Singapore, the UK, the US, and Canada.

In Germany, the newly launched Opportunity Card programme — which allows skilled non-EU workers to enter without a prior job offer — has already issued nearly one-third of all its permits to Indian nationals, signalling that India's talent pipeline is diversifying well beyond traditional Anglophone destinations.

Skill Scarcity, Not Wage Arbitrage, Drives Global Hiring

A central finding of the Deel report challenges the longstanding assumption that companies hire internationally to cut costs. Visa holders consistently earn more than local workers in comparable roles across every market studied. In the United States, H-1B workers earn a median $140,000 annually versus $130,000 for citizens in similar positions. In the UK, Skilled Worker visa holders earn £96,000 compared with £87,000 for nationals. In the UAE, Golden Visa holders earn 6,05,000 AED against 4,59,000 AED for standard employment visa holders.

These salary premiums, the report argues, reflect employer willingness to pay for scarce specialised skills — particularly in engineering, software development, artificial intelligence, and digital services — rather than seeking cost savings through offshore hiring.

Australia Leads Growth; UK and US Follow

Australia recorded the fastest growth in hiring Indian talent on Deel's platform, surging 724 per cent year-over-year. The UK followed with 142 per cent growth and the US at 139 per cent. This acceleration suggests that demand for Indian professionals is broadening geographically, not consolidating around a few legacy corridors.

'Rather than concentrating in a handful of traditional destinations, talent is moving across a broader set of markets,' said Lauren Thomas, Economist at Deel.

A Potential Reversal: Talent Returning to India

The report also flagged an emerging counter-trend. As domestic opportunities in India expand — driven by a maturing startup ecosystem, multinational captive centres, and government-backed deep-tech initiatives — India may be entering a phase of increasingly attracting globally trained professionals back home. This nascent reverse migration, if it accelerates, could reshape both India's talent balance sheet and the global skilled-worker market.

The broader picture is one of a tightening global talent market where India sits at the supply centre — and where that position is becoming more, not less, valuable as employers compete for a finite pool of high-skill workers.