India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has weighed in on Washington’s surprise suspension of eight technology companies—including Indian heavyweights TCS, Infosys, Wipro, HCLTech and Cognizant—from the United States’ Permanent Labour Certification (PERM) programme. Speaking at a press briefing in New Delhi on 9 October, MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said the move “does not advance our shared innovation agenda” and warned that sudden procedural shocks could disrupt business confidence on both sides. The PERM system is the first step most employers take when sponsoring a foreign worker for an employment-based green card. Although the suspension does not cancel existing H-1B visas, it blocks new and pending PERM applications for the named firms, lengthening an already multi-year pathway to permanent residence for thousands of Indian professionals. According to U.S. Department of Labor data cited in Economic Times, the eight companies filed nearly three million PERM cases between 2009 and 2025, though Indian IT firms accounted for less than 2 percent of all filings last fiscal year. Indian officials stressed that high-skilled mobility is a “two-way value creator,” enabling U.S. companies to tap specialised talent while reinforcing India’s own up-skilling ecosystem through global exposure. Industry bodies NASSCOM and US-India Business Council echoed the sentiment, urging Washington to reopen dialogue before the next H-1B cap season in March 2027. For Indian employers, the immediate task is triage: identify employees whose green-card clock will run out and consider L-1 extensions, inter-company transfers back to India, or Canada-based near-shoring. Immigration counsel also recommend that affected workers maintain lawful status by switching to “cap-exempt” employers such as universities or non-profits where feasible. Longer-term, the episode highlights an emerging trend: U.S. immigration enforcement is shifting from broad visa bans to targeted corporate compliance actions. Indian multinationals with large U.S. footprints should expect deeper audits of prevailing-wage filings, job-advertising records and third-party placement contracts. Robust document retention and early engagement with auditors can mitigate future exposure.
Source: News On AIR / Economic Times
