India has strongly criticised US Vice President J.D. Vance for referring to foreign workers, including Indians, as “contract slaves”. The Ministry of External Affairs said such remarks ignore the role Indian professionals play in the US economy and innovation.
The issue comes amid scrutiny of the US “PERM” labour certification route, a process companies use to support eligible foreign employees seeking permanent residency through a Green Card. Under PERM, employers must certify that hiring a foreign worker will not adversely affect wages or job opportunities for American workers.
US authorities are investigating alleged irregularities in the use of the PERM programme. In this context, the US government has temporarily removed several companies from the PERM process, including Indian IT firms Cognizant, Infosys, TCS, Wipro and HCL, along with US companies such as Microsoft.
Commenting on the action, Vance cited Microsoft’s layoffs of 6,000 US employees last year while using 6,300 H-1B visas and 3,000 Green Cards, and claimed foreign workers earn about Rs 45 lakh less annually than Americans. Responding, India’s MEA said Indian professionals in the US are highly educated and skilled, and warned that using colonial-era language is deeply offensive, noting that America’s history has been shaped by generations of immigrants’ work, investment and innovation.
