PERM suspension: Vembu urges techies to return to India, Nayar sees gains for India

Zoho founder Sridhar Vembu has urged Indian techies working in the US to return home and help build India, following the Trump administration’s decision to suspend green card processing for employees sponsored by major technology and IT services firms.

“Indians have made a major contribution to America's technological prowess. Yet, a big part of America no longer wants us,” Vembu wrote on X. He acknowledged the uncertainty facing Indian professionals on work visas, saying they could face the prospect of uprooting lives they had built through years of hard work. “Come back, let's build India,” he urged.

US freezes green card processing

The US Department of Labor announced on Thursday (October 8) that it would stop accepting new applications and processing pending cases under the Permanent Labor Certification (PERM) programme involving eight companies: Microsoft, Adobe, Cognizant, Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Wipro, HCL Technologies and Capgemini.

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The move came amid allegations of abuse of employment-based immigration programmes and concerns over the impact of foreign hiring on American workers. US officials said the companies had sought nearly three million foreign workers since 2009, received more than 230,000 H-1B approvals and secured over 100,000 labour certifications. The administration has said the action is aimed at protecting American jobs.

'Beginning of another transition'

Nayar said the direct impact on Indian IT companies could be limited, noting that they accounted for fewer than 1,400 of the 117,849 PERM certifications issued last year — less than 2 per cent.

However, he argued that restrictions on the movement of Indian talent could encourage more American companies to shift technology work to India.

“The US may accelerate the movement of American work to India,” Nayar wrote on X, describing the development as the beginning of another transition for the technology industry.

He said the opportunity extends beyond traditional coding and maintenance to areas such as architecture, product engineering, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence implementation and industry-specific solutions. Indian teams, he added, should move beyond executing instructions to taking greater responsibility for product development and intellectual property.

Nayar also cautioned that advances in AI could weaken the traditional link between business growth and employment in Indian IT, making capability and value creation more important measures of success than headcount.

Vembu’s repeated appeal

This is not the first time Vembu has called on Indian professionals in the US to return. In May 2026, amid growing uncertainty over US immigration policies and visa costs, he urged Indians on visas to come home, arguing that self-respect should guide their decisions even if returning meant hardship or sacrifice.

Also read: ‘US is dead now’: Indian professional urges students to rethink American dream

Vembu has also cautioned Indian techies against waiting for shifts in the US political cycles, describing the country’s political climate as increasingly unpredictable for immigrants.

What is PERM?

PERM is a key step in the employment-based green card process. It generally requires employers to demonstrate that qualified, willing and available American workers cannot be found for a position and that hiring a foreign worker will not adversely affect the wages and working conditions of similarly employed US workers.

The suspension does not automatically cancel existing green cards or terminate employees’ H-1B visas, but it creates uncertainty for workers seeking permanent residency through the affected employers.