IBM visa sponsorship, IBM green card sponsorship, IBM H-1B
IBM's Canadian headquarters in Markham, Ontario. Affected employees may keep working for IBM in countries outside America Raysonho/Open Grid Scheduler

IBM will stop sponsoring H-1B visas and green cards for most jobs in IBM Consulting, its largest division, leaving affected staff with a stark choice. Those staff can continue working for IBM outside the US or leave the company by year-end, Bloomberg reported, citing an internal document.

IBM Consulting has more than 150,000 staff worldwide, IBM says, but it has not said how many visa holders are affected. H-1B workers need an employer sponsor to work in the US. The move comes as the Trump administration presses tech firms to hire more Americans.

What IBM Said

IBM confirmed the decision to reporters on Tuesday, 10 November. A spokesperson said the consulting arm would 'discontinue visa and green card sponsorship for the majority of such roles,' adding that its visa use had been falling for years. The company said skill availability and client needs had changed. The halt covers new H-1B applications and PERM labour certification, the first step in the most common employer-sponsored green card route.

IBM visa sponsorship
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IBM's reliance on the H-1B was already shrinking, as the chart below shows. US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) approved 1,611 IBM petitions through 30 September 2026, down from 2,045 a year earlier. Its 27,863 approvals since 2009 make it the 20th largest sponsor. Microsoft won 3,828 approvals in the latest year, more than twice IBM's total. US Department of Labor filings show Amazon filed about 11 times as many H-1B-related labour condition applications as IBM in the first nine months of fiscal 2026.

The Crackdown

Washington has spent months squeezing the H-1B pipeline. The Trump administration has sought a $100,000 (about £74,800) fee for certain new H-1B petitions for workers abroad, but courts have blocked its collection. In February 2026, it changed the visa lottery to favour higher wages. In October, the Labor Department suspended new and pending PERM applications involving Microsoft, Adobe and six others amid alleged abuse. Vice President JD Vance told tech firms on 8 October: 'We want you to employ American workers.'

Anthony D'Esposito, the Labor Department's inspector general, responded to IBM's decision on X. He said corporate calculations shift once scrutiny arrives, and added: 'If your business model depends on nobody checking, find a new business model.' His office investigates fraud in the department's programmes, including labour certification. The Justice Department has settled allegations of discrimination against US workers during PERM recruitment with Instacart, for $5 million (£3.7 million), and OpenAI and its subsidiary Statsig, for a combined $3.2 million (£2.4 million).

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What Happens Next

IBM has not said what happens to H-1B staff who can no longer seek a green card through IBM. Under US rules, H-1B workers who lose their jobs may receive a discretionary grace period of up to 60 days, or until their authorised stay expires if sooner, to find a new sponsor, change status or leave. About 70% of H-1B petition approvals in fiscal 2025 went to workers born in India, USCIS data shows.

The change comes amid a wider shift at IBM. The company has rebuilt itself around software through deals for Red Hat, HashiCorp, and Confluent, while consulting growth has been broadly flat since 2024.

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