India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has moved quickly to reassure Indian professionals and their employers after Washington abruptly suspended Permanent Labor Certification (PERM) filings for 10 of the world’s largest IT services firms—including Cognizant, Infosys, TCS, Wipro, HCLTech, Capgemini, Microsoft and Adobe—amid multiple fraud investigations. Speaking in New Delhi on 9 October, MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal called US Vice-President JD Vance’s characterisation of Indian talent as “job thieves” “unwarranted” and “deeply offensive”, stressing that high-skill mobility “drives innovation and productivity on both sides”. The ministry underlined that PERM is a step in the green-card process and is legally distinct from the H-1B work-visa programme; therefore, existing H-1B holders and their dependants can continue to live and work in the United States. However, Indian assignees who were counting on PERM-based permanent residence may now see multi-year delays while investigations proceed. Indian IT majors employ roughly 240,000 H-1B professionals in the US and file more than 30,000 PERM applications each year. Immigration counsel warn that if the PERM freeze persists, companies will have to find alternative retention tools—such as L-1 blanket petitions, Canada near-shoring or intra-US transfers—to keep key staff. Clients could also face higher project costs if senior engineers rotate home every six years when their maximum H-1B stay expires. For mobility managers, the immediate tasks are: 1) audit PERM pipelines to identify employees entering their sixth H-1B year; 2) brief them on travel risks and parole requirements; 3) coordinate with tax teams because green-card delays may prolong US taxable presence. US employers should prepare for heightened Department of Labor site visits and ensure strict public-access-file compliance. Strategically, the episode underscores the fragility of US–India talent flows despite recent commitments under the Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technologies (iCET). Delhi is expected to raise the matter in forthcoming Commercial Dialogue talks, arguing that predictable immigration pathways are essential for the two countries’ USD 191 billion digital-services corridor.
Source: Moneycontrol
