US Halts Green Card Route for Infosys, Tata, Wipro, Cognizant, HCL, Capgemini, Microsoft, Adobe

The United States has suspended several of the world's largest information technology and outsourcing companies from a key employment-based immigration route, a decision that affects the path to permanent residency for thousands of skilled foreign workers, a large share of them Indian professionals.

The firms named are Cognizant, Infosys, Tata, Wipro, HCL and Capgemini. U.S. Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling also said Microsoft and Adobe were being suspended from the same program. He made the announcement on Thursday, accompanied by Vice-President J.D. Vance, who heads the U.S. Anti-Fraud Task Force.

"I am hereby suspending from the Permanent Labor Certification Program some of the largest IT outsourcing firms in the world — Cognizant, Infosys, Tata, Wipro, HCL and Capgemini," Mr. Sonderling said.

He added: "We will not accept any new or process any pending permanent labor certification applications involving these companies."

The program, commonly known as PERM, is usually the first formal step an employer takes to sponsor a foreign worker for an employment-based green card. An approved certification is a finding that no qualified American worker was available for the job. To obtain one, an employer must generally test the local job market, meet prevailing wage requirements and document its recruitment efforts for review by the Department of Labor.

PERM is distinct from the H-1B visa, a temporary work permit that lets a professional work in the United States, generally for up to six years and renewable in limited circumstances. The H-1B does not by itself confer permanent residency.

Citing the scale of hiring by the named firms, Mr. Sonderling said: "Since 2009, just these companies alone have requested almost three million foreign workers. They've received over 230,000 H-1B visa approvals and over 100,000 permanent labor certifications." He added that this amounted to "hundreds of thousands of jobs that were taken from American workers."

Successive U.S. administrations have weighed the benefit of attracting skilled workers against concerns about the displacement of domestic employees, and the H-1B program has repeatedly been at the centre of that debate. Indian technology professionals form the largest group of H-1B recipients, and Indian firms are among the biggest users of the route.

Several questions remained unanswered in the announcement. It did not state how long the suspension would remain in force, whether it could be reviewed or lifted, or whether other companies are under consideration. Nor did it spell out its effect on workers who already hold an approved certification. As described, the measure applies to applications — new and pending — rather than to immigration status already granted.

For employees of the affected firms, the immediate consequence is uncertainty. Those whose employers had filed, or were preparing to file, a permanent labor certification now face a pause with no announced end date. The companies named did not offer an immediate public response in the account of the announcement.