Infosys Downplays US PERM Freeze

Infosys has publicly stated that the US suspension of PERM labour certification applications will have no material impact on its business. PERM is the first step in the employment-based green card process, and a suspension effectively freezes new US permanent-residency pipelines for sponsored workers. For Indian IT services firms, this matters because the H-1B-to-green-card pathway has long been a retention and mobility tool. Infosys' calm response suggests the company has already shifted toward local US hiring, offshore delivery and near-shore centres. But the broader signal is that the US is becoming a harder place to build a long-term Indian technology career, which will reshape where senior engineers choose to stay and how GCCs in India compete for that talent. Key signal: Infosys says the US suspension of PERM applications has no material impact on its operations, even as the green-card route for Indian tech talent narrows. For hiring leaders, this matters because for CHROs and GCC leaders, the PERM freeze is not just an immigration story. It removes one of the strongest retention levers Indian IT services firms have used for US-based employees. If green cards are off the table, senior engineers and delivery leaders have less reason to accept US postings, and more reason to stay in India or move to Canada, the UK or the Middle East. That could accelerate reverse migration into Indian GCCs and product companies. It also raises pressure on compensation and role design for US-based staff who now see a dead end. TA leaders should model a future where US mobility is a short-term assignment, not a career path. Teksands view: Infosys saying 'no material impact' is technically true and strategically incomplete. The impact will not show up in this quarter's margin. It will show up in two to three years, when the best senior engineers stop seeing the US as a long-term bet and start negotiating India-based roles with global scope. GCCs in Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Pune should treat this as a talent acquisition opportunity, not a policy footnote. The companies that move first to offer global careers without US relocation will win the next wave of senior Indian tech talent.