NEW DELHI: The Trump administration has stepped up its crackdown on the US immigration system, suspending major technology companies including Cognizant, Infosys, Tata, Wipro, Capgemini and HCL from the Permanent Labour Certification (PERM) programme amid allegations of abuse of H-1B visas and the employment of foreign workers.US Vice President JD Vance accused Microsoft of laying off thousands of American workers while simultaneously benefiting from thousands of H-1B visas and green cards. The administration has also put nine universities under investigation over alleged misuse of visa-related programmes, adding to growing uncertainty for foreign workers and international students in the US.Announcing Microsoft’s suspension from the PERM programme, Vance said the company had laid off 6,000 American workers while benefiting from 6,300 H-1B visas and nearly 3,000 green cards.“There has been no company in the United States, unfortunately, that has abused the system more than Microsoft.”“If you do the math, for every worker that Microsoft laid off, they replaced that worker with one and a half foreign indentured servants,” Vance said at a White House news conference.Vance also accused companies of using foreign workers to undercut American employees, saying: “This is a fundamental INSULT to the American worker and to the American way of life. We CANNOT allow visa programs that were designed to ensure that American corporations had access to the best and the brightest, to use them to undercut the wages of American workers!”
What is the PERM programme
The Permanent Labour Certification programme, or PERM, is a Department of Labour process that allows US employers to seek certification to permanently employ foreign workers.Under the process, employers generally have to demonstrate that there are not enough able, willing, qualified and available US workers for the job and that hiring a foreign worker will not adversely affect the wages and working conditions of similarly employed American workers.Once the labour certification is approved by the Department of Labour, the employer can proceed with an immigrant petition to the US Citizenship and Immigration Services, generally through Form I-140.For H-1B workers, PERM can therefore form an important step in the employment-based green card process. Suspending a company’s access to the programme can make it harder for the company to sponsor eligible foreign workers for permanent residence.
How PERM was meant to protect US workers
The PERM programme is designed to ensure that American workers are not disadvantaged when employers seek to hire foreign workers for permanent jobs. Before sponsoring a foreign worker for a green card, an employer generally has to 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 similarly employed Americans.The concern for US authorities arises when employers manipulate or bypass this labour-market test. Fraudulent recruitment can make it appear that no suitable American worker is available when, in reality, qualified US workers may have been discouraged from applying or effectively excluded from consideration. The Department of Labor’s inspector general has identified vulnerabilities in the PERM system, including concerns over fraudulent applications, inadequate supporting documentation and weaknesses in post-certification enforcement.Wages are another concern. Employers are required to meet prevailing wage requirements, which are intended to prevent foreign-worker hiring from depressing wages for American workers in comparable jobs. If employers circumvent these requirements or use arrangements that effectively reduce the foreign worker’s compensation, the government says the system can undermine the safeguards built into PERM.The administration’s latest moves have also extended beyond companies. The Department of Homeland Security has proposed a $70,000 fee for international students participating in the Optional Practical Training programme, which allows eligible foreign students to work in jobs related to their studies.