US suspends six large IT outsourcers from green-card labor certification
On October 8, Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling suspended Cognizant, Infosys, TCS, Wipro, HCL and Capgemini from the Permanent Labor Certification (PERM) program. Microsoft and Adobe were also suspended. The department will not accept new PERM applications or process pending ones involving these companies. Existing H-1B visas are not cancelled. Sonderling said the suspended firms had collectively received over 230,000 H-1B approvals and over 100,000 permanent labor certifications.
PERM is the first step to a green card, and it is how these vendors keep experienced engineers on US-based client work. With it closed, expect more attrition among their H-1B staff on your onsite and hybrid teams, and expect the vendors to move work to their offshore centers. I would plan for both. This quarter, list every named onsite engineer on your statements of work and ask each vendor how many are waiting on a green card. Add key-person and 60-day transition-notice clauses to any renewal. Get a priced option to move that work to an offshore pod, so you are not negotiating after people leave.
A question for your shortlist: How many of the engineers you've staffed on our account are on H-1B and waiting on a PERM filing, and what is your replacement and knowledge-transfer plan if they leave?
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