US Suspends Infosys, TCS & Wipro From the Green Card Program — Here’s What It Means for Indian Techies

Remember when a green card was the “eventually” at the end of every Indian techie’s H-1B story? Yeah, about that.

On Thursday, the US dropped a proper bombshell. The Department of Labor suspended eight of the biggest names in tech outsourcing — Infosys, TCS, Wipro, HCL, Cognizant, Capgemini, Microsoft and Adobe — from the very program companies use to sponsor foreign workers for green cards.

If you’re an Indian engineer in the US with a green card dream simmering in the background, this one hits close to home. Let’s break down what actually happened, what the US is claiming, and what it means for you.

Quick refresher: what even is PERM?

PERM (Permanent Labor Certification) is step one for most employment-based green cards. The deal is simple: before a company can sponsor you, it has to prove to the US government that no qualified American is available for the job.

That’s the exact proof the US now says these companies faked — claiming “no Americans available” while simultaneously laying thousands of them off.

What actually happened this week

The announcement came from the big guns: Vice President JD Vance, Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling, and Attorney General Todd Blanche, rolling it out under the US Anti-Fraud Task Force. And they did not hold back.

Microsoft is the headline act. Vance’s quote says it all:

Microsoft laid off 6,000 American workers in 2025 after certifying that it could not find qualified American employees — yet the company was approved for more than 6,000 H-1Bs and filed 3,682 PERM applications, including nearly 1,000 applications for the same positions as the laid off American workers.

That’s the smoking gun — the same job, stamped “no American available,” while the American who actually held it was walking out the door.

The numbers only get wilder from there. Sonderling said that since 2009, these companies alone have:

• Requested nearly 3 million foreign workers
• Racked up 230,000+ H-1B approvals
• Collected 100,000+ permanent labor certifications

Vance, never one to soften a blow, called H-1B workers “foreign indentured servants” and the firms themselves “visa mills.” Ouch.

The full list of companies on the block

• Infosys
• TCS (Tata Consultancy Services)
• Wipro
• HCLTech
• Cognizant
• Capgemini
• Microsoft
• Adobe

The Department of Labor has made it clear: no new PERM applications from these firms, and no processing the pending ones either. For now, anyway.

Why this stings for Indian techies

Here’s the part that actually matters to us.

Indians make up over 70% of all approved H-1B petitions every year. If you’re an Indian engineer in the US, odds are your green card path runs straight through one of these very companies.

Now, to be clear: a PERM suspension is not the same as losing your H-1B. You’re not getting deported tomorrow. But it freezes the green card pipeline at these employers. Pending PERM? Now in limbo. About to file? Not through these companies, you’re not.

The market felt it too — Infosys and Wipro’s US-listed shares (ADRs) slipped up to 3% on the news.

The twist nobody’s shouting about

The crackdown isn’t stopping at IT firms. Vance also opened an investigation into the J-1 visa program at nine major universities — including Harvard, Stanford, Yale and Caltech.

The accusation? That these schools use J-1 exchange-visitor visas to undercut the wages of American grad students and researchers. And the tone tells you exactly how serious this is:

I don’t care how prestigious the university thinks it is. Break the law and screw the American people, and I will personally cuff you in the university square.

That’s Labor Department Inspector General Anthony D’Esposito. A dedicated visa fraud strike team is being assembled as we speak.

What happens next

• Legal fights. These companies have deep pockets. A suspension won’t go unchallenged in court.
• Company statements. Most have stayed quiet so far, but that won’t last.
• The H-1B ripple. This could push more firms to hire locally or ship work offshore.
• The bigger picture. This is part of a broader “America First” labor push — expect more tightening, not less.

FAQ: quick answers

Does this cancel my H-1B?
No. This targets the PERM (green card) process, not your existing work visa. Your status isn’t revoked overnight.

My PERM is pending at one of these companies. Now what?
It’s effectively frozen for now. Check with your employer’s immigration team — every case is different.

Can I switch employers to keep the process alive?
Possibly. Move to a company that isn’t suspended and a fresh PERM can start. But talk to an immigration attorney before doing anything rash.

Is every Indian IT worker affected?
Not directly — but a freeze at eight major employers touches a huge chunk of the H-1B-to-green-card pipeline.

The bottom line

This is the most aggressive hit on the H-1B-to-green-card pipeline we’ve seen in years. For Indian tech workers, it’s a blunt reminder that the road from work visa to permanent residency was never really stable — and right now it’s wobbling harder than ever.

The immediate fallout is a frozen green card process at eight of tech’s biggest employers. The real question is whether this is just the opening act of a much bigger shake-up in skilled immigration.

So — were you expecting this, or did it catch you off guard? Drop a comment below.