Plot twist: Indian IT isn't the green card villain it's made out to be

Summary

American Big Tech firms were the biggest beneficiaries of the H-1B to green card path, with Amazon, Microsoft, and Google leading in the number of PERM certifications.

The Trump administration's freeze on green-card sponsorship by India's top IT services firms hits a route they were already retreating from, an analysis of US government data over at least 17 years showed, raising questions on American claims of misuse.

On Thursday, the US suspended issuing permanent labour certificates to employees of eight IT services companies, effectively blocking their path from H-1B visas to permanent residency. Labour secretary Keith Sonderling said Tata Consultancy Services, Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp, Infosys Ltd, HCL Technologies Ltd, and Wipro Ltd, besides Capgemini, Microsoft and Adobe had received about 100,000 Program Electronic Review Management (PERM) certifications, signalling the number of American jobs lost.

However, a Mint analysis of issuances since 2008, when earliest data is available, until 2025 shows Indian IT's Big Five got less than 58,000 of the total 1.45 million certifications handed out, accounting for just 4% of the total and raising questions on US claims of misuse. During the period, the share of the Big Five in PERM certifications fell from about 10% of the total granted to less than 1%. About 1,440 PERM certificates were issued to these companies in FY25, against 7,798 in FY15.

US dominance

American Big Tech firms were the bigger beneficiaries. Amazon, Microsoft, and Google were among the largest beneficiaries of such certifications since 2008, getting about 38,254, 35,062, and 25,287 certificates, respectively.

More homegrown tech services firms are likely to be added to this list, said Peter Bendor-Samuel, founder of Constellation Research. "This is mainly because the administration is clearly attempting to restrain on-site entry of foreign labour. Still, we do not anticipate this will have a material impact on delivery."

The Trump administration has repeatedly accused Indian companies of misusing H-1B visas and securing them permanent residence, allegedly to replace American workers with Indian immigrants who work for less. To discourage foreign worker programmes, US has intensified scrutiny and increased financial burdens on H-1B hiring while launching aggressive visa-fraud probes and launching high-end investment residency paths like the Gold Card.

PERM is usually the first step in obtaining permanent residency, or a green card, in the US. To begin the green card process, a US employer, in this case the US arms of the Indian firms, must obtain labour certification through the PERM process. The employer must advertise the job opening, consider applicants, note why qualified US workers were not selected, and prove that hiring a foreign worker will not hurt wages or working conditions for American workers. Once the Department of Labor approves the PERM certification, the employer can file an immigration petition with US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).

Rising heat

A second expert said the clampdown on H-1B has intensified after Trump took power in January last year.

"The clampdown has intensified post-Trump, and the lowering reliance on PERM is also to do with the H-1B approvals that have fallen due to the regulatory environment in the US. The focus on localization and increasing subcontracting is another contributing factor," said Sushovon Nayak, lead IT analyst at Anand Rathi Institutional Equities.

However, PERM was never the preferred route for Indian IT services firms as they send employees to work at client locations in the US on H-1B visas, which are temporary work visas for those in specialty occupations. The US is Indian IT's cash cow as each of the five firms gets 35-70% of their revenue from the country.

Around 57,000 new H-1B visas were approved for Indians in FY26, down 28% from FY24, with Indians receiving about half of the total new H-1B visas. Trump's clampdown on H-1B visa holders has forced homegrown tech services companies to send fewer people on H-1B visas, according to a Mint report on 25 May.

"Our PERM applications were in single digits in the last two years and hence we do not expect the suspension of the program to impact our workforce strategy and customer engagements," TCS wrote to stock exchanges on 9 October.

"We welcome the opportunity to work with the Department of Labor and related government agencies to answer any questions they may have. We do not anticipate yesterday's announcement of such suspension to have a material impact on the organization," Infosys informed stock exchanges.

New bills

Since Trump took power, Republican lawmakers have filed at least four bills this year to curb the H-1B programme. Marjorie Taylor Greene's 'End H-1B Now Act' on 2 January and Greg Steube's EXILE Act on 9 February seek to end it. Eli Crane's 'End H-1B Visa Abuse Act of 2026' introduced on 22 April, would pause new visas, and Chip Roy's bill on 4 June would cut the maximum stay to two years from six.

Meanwhile, Indian firms are relying more on hiring in the US.

"Over the last several years, Cognizant Technology Solutions has significantly reduced the dependency on visas, while increasing local hiring and our nearshore capacity," said chief executive Ravi Kumar in an analysts' call in October last year.

On the other hand, TCS chief executive K Krithivasan said the firm had deployed even "fewer people than the number of approvals each year" and that this was a "part of a consistent reduction in dependency on visa-based talent over time".

According to a Mint analysis of the last 17 years, the number of PERM approvals for the five have reduced by more than half since FY22, with the cumulative number falling successively in each year after FY22, when they got about 3,662 labour certifications.

For now, Cognizant was the largest beneficiary of the PERM programme with 26,625 such certificates since FY08. On the other hand, Bengaluru-based Wipro got about 2,786 approvals, which was the lowest amongst Indian IT's big five.

TCS, Infosys and HCLTech got 10,831 certificates, 9,954 certificates, and 7,305 certificates in the last 17 years, respectively.