Diaspora group urges Trump to ‘preserve’ PERM green card route
Washington: The Global Organization of People of Indian Origin (GOPIO) has urged President Donald Trump to preserve the Permanent Labor Certification programme, commonly known as PERM, even as a months-old suspension of software company Cloudera emerges as a test of how long the Labor Department’s curbs on eight major tech firms could last.
In a letter to the White House, GOPIO Chairman Thomas Abraham and President Prakash Shah asked the administration to “preserve the Permanent Labor Certification (PERM) program while strengthening enforcement against any abuse.”
The group asked for “clear, fair, and predictable procedures”, including for those “with pending cases.”
It warned that skilled talent could move to “Canada, Europe, or other countries.”
The appeal follows the Department of Labor’s announcement on October 8 that it would “not accept any new or process any pending” PERM applications from eight employers: Cognizant, Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services, Wipro, HCL, Capgemini, Microsoft and Adobe.
Vice President JD Vance said that day that the suspension “is gonna last as long as it needs to.”
The department announced the action at a press conference. As of October 13, it had not published a notice setting out the alleged violations, the legal authority or the duration of the suspension, according to immigration law firm Goel & Anderson.
The Cloudera case offers the clearest guide to what could follow.
The department suspended Cloudera from PERM for 180 days on May 12 through a written release, after a Justice Department complaint filed on April 28 alleged that the company’s PERM job advertisements pointed applicants to an email address that did not work. Cloudera has said the account was not working as intended.
Goel & Anderson said the likely legal basis was a federal rule allowing suspensions of up to 180 days, after which the department decides whether to resume processing or extend the action.
The Cloudera decision is expected in early November, the firm said.
It also said a refusal to accept new filings could resemble debarment and might face legal challenge under the Administrative Procedure Act. No lawsuit has been reported.
The suspension applies only to PERM and does not affect H-1B status, the firm said.
Indian firms have played down the impact. Infosys said it did “not anticipate” a “material impact”, according to the Hindu BusinessLine. Tata Consultancy Services’ PERM applications are “in single digits”, Outlook Business reported. Wipro has said more than 80 per cent of its US staff are local hires.
PERM is the first step for most employment-based green cards. Employers must show the Labor Department that no qualified US worker is available for the job at the prevailing wage.
Indian nationals face some of the longest green card backlogs because of per-country caps, and Indian professionals are the largest group of H-1B workers, many of whom rely on PERM to seek permanent residency.