Cognizant, Infosys, TCS Face Impact from US Green Card Restrictions
The US government has banned Cognisant, Infosys, TCS, Wipro, HCL and other leading companies from the PLC Program, which means they may no longer sponsor foreign workers to get green cards. These firms have exploited visa programs at the expense of American workers, say U.S. officials.
On October 8th, the US stopped numerous companies from the Permanent Labour Certification Program, which was a devastating blow to Indian IT majors. This particular programme enables businesses to apply for green cards for H-1B visa workers. According to the US government, the practice is stealing jobs from American workers. Companies like HCL, Wipro, Tata, Cognisant, and Infosys are among those impacted.
Western powerhouses like Capgemini, Adobe, and Microsoft are also affected by the decision, which was announced by US Labour Secretary Keith Sonderling. The US Anti-Fraud Task Force chief and vice president, JD Vance, stood at his side. Sonderling announced that he is removing Cognisant, Infosys, Tata, Wipro, HCL, and Capgemini—among the world's leading IT outsourcing companies—from the Permanent Labour Certification Program.
Sonderling Accuses IT Firms Taking Jobs from Americans
As far as these businesses are concerned, Sonderling has stated that the United States government will not "any new or process" permanent labour certification applications. Additionally, he brought attention to the fact that nearly three million foreign labourers have been solicited by these corporations alone since 2009. According to Sonderling, they have been approved for over 230,000 H-1B visas and over 100,000 permanent labour certifications. He said these corporations were responsible for the loss of hundreds of thousands of employment in the United States.
Businesses can sponsor foreign nationals for permanent residency and employment under the scheme. Microsoft was singled out by Vance as the corporation that exploited the system to the greatest extent. In 2025, Microsoft certified that it could not locate qualified American personnel, and as a result, Vance brought attention to the fact that the company laid off 6,000 American workers. Still, 3,682 PERM applications were submitted by the corporation, and over 6,000 H-1Bs were approved. Among these, approximately 1,000 were for positions held by the American workers who were put off.
Alarming Situation for Indian IT Sector
Each year, a large majority of the H-1B visas are granted to Indian IT workers. In an effort to preserve American employment, the Trump administration has been implementing policies that make it harder for businesses to employ cheap labour from South Asian countries like India on these temporary visas. For H-1B non-immigrant visas, the Trump administration recently renewed an executive order that will impose a $100,000 charge for another year. Foreign nationals employed through the H1-B programme were referred to by JD Vance as "foreign bonded servants" and the businesses involved as "visa mills" in a recent statement.
Another thing he said was that "something weird" is going on at the universities that sponsor J-1 visa research scholars. Something strange is happening at these universities, according to Vance. They're making excessive use of these visas. They're taking advantage of them to pay American researchers and graduate students less than they're worth. In his statement, Vance emphasised that this is deeply offensive to American workers and their way of life. It is unacceptable for American firms to exploit visa systems meant to attract top talent in order to pay their employees less than what they are worth.
