09 October,2026 03:17 PM IST | Mumbai | mid-day online correspondent
Zoho founder Vembu says Indians who are on a visa in the US face uncertainty. Representational Image. File pic.
Zoho Founder Sridhar Vembu on Friday urged Indian IT professionals in the US to return to India after the Trump administration suspended IT firms from the green card programme and said many face uncertainty after contributing to America's technological development.
"Indians have made a major contribution to America's technological prowess. Yet, a big part of America no longer wants us," he said in a post on X.
Noting the crackdown on H-1B visa in the US, Vembu said many professionals who have built their life with hard work now have to reconsider their future.
"Indians who are on a visa in the US face the painful prospect of uprooting the life you have built with hard work," he added.
He called the professionals to channelise their efforts in helping India grow.
"Let this be the birth pains of a bold new future. Come back, let's build India," he said.
Vembu's remarks came after the US suspended eight IT firms, including TCS, Infosys, Wipro, Cognizant and Microsoft, from PERM to apply for green cards for foreign workers. It contended that the practice has shut out Americans from the job market.
The Permanent Labour Certification programme, commonly known as PERM, is a key step for many employers seeking employment-based permanent residence for foreign workers.
The Trump administration on Thursday announced the suspension of a key employment-based green card process for eight major technology and outsourcing companies, including India's Infosys, Tata, Wipro and HCL, as Vice-President JD Vance announced a sweeping crackdown on alleged visa fraud.
The action also covers Cognizant, Capgemini, Microsoft and Adobe. It prevents the companies from filing new permanent labour certification applications and halts the processing of pending applications under the programme.
US Labour Secretary Keith Sonderling announced the decision at a press conference led by Vance, saying the action followed ongoing criminal and federal investigations.
"I am hereby suspending from the Permanent Labour Certification Programme some of the largest IT outsourcing firms in the world, Cognizant, Infosys, Tata (TCS), Wipro, HCL, and Capgemini," Labour Secretary Keith Sonderling said, adding the Department of Labour is also suspending Microsoft and Adobe from the programme due to multiple active federal investigations.
Sonderling said the companies named in the action had collectively requested nearly three million foreign workers since 2009. According to figures he presented, they had received more than 2.3 lakh H-1B visa approvals and over 1 lakh permanent labour certifications.
Vance accused employers of using the H-1B programme to replace American workers with lower-paid foreign employees.
"The H-1B visa program is meant to allow companies to bring in really the best of the best from outside the United States of America for positions that are completely impossible to fill with American workers," he said.
