US freezes green card route for eight tech firms, hitting Indian professionals
The US government has frozen the permanent labour certification process for eight technology companies, including Microsoft and major Indian IT firms. The move complicates green card prospects for Indian specialists working in the US on H-1B visas.
Earlier this month, the US government announced it was suspending eight technology companies from hiring skilled foreign workers on a permanent basis through the widely used Permanent Labor Certification Program (PERM). The list includes Microsoft and the Indian firms Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services, Wipro and HCL Technologies. New and pending applications are frozen. The step affects Indian professionals, who hold most H-1B visas, the temporary visa for specialists, and who rely on PERM to move toward a green card and eventually citizenship.
Impact on companies
The decision fits President Donald Trump's administration's push for stricter rules on skilled-worker immigration. Experts say the business impact may be small because firms have already adapted. Nasscom, the trade body for India's $300bn technology industry, says companies have cut their reliance on H-1B visas and hire more locally. Wipro says more than 80% of its US workforce is hired locally, while TCS says it filed only single-digit numbers of PERM applications in the past two years. Brokerage HDFC Securities likewise expects minimal revenue impact.
The human cost
A senior executive at one of the firms, speaking anonymously, said the business would not break, but the effect is more intense for individuals: some have spent years in the US with green card applications that have not moved, and their children, who grew up there, do not want to return to India. Vice President JD Vance described H-1B holders as "foreign indentured servants", later conceding the wording was "imperfect". India's foreign ministry called the remark "unwarranted" and "deeply offensive".
Alternatives and outlook
Other routes to a green card exist, such as exceptional ability or investing at least $800,000, but Ahmet Gulek of Stanford's Immigration Policy Lab warns these categories may be targeted next. According to the National Foundation for American Policy, nearly one million Indian nationals were waiting for employment-based green cards in December 2025, 79% of all pending applications. The suspension may be challenged in federal courts.
