India’s tech giants shrug off changes to USA’s skilled visa program

India’s peak technology industry body, NASSCOM, has shrugged off changes to the USA’s skilled visa regime, and Microsoft has denied it abuses the program. The changes, announced on Thursday by US vice president JD Vance and Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling, mean that Microsoft and Adobe can no longer use the Program Electronic Review Management (PERM) program to convert holders of the H-1B visa for skilled workers to permanent residents. Sonderling also revoked access to PERM for Indian companies Infosys, Tata, Wipro, and HCL, plus Capgemini. The secretary said the change followed criminal investigations and alleged “fraud and abuse.” “Since 2009, just these companies alone have requested almost three million foreign workers,” he said. “They've received over 230,000 H-1B visa approvals and over 100,000 permanent labor certifications. That's hundreds of thousands of jobs that were taken from American workers.” Vice President Vance weighed in with what he called a “message to Microsoft.” …