TCS, Infosys and Wipro PERM green card filings fell sharply before US suspension

Major technology firms face a temporary ban from sponsoring foreign workers for US green cards under the Permanent Labour Certification programme, but filing data shows the companies had already drastically reduced their reliance on the scheme well before Washington acted.

The US government suspended eight tech giants—Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys, Wipro, HCL, Capgemini, Cognizant, Microsoft, and Adobe—alleging that their recruitment practices unfairly exclude American workers. The PERM process is the initial step for visa holders seeking permanent residency in the US.

Yet the immediate operational fallout for Indian IT providers is likely to be muted. Figures from recent financial years show application volumes were already plummeting across the sector.

Sharp drop in filings

At TCS, PERM filings dropped to just two in the 2026 US financial year, down from 513 in 2025 and 1,804 in 2024. HCL filed 59 applications in 2026, compared with 323 the previous year.

Wipro registered 257 PERM applications in 2024—of which 169 were denied and 88 withdrawn—before rising to 523 in 2025. Infosys submitted 87 filings in 2024.

Among non-Indian multinationals affected by the decision, Capgemini submitted 98 applications in 2026, down from 361 in 2025 and 300 in 2024. Cognizant recorded 1,236 applications in 2024.

Industry figures highlight how small a share Indian firms now represent in the overall system. Former HCL Technologies chief executive Vineet Nayar noted that Indian IT providers accounted for fewer than 1,400 of the 117,849 PERM certifications granted last year—under two per cent of the total.

Shift towards local US hiring

In a public statement, TCS said its filings had been in single digits over the past two years and that it does not expect the suspension to affect its workforce strategy or client delivery.

Industry body NASSCOM said technology companies have deliberately reduced their dependence on H-1B visas in recent years, expanding local recruitment across the US instead. As a result, fewer workers are moving through the pipeline from temporary work visas to permanent residency.

Infosys similarly stated that it expects no material impact on its business operations from the suspension.