, Wipro

The United States announced on Tuesday that it will suspend eight major technology firms—including Microsoft, Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services, Wipro and HCL Technologies—from hiring skilled international workers on a permanent basis through the Permanent Labor Certification Program (PERM). The move freezes all new and pending PERM applications, effectively halting the pathway that many Indian tech professionals use to transition from H‑1B visas to permanent residency. The decision is part of President Trump’s broader push for stricter skilled‑worker immigration rules and follows a wave of policy changes aimed at tightening the H‑1B system.

India’s tech industry, worth $300 billion, has already begun to shift its hiring strategy. The National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM) reports that Indian firms now rely less on H‑1B visas and hire more locally in the United States. Wipro says over 80 % of its U.S. staff are local hires, while Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) filed only two PERM applications in 2025‑26 compared with 513 the year before. Microsoft stated that it files H‑1B visas mainly to retain existing staff, not to import new workers. A Business Standard report citing PERM Tracker found no PERM filings for Infosys and Wipro in 2025‑26, underscoring the scale of the slowdown. Despite the shift, the eight companies have not responded to a BBC inquiry about how the restriction will affect their U.S. operations and employees.

The policy’s impact extends beyond corporate finances. A senior U.S. executive, speaking anonymously, said the restriction would “not break the business” but would hit people on a human level. Many Indian workers who have spent years in the U.S. find their green‑card applications stalled, and even if they return to India, their children, who grew up in America, often resist. Brokerage firm HDFC Securities warned that the effect on revenue would be small, as PERM jobs represent only a fraction of earnings, but it acknowledged that higher‑paid American workers could replace them. The move has also intensified online hostility toward Indian immigrants and H‑1B holders, adding a social dimension to the policy shift. The decision signals a tightening of the U.S. immigration framework that will reshape the career trajectories of thousands of Indian tech professionals and the firms that rely on them.