On October 8, 2026, Vice President JD Vance and Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling announced that the Department of Labor will not accept any new PERM applications (Permanent Labor Certification) or process any pending applications involving a list of prominent tech firms. The action is being enforced amid ongoing federal investigations into alleged abuse of employment-based immigration programs.
This decision elicited outrage from a myriad of Democrats, but the group most flustered by the situation is undoubtedly Indian migrant workers and representatives. India is by far the greatest beneficiary of America's H-1B migrant worker program, and it's not even close.
Over the past ten years alone, over 8.7 million H-1B visas have been given to Indian nationals. Roughly 70% of all H-1B approvals every year go to Indians.
8.7 million non-immigrant visas were issued to Indian nationals from March 2017 to Feb 2026. A non-immigrant visa is temporary permission to come to America for a limited time- to work, study, or visit - and then return home. 8,704,481 of those visas were issued, according to the State Department. How many do you think actually returned home?
— The Visa Files (@visafile) October 7, 2026
There are a number of reasons why this level of targeted immigration is a problem. The first reason is that these visas are often exploited as a stepping stone to gain a green card and permanent residency in the US.
H-1B visas are supposed to last for only a few years at most, but migrant workers can remain in the US for far longer. This is done through the PERM certification process, which allows employers to sponsor migrant workers for a gree
