US Bars Tata, HCL, Infosys Among 8 IT Firms From Green Card Filing. What It Means For Indians

The United States has barred eight IT firms, including Microsoft, Tata, Wipro and Infosys, from participating in its Permanent Labour Certification (PERM) programme, a key step in the employer-sponsored Green Card process, claiming the practice has shut out American workers from the job market. Adobe, Cognizant, HCL and Capgemini are other targeted companies, as the Donald Trump administration intensifies scrutiny of H-1B hiring and alleges abuse of programmes used to employ foreign workers.

Major technology companies and outsourcing firms use PERM as a key employer-sponsorship mechanism. The US government said it would not accept any new PERM applications or process any pending ones from the eight targeted IT firms. 

How the Move Affects Indian Workers

The move is expected to affect thousands of Indian technology professionals who rely on employer-sponsored green cards for permanent residency in the US after entering on H-1B visas.

The suspension of the PERM labour certification programme does not, by itself, cancel an employee's H-1B status. However, it can disrupt the employer's ability to move eligible workers through an important stage of the permanent residency process.

More than 5.2 million people of Indian origin live in the US, according to recent estimates based on US Census data.

About The PREM Programme

PERM came into effect in 2005, aiming to speed up the long processing times that were experienced under the previous paper-based "Alien Employment Certification" programme. Under the programme, the US Department of Labour (DOL) allows employers to sponsor foreign workers for permanent residency. The process is initiated by qualified US employers and not individual workers.

For the process, the Labour Department must certify to the US Citizenship and Immigration Services that there are not enough US workers who are qualified and available for a given job opportunity and that the employment of the foreign worker will not affect the wages and working conditions of similarly employed Americans. 

How Is It Different From H-1B Visa?

H-1B is a temporary work visa that allows skilled foreign workers to work in the US, generally for up to six years. PERM, meanwhile, is a permanent labour-certification process. The freeze does not appear to directly affect current holders of H-1B visas. 

Why is the programme important? 

The PERM programme serves as a critical bridge between temporary work status and a green card for many foreign skilled workers, including thousands of Indian IT workers who move to the United States in search of a better life. Many IT firms employ these workers, who typically start on temporary work visas such as the H-1B and later seek permanent residency. 

Without the option to be sponsored by their employer under PERM, foreign workers could lose a key route to permanent residency and would have to stay on temporary visas for longer. 

For companies, recruiting foreign talent could become harder, as many workers overseas view the path to permanent US residency as a key reason for taking a job. 

Outside of PERM and family-based routes to permanent residency, foreign workers would be left with self-petition for green cards through processes such as the EB-1A application for individuals with extraordinary ability or the EB-2 National Interest Waiver. But these petitions could take years to process due to massive backlogs and shortages of availability. 

Why Is Team Trump Targeting the Programme?

The move widens an ongoing crackdown on visas, which the Trump administration has said cost US jobs. Vice President JD Vance said, without citing specific evidence, companies are using the PERM programme to replace American employees with foreign workers and undercut their wages. 

Vance said, "Our message to Microsoft is: You're a great American company, but you've got to hire great American workers."

The suspensions follow President Trump's move to impose a one-time $100,000 fee on new H-1B visa petitions for highly skilled foreign workers, which has been blocked by federal court orders.