The American dream for many Indian IT professionals is facing an unprecedented hurdle under US President Donald Trump. Earlier, IT professionals in India joined an IT company, moved to the US on an H1-B visa and later applied for a green card. This familiar route has now been disrupted by the Trump administration.
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Last month, the Trump administration announced a suspension of Permanent Labor Certification (PERM) applications. As a result, new and pending applications involving eight tech companies, including Infosys, TCS, Wipro and Microsoft were halted in the move. The move could affect Indian professionals seeking US green cards. To be clear, existing H-1B visas and jobs remain unaffected. Still, the move is expected to push the companies to rethink hiring and expanding offshore operations.
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H-1B restrictions have already pushed Indian IT companies to rethink their US hiring plans. The PERM suspension is likely to speed up this shift. Kamal Karanth, co-founder of staffing firm Xpheno, told Financial Express in an interview that PERM is an important part of the employer-employee relationship as it shows a long-term commitment from both sides.
“Employees, irrespective of seniority, function and level, aspire to qualify for PERM on merits of impact and value creation they've done for their employer,” he explained. “Hindrance to the PERM process of any large enterprise impacts their overall employer value proposition among talent, especially senior and niche specialist talent,” Karanth said, adding that PERM suspension could weaken companies' ability to attract and retain talent.
The suspension could also affect teams handling long-term projects for US clients. This is because employees may be less willing to stay with companies that cannot offer a clear route to permanent residency.
Will Companies Hire More Americans?
One of the key objectives of Trump's PERM restrictions is to encourage companies to hire more Americans. However, this may not be easy as finding skilled US workers at reasonable costs remains a challenge.
“Onboarding local talent at scale, as a replacement for deployed talent is easier said than done. It's a challenging and expensive undertaking from both a skill-match and a cost-match point of view,” Karanth explained.
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Instead, Indian IT companies are more likely to shift their projects to India and rely on offshore and nearshore teams. Karanth added that expanding Global Capability Centres (GCCs) and operations in India remains a cost-effective option for multinational companies. This shift could create more jobs in India, with more local hiring and projects in Indian offices.
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