The US on Thursday announced the suspension of eight major tech companies—Cognizant, Infosys, Tata, Wipro, HCL, Capgemini, Microsoft and Adobe—from the Permanent Labor Certification Program (PERM). This program allows companies to initiate the green card process for eligible foreign workers, including H-1B visa holders.
Announcement of this decision American Secretary of Labor Keith Sonderling did. Meanwhile, JD Vance, head and vice president of the American Anti-Fraud Task Force, was also present with him.
According to PTI News, Sonderling said, “I am suspending some of the world’s largest IT outsourcing companies—Cognizant, Infosys, Tata, Wipro, HCL and Capgemini—from the Permanent Labor Certification Programme. He said the Labor Department is also suspending Microsoft and Adobe from the program.
Difficulties increased for Indian workers
According to Sonderling, new and pending permanent labor certification applications related to these companies will not be accepted. He claimed that since 2009, these companies have filed nearly 30 lakh foreign worker applications. During this period, it has approved over 2.30 lakh H-1B visas and over one lakh permanent labor certificates.
The US Labor Secretary alleged that these appointments affected the employment opportunities of American citizens. These are millions of jobs that were taken away from American workers, he said.
What is the PERM program?
The Permanent Labor Certification Program, or PERM, is a Department of Labor process that allows US employers to obtain certification to hire foreign workers permanently.
Under this process, employers must generally demonstrate that U.S. workers are sufficiently able, willing, qualified, and available for the job. Not workers and hiring a foreign worker in the U.S. doing the same thing. Wages and working conditions of workers will not be adversely affected. Once the labor certification is approved by the Department of Labor, the employer can proceed with the immigrant petition to US Citizenship and Immigration Services.
For H-1B workers, PERM can be a necessary step in the employment-based green card process, usually through Form I-140. Suspending a company’s access to the program may make it difficult for the company to sponsor foreign workers eligible for permanent residency.
How was PERM intended to protect US workers?
The PERM program is designed to ensure that American workers are not harmed when employers seek to hire foreign workers for permanent jobs. Before sponsoring a foreign worker for a green card, an employer must generally demonstrate that there are not enough qualified, willing, and available US workers for the position and that hiring the foreign worker will not adversely affect the wages and working conditions of Americans doing similar jobs.
A concern for US authorities is when employers manipulate or bypass this labor-market test. Fraudulent recruitment can make it appear that there are no qualified US workers available, when in fact, qualified US workers may have been prevented from applying or excluded from consideration. The Department of Labor’s Inspector General has identified weaknesses in the PERM system, including fraudulent applications, inadequate supporting documentation, and weaknesses in post-certification enforcement.
