Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has said the US government’s temporary suspension of the permanent labour certification programme, or PERM, will not affect its workforce strategy or customer engagements in the country, citing a low number of applications in recent years.
“Our PERM applications were in single digits in the last two years and hence we do not expect the suspension of the programme to impact our workforce strategy and customer engagements,” TCS said in a statement on Friday.
The US Department of Labor said on Thursday that companies including Microsoft, Adobe, Infosys, TCS, Cognizant, HCLTech and Capgemini would be suspended from the PERM programme. The programme is used by employers seeking permanent labour certification for eligible foreign workers before they can apply for employment-based permanent residency.
TCS, India’s largest IT services provider, said its US workforce strategy is focused on hiring local talent through a campus recruitment model. The company said it had established a local workforce across 31 offices and delivery centres in the country.
“As we had announced earlier, we intend to hire an additional 15,000 people in the US over the next five years, to further augment our local workforce,” the company said.
The announcement comes as Indian technology companies seek to reduce their dependence on H-1B visas and PERM-related immigration pathways. The shift has included greater engagement with colleges and efforts to expand recruitment within the US, although the supply of skilled workers has not fully matched demand, according to the report.
The US administration under President Donald Trump has argued that technology companies use legal immigration routes to bring in lower-cost labour and displace local workers. The PERM suspension is part of a broader set of measures targeting legal and illegal immigration.
Industry body Nasscom criticised the temporary restrictions on companies, including Indian technology firms. It said immigration and skilled talent mobility were separate issues and should not be considered through the same lens.
Nasscom also said the number of employees moving from H-1B visas to permanent residency through the PERM process was relatively limited. The industry body said Indian technology companies operated across more than 80 countries and had consistently committed to complying with local laws and regulatory requirements.
For TCS, the immediate position is that the suspension will not alter its announced US hiring target. The company’s stated next step is to continue expanding its local workforce through its network of offices, delivery centres and campus recruitment partnerships over the next five years.
