Trump's green card curbs test Indian tech workers' American dream - BBC News

With immigration curbs and tech firms cutting foreign hiring, US residency is becoming a distant dream for many Indians.

Image source, Getty ImagesImage caption, Indian tech workers are facing growing uncertainty amid US immigration curbs

For millions of Indians, the road to the ultimate career aspiration had a familiar script - an engineering degree to get a tech services job, then a posting in the US, repeated visa renewals and then the green card that gave them permanent residency in the country.

But that may end soon.

Earlier this month, the US announced it would suspend eight technology firms, including Microsoft, India's Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services, Wipro and HCL Technologies, from hiring skilled international workers on a permanent basis through a widely used visa pathway.

New and pending applications under the Permanent Labor Certification Program, or PERM, have been frozen. This is a big blow to Indians who hold a majority of H-1B visas - a temporary visa for specialists - which they used to work in the US while relying on PERM to get a green card and, ultimately, citizenship.