Data dive: Indian IT’s PERM filings plunged 90 % in two years, limiting fallout from US green-card freeze

A Moneycontrol analysis published on 11 October shows that Indian technology giants have drastically scaled back their use of the US Permanent Labor Certification (PERM) pathway even before last week’s government suspension. Tata Consultancy Services filed just two PERM applications in FY 2026, down from 1,804 in FY 2024; Wipro’s filings fell from 257 to zero over the same period, while HCLTech dropped from 323 to 59. The steep slide follows a multi-year shift toward on-shore hiring, near-shoring to Canada and Mexico, and greater automation in delivery centres. Indian firms also accelerated "talent localisation" in line with client demands and US political pressure. As a result, PERM suspensions announced on 8 October now cover only a sliver of their US workforce pipelines. Industry body Nasscom told Moneycontrol that "fewer than 1,400" PERM certifications were issued to Indian IT employees in 2025-26, representing less than 2 % of total programme volume. Analysts say the data vindicate diversification strategies adopted after 2020’s H-1B cap rigidity and pandemic-era travel bans. For mobility managers, the numbers suggest a need to reassess the value of PERM sponsorship versus alternative routes such as L-1A/B, O-1 or Canada’s intra-company transfer. The report recommends that Indian headquartered multinationals maintain contingency staffing in Latin America and the EU to handle short-cycle projects should US immigration rules tighten further. Meanwhile, the US Labor Department has not indicated how long the PERM freeze will last or what remediation steps companies must take. Observers expect a formal audit process similar to the 2023 Disney wage-level review, which took six months to resolve and ended with compliance agreements rather than permanent bans.