WASHINGTON, October 8 (HS): The Trump administration on Thursday suspended several major IT companies, including Cognizant, Infosys, Tata, Wipro, HCL and Capgemini, from the US Permanent Labour Certification (PERM) programme, citing alleged abuse of foreign-worker programmes and the need to prioritise American workers.

US Labour Secretary Keith Sonderling announced the action, saying the Department of Labour would not accept new or process pending permanent labour certification applications involving the suspended companies. Microsoft and Adobe were also suspended from the programme, with the administration citing multiple active federal investigations in their cases.

The PERM programme is a key step in the employment-based green card process. Under the system, employers seeking permanent residency for foreign workers must demonstrate that qualified US workers are not available for the positions for which foreign workers are being sponsored.

Sonderling said the companies named in the action had collectively requested nearly three million foreign workers since 2009 and had received more than 230,000 H-1B visa approvals and over 100,000 permanent labour certifications. The administration has said it is intensifying scrutiny of foreign-worker programmes and seeking to ensure that US companies give priority to American workers.

The move could affect Indian IT professionals whose employers are sponsoring them through the employment-based permanent residency process. However, the suspension from the PERM programme does not amount to a suspension of the H-1B visa programme, nor does it prevent the companies from operating in the United States.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Indrani Sarkar