By Anjali Sharma
WASHINGTON – US president Donald Trump administration on Thursday announced the suspension of green card process for 8 major technology and outsourcing companies, including India’s Infosys, Tata, Wipro and HCL in a move that could impact thousands of Indian technology professionals, according to media reports
Media reported Cognizant, Capgemini, Microsoft and Adobe were also among the companies whose green card processing was suspended as part of the administration’s sweeping crackdown on alleged visa fraud.
US Vice President JD Vance announced the decision has accused employers of using the H-1B programme to replace American workers with lower-paid foreign employees.
“The H-1B visa program is meant to allow companies to bring in really the best of the best from outside the United States of America for positions that are completely impossible to fill with American workers,” he said during a press conference.
He singled out Microsoft, alleging that the company had laid off 6,000 American workers while benefiting from 6,300 H-1B visas and nearly 3,000 green cards.
Vance said the administration wanted companies to change their hiring practices rather than leave the American market.
He said, “The suspension of PERM is gonna last as long as it needs to,” when asked whether the suspension was temporary or permanent.
He said that the move is to prevent companies from filing new permanent labour certification applications and halting the processing of pending applications under the programme.
US Labour Secretary Keith Sonderling, who accompanied Vance during the press conference, said the action followed ongoing criminal and federal investigations.
“Due to ongoing criminal investigations led by the Department of Labour’s Inspector General Anthony DiEsposito, who will get into this shortly, I am hereby suspending from the Permanent Labour Certification Program some of the largest IT outsourcing firms in the world, Cognizant, Infosys, Tata, Wipro, HCL, and Capgemini,” Sonderling said.
He added that Microsoft and Adobe were also being suspended because of multiple active federal investigations.
“We will not accept or process any pending permanent labour certification applications involving these companies,” he added.
