US Pulls Green Cards for Tech Firms Over Alleged Abuse

The United States government has pulled a plug on a major green card pathway for foreign workers, effectively shutting out top tech giants like Microsoft from the process. Vice President JD Vance called this move a direct response to what he sees as corporate abuse of the immigration system. The administration argues these firms hire lower-paid foreigners at the cost of American jobs.

Vance went so far as to label many of these foreign employees "indentured servants." He claimed the PERM programme is now rife with fraud. His main complaint centers on companies that allegedly lay off US staff only to replace them with immigrants who earn less. This strategy, he insists, undercuts wages for American workers across the industry.

"We have got to hire great American workers," Vance said during a White House news conference Thursday. "You cannot lay off American workers and then replace them with foreign indentured servants." Labour Secretary Keith Sonderling echoed this sentiment, promising to shut down what he called a pipeline of systemic fraud flooding the country. He noted that the trouble does not end just because someone gets hired; the job often becomes a pathway for those workers and their families to stay permanently and eventually become citizens.

The PERM programme is supposed to prove there are not enough US workers available for a specific role before an employer can bring in a foreigner. It is also meant to ensure pay scales do not drop for local staff. Many skilled immigrants start on temporary H-1B visas before moving through PERM toward permanent residency. This new policy threatens thousands of people who have waited years while application backlogs cleared slowly.

Specific targets include Microsoft, Adobe, Cognizant, Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Wipro, HCL Technologies, and Capgemini. These firms will no longer be able to process PERM applications under the current rules. The action fits into a broader effort by President Donald Trump's administration to tighten immigration laws for both legal and undocumented arrivals.

How does this affect the workers already in line? Many have spent years waiting for their cases to move forward. Now they face an uncertain future as the door closes on one of their primary options for staying in America. The government insists it is protecting American jobs, but the human cost for those caught in the bureaucracy remains high.

Capgemini comes from France. Microsoft and Adobe are American firms. The rest, including Cognizant, Infosys, TCS, Wipro and HCL, hail from India. Sonderling made a clear statement regarding these companies. He said they will not accept any new applications or process pending permanent labour certification requests involving them. Vance added that the suspensions would remain in place for as long as needed. Other tech giants like Meta, Amazon, and Alphabet's Google rely heavily on H-1B visas but face no such restrictions right now.

Critics argue some employers misuse the H-1B visa and PERM green card process. They claim companies hire foreign workers at lower wages to cut costs and gain leverage over staff. This practice allegedly makes it harder for American employees to compete. Vance pointed out that Microsoft laid off 6,000 US workers last year while securing 6,300 H-1B visas and nearly 3,000 green cards. He calculated the math harshly. For every worker let go by Microsoft, they replaced them with one and a half foreign indentured servants according to Vance's words.

Sonderling noted that suspended companies received over 230,000 H-1B visas since 2009. They also processed more than 100,000 permanent labour certifications in that same period. That represents hundreds of thousands of jobs taken from American workers he stated directly. The H1-B visa system has become a target for vocal MAGA backers. Some married criticism with anti-immigrant stereotypes against Indians to demand scrapping the scheme entirely.

Microsoft disputed the implication that its filings meant new hires replacing US staff. In a statement, the company said 80 percent of roughly 6,000 H1-B visa applications last year extended or changed status for existing employees. The other filings were for individuals already legally in the United States. They also claimed to only file for people meeting rigorous standards. Such employees get paid equally to others doing similar work according to their statement.

What does this mean for foreign workers? The suspension makes it harder for tech industry outsiders to obtain permanent residency. Many affected are Indian nationals who account for a large share of the skilled workforce in technology. Each year offers only 85,000 slots for new H-1B visas excluding renewals yet hundreds of thousands apply. Sixty-two percent of beneficiaries in the 2025 fiscal year worked in computer-related occupations. Indian nationals make up roughly 70 percent of existing H-1B visa holders currently.

The Trump administration tried to crack down on the H1-B scheme earlier. In August they proposed a new $103,000 fee for applications after an earlier pitch failed legally. The government argues this revenue could service the vast US immigration system. It would also reduce incentives for companies trying to misuse visas. But restricting the green card pathway impacts thousands already in the country legally not just dreamers. The US typically issues around 140,000 employment-based green cards every year under normal conditions.

A strict country-based cap limits green card issuance. No single nation can receive more than seven percent of the annual total. This rule creates a bottleneck for specific groups.

Employment-based applications mostly convert H-1B visa holders into permanent residents. Consequently, applicants from India dominate this pool. Nearly one million Indians legally working in America face long waits now. They make up 79 percent of the roughly 1.25 million people stuck in the backlog. Even before recent changes, some Indian applicants faced decades-long delays. A 2025 analysis for the Congressional Research Service confirms these timelines.

Sonderling stated the US will stop processing pending permanent labor certifications from blacklisted firms. This move terrifies tens of thousands of foreign workers legally inside the country. Most are Indian citizens who waited years just to qualify. Some might lose eligibility entirely overnight. Others could face even longer waits for their paperwork.

Has India responded? Yes. The Ministry of External Affairs issued a sharp statement. They said the US suspension does not advance shared ambitions between both nations. The ministry argued that talent mobility adds value to Indian and US economies alike. It provides American companies with cutting-edge talent, innovation, research, productivity, competitiveness, and job creation.

Officials also criticized comments by Vance comparing foreign workers to indentured servants. They called these remarks unwarranted and deeply offensive. The words recalled painful historical and colonial legacy connotations. Colonial powers like the British, Dutch, and French took over 1.6 million Indian workers as indentured laborers. These people worked on plantations and built railways in colonies including Malaysia, Mauritius, South Africa, Kenya, Uganda, Fiji, Suriname, Guyana, and other Caribbean nations.

The foreign ministry added that Vance ignored a key fact. Indian professionals in the United States are highly educated and skilled contributors to its economy and innovation ecosystem. Their skills drive growth there. Restricting them hurts American businesses too.