For foreign workers working at some of the tech sector’s biggest employers, there’s another problem in an already uncertain system.
The Trump administration’s decision to suspend Microsoft, Adobe and other technology companies from the Permanent Labor Certification Program, or PERM, has reignited debate over whether stricter immigration policies protect American workers or harm American businesses.
Thursday morning, Vice President JD Vance announced the suspension during a press conference. He pointed the finger at Microsoft, saying: “If you do the math, for every worker Microsoft laid off, they replaced that worker with one and a half foreign contract employees. »
The PERM is not in itself a visa. This is the Department of Labor certification that employers typically need before sponsoring a worker for an employment-based green card. Vance said some companies abused the system and used foreign workers to undercut Americans on prices.
In a statement released Thursday, Microsoft disputed Vance’s accusations, saying most of its H-1B filings involved existing employees rather than new hires.
“Of the approximately 6,000 H-1B visa applications we submitted in the last fiscal year, 80% were to extend or change the status of existing Microsoft employees. This was not to hire new people,” the company wrote.
Besides Microsoft and Adobe, the action also affected six major IT services companies with close ties to the Indian technology sector: Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys, Wipro, HCLTech, Cognizant and Capgemini.
Here’s what immigration policy experts and Indian tech voices are saying:
Ron Hira, professor of political science at Howard University
Hira, a political science professor at Howard University and a longtime critic of the H-1B program, called the ruling against Microsoft “very significant.”
Hira has long argued that employers can use the program in ways that reduce wages and disadvantage American workers. He told The Associated Press on Thursday that there were supposed to be protections requiring employers to show that hiring an H-1B worker did not harm Americans with similar employment.
“It was never enforced,” Hira said.
Doug Rand, former senior advisor to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services
Rand, a former senior adviser to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services during the Biden administration, took the opposite view. He called Vance’s announcement “incoherent” in a statement to AP.
Rand’s argument is that this policy could worsen the problem Vance says he wants to solve. H-1B workers are typically tied to their employer because of their immigration status. A green card gives workers much more freedom to change jobs and negotiate wages.
“If the Trump administration was truly concerned that H-1B workers were ‘indentured servants,’ then the last thing it would do is prevent companies from helping their own H-1B workers obtain green cards,” Rand told AP.
Dinesh Pai, founder of Indian technology
Pai, India-based vice president of investments at Zerodha, the country’s largest brokerage, reacted to what a more restrictive U.S. pathway to permanent residency could mean for India.
In a statement on He also noted that India receives about $125 billion in annual remittances, with the United States accounting for about a quarter of that total.
But he also saw positive potential. If American companies fail to attract talent to America, he writes, “they will likely bring the work to India.”
U.S. visa uncertainty could also keep more top engineers in India to build domestic companies and AI startups, he added.
Nasscom, the Indian IT industry trade group
Nasscom, India’s leading technology industry group, said immigration policy and mobility of skilled talent should be treated as separate issues.
“While the decision affects a specific immigration pathway, Nasscom has always maintained that immigration and mobility of skilled talent are two separate issues and should not be viewed in the same light,” the group said in a statement to local media.
He also said the number of employees moving from H-1B status to permanent residency through PERM is “relatively limited.”
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