US Suspends PERM Green Card Applications for Eight Tech Companies; Vance's 'Indentured Labor' Remarks Criticized as Colonial Discourse

According to Al Jazeera, the US Department of Labor has suspended eight tech companies—including Microsoft, Adobe, Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Wipro, HCL Technologies, Cognizant, and France's Capgemini—from participating in the Permanent Labor Certification (PERM) program, meaning these companies can neither submit new applications nor continue processing cases already under review. Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling stated, "We will not accept or process any new submissions or pending permanent labor certification applications involving these companies."

Vice President JD Vance accused these companies at a White House press conference on Thursday of "replacing American workers with lower-paid foreign workers," calling foreign technical employees holding H-1B temporary visas "indentured labor." He singled out Microsoft, claiming the company laid off 6,000 American employees last year while simultaneously securing 6,300 H-1B visas and nearly 3,000 green cards. "You cannot fire American workers and then replace them with foreign indentured labor," Vance said. Sonderling used similar language, pledging to "shut down the channels of systemic fraud flooding into our country's labor market," and stated that since 2009, the suspended companies had collectively received more than 230,000 H-1B visas and more than 100,000 PERM labor certifications—"that's hundreds of thousands of jobs taken from American workers."

This stance quickly triggered strong pushback from New Delhi. India's Ministry of External Affairs issued a statement accusing Vance of using the term "indentured labor" "without basis" and "deeply offensive," saying his wording carried "painful historical and colonial legacy connotations." The statement emphasized that "talent circulation is valuable to all parties" and that Indian professionals in the United States are "highly educated and skilled contributors to the economic and innovation ecosystem." Al Jazeera reviewed this history in its report: colonial powers including Britain, the Netherlands, and France had transported more than 1.6 million Indians as indentured laborers to plantations and railway construction sites in Malaya, Mauritius, South Africa, Kenya, Uganda, Fiji, Suriname, Guyana, and other Caribbean colonies.

Microsoft, for its part, rejected in a statement the "replacement hiring" narrative implied by Vance. The company said 80% of its approximately 6,000 H-1B applications last year were for extensions or status changes for existing employees, with the remainder also targeting individuals already lawfully in the United States; the company also denied that visa applications equate to new replacement hiring, emphasizing that "talent circulation is valuable to all parties."

The policy consequences are particularly heavy for foreign workers already lawfully residing in the United States. Indian nationals account for approximately 70% of current H-1B holders; in fiscal year 2025, 62% of H-1B beneficiaries were employed in computer-related occupations. In employment-based green card backlogs, nearly one million Indian work-visa holders are trapped, representing approximately 79% of the total backlog of about 1.25 million. Al Jazeera, citing a 2025 analysis from the Congressional Research Service, noted that prior to this policy, Indian applicants in some employment categories had already faced waits of several decades. Sonderling's statement that "no pending PERM applications will be processed" has raised concerns that these foreign workers—overwhelmingly Indian—who have already waited many years may suddenly lose eligibility or face further extended wait times.

Among the eight suspended companies, five Indian IT service providers—Infosys, TCS, Wipro, HCL, and Cognizant—make up the majority; Microsoft and Adobe are American companies, while Capgemini is French. Other major users of H-1B visas in the tech sector, including Meta, Amazon, and Alphabet's Google, were not included in the suspension list. Al Jazeera commented that the H-1B system has become one of the most contentious issues in the "Make America Great Again" movement, with criticism from some supporters converging with anti-Indian immigration bias.

The Trump administration proposed in August this year to add a fee of approximately $103,000 per H-1B application—a similar fee scheme previously struck down by a federal court. The "systemic fraud" label has primarily fallen on companies led by Indian IT service providers, while those truly paying the price are hundreds of thousands of Indian technical employees already working lawfully in the United States. The Labor Department has yet to publish specific evidence or legal procedures establishing "systemic fraud" at the relevant companies, and the boundaries of the suspension and implementation details for existing backlog applicants remain to be clarified.