Suspending the Green Card process of eight tech companies and accusing them of depriving American workers are two different things that have been put together, experts felt after Vice President JD Vance’s announcement. Vance cited 6,000 American layoffs and compared it with 6,300 H-1B approvals and 3,000 Green Cards. But do they show that foreign workers replaced the Americans who lost their jobs? Immigration attorney Gnanamookan Senthurjothi asked as he raised 5 points on the correlation.H-1B is a non-immigrant work visa and PERM is a step in the Green Card process that gives permanent residency to the applicants. H-1Bs often take the employment-based Green Card route to become permanent residents of the US. But they are not directly linked without context.
H-1B approvals do not equal new hires
Senthurjothi said H-1B approvals do not always mean new hires — there are extensions or change of status for existing employees. “Microsoft has said that about 80% of its H-1B filings last fiscal year were extensions or changes of status for existing employees. An extension is not a new hire, and an amendment is not necessarily a new job. These categories cannot be added together and treated as replacements,” he said.
One lay-off, one hiring: Different skills, different responsibilities
The attorney argued that many specialized roles exist in tech companies and the role of one laid-off employee in one team does not always match with a foreign professional who was not laid off. They may have different skills and responsibilities and role-level evidence is needed before concluding that one replaced another.
Green Card cases are old
Senthurjothi explained that the Green Card queue is so long for Indian that the individuals who are getting Green Cards now filed for applications around 2013-2014. So 3,000 Green Cards now does not mean they have been hired now. Most employment-based Green Cards go to people already working for the sponsoring employer, often for years. PERM labor certification, where required, is filed long before the final approval,” he said.
Redressal for displacement
The attorney said that there is already a provision to address displacement by an employer. “In PERM, an employer that laid off U.S. workers in the same or a related occupation within six months before filing must notify and consider those workers,” he said.
Correlation is not proof of replacement
“Layoffs and approvals can fall in the same reporting period without involving the same jobs, teams or individuals. The Department of Labor is entitled to investigate suspected violations, and if employers made false certifications or unlawfully disadvantaged American workers, the evidence should determine the consequences. The numbers may justify asking questions. They do not, by themselves, answer them,” he said.
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