IBM ends visa, green card sponsorship for most consulting roles

IBM is ending US visa and green card sponsorship for most jobs in IBM Consulting, its largest business, according to an internal document shared with managers and reported on Tuesday, 10 November 2026. Under the document, staff in affected roles who depend on that sponsorship can keep working for IBM from outside the United States or leave the company by the end of the year. An IBM spokesperson confirmed the change, saying the company "opted to discontinue visa and green card sponsorship for the majority of such roles in IBM Consulting". The consulting unit employs more than 150,000 people. The move matters for Indian technology professionals, who make up a large share of skilled-worker visa holders in the US.

Two pieces of US immigration paperwork are at stake. The H-1B is a temporary work visa that lets US companies hire foreign professionals in specialised jobs, usually for up to six years. A green card gives permanent residence, and for most foreign tech workers it starts with an employer "sponsoring" them. The first formal step of that process is PERM, the labour certification in which the employer shows the Labor Department that it could not find a suitable US worker for the job. When an employer stops sponsoring, a worker on an H-1B loses the path to staying permanently with that employer, and may lose the right to keep working in the US at all.

Indian professionals are the group most exposed to such decisions. They receive the largest share of H-1B approvals and form the longest queues for employment-based green cards, often waiting many years. A worker who has spent years in the green card line with one company may now have to choose between moving to an IBM office in another country, including India, or finding another US employer willing to sponsor them. The deadline in the internal document, the end of the year, leaves about seven weeks.

The timing is notable. In October the Labor Department barred eight firms, five of them large Indian or India-heavy IT services companies, from filing new or processing pending PERM applications while it looks into allegations, according to reports. IBM was not among them, and IBM explains its own move by falling use of the programmes and changing client needs. Still, the two developments together show how US policy is pushing large IT services employers to rethink where their staff work. Commentators quoted in coverage suggest companies may move work out of the US rather than cut it, which could mean more roles in delivery centres in India.

For students and young engineers planning a US career through a consulting or IT services firm, the message is to check a prospective employer's sponsorship policy before accepting an offer, since that policy can change.

Peepals timeline: In October 2026 the US Labor Department suspended eight technology and IT companies from the PERM green card certification programme. On 10 November 2026, a Tuesday, reports based on an internal IBM document said the company was ending visa and green card sponsorship for most IBM Consulting roles, and an IBM spokesperson confirmed it. Under the document, affected employees have until the end of 2026 to relocate within IBM outside the US or leave.

Short-term: IBM Consulting employees in the US who rely on visa or green card sponsorship must decide by year-end whether to move to an IBM location abroad or leave the company.

Long-term: If other large employers follow, fewer consulting and IT services jobs in the US may come with a green card path, and more such work could shift to offices outside the US, including India.

Who is affected: Foreign workers in IBM Consulting, many of them Indian; Indian students and engineers planning US careers through IT services firms; and IBM's delivery centres abroad.

What to watch next: The year-end deadline in IBM's internal document, by which affected staff must relocate or leave.

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