Washington, D.C., October 9: The United States Department of Labor has officially suspended eight major technology and global IT services firms from participating in the Permanent Labor Certification (PERM) program, Vice President JD Vance announced on X. This action halts new permanent residency (green card) filings even as the administration continues to investigate systemic H-1B visa fraud and the alleged displacement of American tech workers.
With this suspension, US tech companies Microsoft, Adobe and Indian IT majors Infosys, TCS, Wipro, HCL, Cognizant and Capgemini have been barred from filing new PERM applications, effectively scuttling their plans to hire qualified foreign workers, who have traditionally come from India.
Reactions to the news, which came on October 8, were swift:
“Good start and good companies to make examples of so others will think twice before ditching American workers for foreign indentured servants.
This is the tip of the iceberg. You’ve not a long way to go as there are 1.5M on these different Visa programs. The OPT program is egregious. No Medicare or Social Security taxes are paid. How is an American worker supposed to compete with that? @DHSgov created it out of thin air and can get rid of it. Just the same. Congressional approval not needed since they didn’t create the program,” one man replied to the post.
Beyond this, were a series of hate comments against Indian workers, with many Americans accusing them of taking away their jobs and working overtime.
There are many who disagreed, explaining how immigrants have helped Made America what it is today.
“Mr. Vice President, while I think punishing companies that abuse the H1-B VISA program is important, we must not forget that we are a nation of immigrants and have been blessed to have some of the best and the brightest immigrate to our country too,” another said.
Others looked at this as an opportunity, as the loss of jobs could mean more offshoring, defeating the entrie purpose of the effort.
“Trump selling lollipop to USA audience before mid term elections.The impact on Indian IT may not be as straightforward as it appears.
If US companies find it harder or more expensive to bring Indian talent to America, they have another option: bring the work to India.
The real opportunity isn’t just Indian IT companies serving US clients. It’s global companies building their technology, products and intellectual property in India.
One important caveat: this shift won’t happen automatically. Visa rules, costs, client requirements and business strategy will determine how much work moves.
My long-term thesis: Restrictions on talent mobility could accelerate the shift of high-value work towards India—even if the short-term impact on IT companies is mixed,” Rajneesh Jha replied to the Vice President’s post.
This comes as JD Vance has recently talked about scrapping the H-1B scheme, even as the Trump administration has made the H-1B unaffordable for companies.
For Donald Trump, this has been another (rather unsuccessful) move to boost his standing amongst his core voter base- the nationalist Americans who detest foreigners taking their jobs and cheaper imports ruining their businesses.
Though his tariff tantrums last year failed to have the desired effect, Donald Trump has been forced to do this as his popularity wanes in the US, given the costly and never-ending war with Iran, with allies increasingly distancing themselves from him.
