US government has suspended PERMS for Infosys, TCS, Wipro and Cognizant employees: What this means for Green Card applicants, older and others

The US government’s decision to suspend several major technology firms, including Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Wipro, Cognizant, HCLTech, Capgemini, Microsoft and Adobe, from the PERM labour certification programme could significantly delay Green Card pathways for thousands of foreign workers, particularly Indians employed on H-1B visas. The move, announced by the US Department of Labor, prevents the affected companies from filing new PERM applications and processing pending PERM cases. US officials said the action was taken over alleged misuse of foreign worker programmes and concerns about the impact on American jobs. Vice President JD Vance, who announced the action jointly with Sonderling, called H-1B workers “foreign indentured servants” and the companies “visa mills,” arguing the practice has shut Americans out of the job market. An investigation was also ordered into the J-1 visa programme for research scholars at nine major universities, including Yale, Harvard, Stanford and Caltech.