The United States government is suspending new applications for permanent residency of foreign workers by companies including Microsoft, Cognizant, Infosys, TCS, and HCLTech, citing abuse in the entire process, according to media reports.

The US government noted that there was widespread abuse in the entire process of obtaining permanent residency, and this hurt the prospects of American citizens.

In a particular reference to Microsoft, US Vice President J D Vance said, "Our ​message to Microsoft is: You're a great American company, ​but you've got to hire great American workers."

Vance also said, "We decided to suspend the PERM (Program Electronic Review Management) program for Microsoft, which means they will no longer be able to apply, they'll no longer be able to take those H1Bs and apply for permanent resident status within the United States of America."

Permanent residency is one of the paths for foreign tech industry employees in the United States to acquire a green card. Under the PERM process, employers seek ‌certification ⁠from the Department of Labor that there is no qualified, willing or available US worker for a specific job. It's a step required before filing petitions for most employment-based green cards.

US Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling said, “Since 2009, just these companies alone have requested almost 3 million foreign workers. 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.”

The US government said some of the companies were under active federal investigation.

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