US immigration crackdown: How Indian IT giants have long prepared for this moment

For years, Indian IT services giants had been steadily reducing their reliance on American work visas. They had been doing this by increasing local hiring in markets like the US and Europe, building delivery centers in countries closer to their biggest overseas market, and expanding their global operations. This strategic shift has enabled them to weather the storm of the recent US Department of Labor's decision to suspend eight major technology firms from the Permanent Labour Certification Programme (PERM).

The PERM programme is a key step in obtaining employment-based green cards for foreign workers. The groundwork for this transition had been laid over several years, with improvements in subsea cable connectivity and the rise of cloud computing reducing communication and data-transfer costs. The Covid-19 pandemic further accelerated acceptance of offshore work among clients.