US Labor Department suspends Infosys, TCS, Wipro and five other firms from PERM green card programme

The US Department of Labor has suspended some major companies from the Permanent Labor Certification Program (PERM), which is linked to green cards. The news is a shock for thousands of Indian IT employees working in the US and waiting for green cards.

The suspended companies include the Indian IT firms Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Wipro, Cognizant, HCL and Capgemini. Global tech companies Microsoft and Adobe have also been kept out of the programme. The decision has caused a stir in the IT sector.

PERM is considered the first and most important step in getting a green card on the basis of employment in the US. A company can apply for a green card for a foreign employee only after it receives certification from the Labor Department.

For this certification, a company must legally establish that no qualified, suitable and willing American worker is available for the position. Once the Labor Department verifies this and approves, further action on the foreign employee's application begins. With eight major companies now removed from the programme, all new applications coming through them will be held back.

US Vice President J.D. Vance, while leading the anti-fraud task force, raised serious questions about the conduct of tech companies. Speaking about Microsoft, he said the company's PERM programme had been suspended because of an ongoing investigation. This means the company can no longer apply for permanent residence in the US for its H-1B employees.

According to Vance, Microsoft laid off about 6,000 American employees in 2025. He claims the company still gave preference to foreign workers by certifying that no qualified American workers were available for those positions.

In his account, even after laying off 6,000 local workers, Microsoft got more than 6,000 H-1B visas approved and filed 3,682 green card applications. Nearly 1,000 of these were for positions previously held by American citizens. He alleged that although the original purpose of the H-1B visa was to bring in highly skilled foreign workers, the system has seen large-scale fraud and irregularities.

Vance told Microsoft and all other companies that the government wants investment in the US and growth of industry. But he said companies should give jobs to American workers and should not lay them off and replace them with foreign workers.

Action is also under way in the education sector. The Labor Department has begun investigating nine reputed universities, including Harvard, Yale and Stanford. Officials allege that these universities gave international students preference in jobs in order to keep American employees' wages low. Anthony D'Esposito, the Labor Department's Inspector General, said the institutions had been issued summons over the violations.

Indian IT professionals will bear the biggest and most direct impact. There is a fear that the processing of those whose green card applications are currently pending at the PERM stage will stall. They will have to endure major delays and uncertainty over new approvals.

However, according to experts, a company's suspension from PERM does not mean that green cards already approved for its employees will be cancelled automatically. The effect will mainly be on future new applications and on approvals that are currently pending.

The Trump administration has said the main aim of the action is to protect the employment and economic interests of American workers. The government has warned that cheaper foreign workers will not be preferred over local workers and that employment laws will be strictly followed. Signs are that US visa and green card rules will become even stricter in the coming period.