IBM ends visa and green card sponsorship for most consulting roles

IBM will stop sponsoring work visas and green cards for most positions in IBM Consulting, its largest division, which employs more than 150,000 people and accounts for over half the company’s workforce. The decision comes as the Trump administration tightens restrictions on skilled-worker immigration in the US.

Bloomberg first reported the change, citing a document circulated to managers this week. According to the document, affected employees can keep working for IBM from outside the US or leave the company at year-end.

IBM confirmed the decision.

“IBM Consulting participates in US high-skilled visa programs to address skill shortages,” a spokesperson said, adding that the company’s participation “has been declining for a number of years” and that it had “opted to discontinue visa and green card sponsorship for the majority of such roles”.

The company’s use of the H-1B programme has already fallen. IBM received 1,611 H-1B approvals in the fiscal year ending September 30, compared with 2,045 the previous year, according to US Citizenship and Immigration Services data.

The decision follows a year of mounting pressure on employers that hire foreign workers. In June, a federal judge struck down the Trump administration’s $100,000 fee on new H-1B applications, ruling that it amounted to an unlawful tax. The administration has since proposed a replacement fee of $103,265 through formal rulemaking.

In October, the Labour Department suspended Microsoft, Adobe and six other companies from PERM, the programme through which employers sponsor foreign workers for permanent residency, while it investigates allegations of fraud.

Microsoft president Brad Smith warned that the restrictions could cripple the US technology industry for more than a generation.

IBM has not been accused of wrongdoing. Its decision appears to respond to changing costs and conditions for hiring foreign workers. Consulting relies heavily on people delivering projects for clients, and staffing costs have a direct effect on margins.

Allowing affected employees to continue working for IBM from abroad also suggests that some roles could be relocated rather than eliminated.

IBM has a long history with the H-1B programme, which Congress created in 1990. Consulting companies have traditionally been among its largest users, making the sector particularly exposed to changes in immigration rules.

For years, sponsoring foreign workers was a routine part of hiring in the US technology industry. IBM’s decision to end the practice for most roles in its largest division shows how much that calculation is changing.