IBM has said it will stop sponsoring US foreign worker visas and green cards for most roles in its largest division. A company spokesperson said on Tuesday that IBM Consulting, the unit in question, had chosen to end sponsorship for most of its positions.
The company said its participation in US high-skilled visa programmes had fallen over several years. It added that the decision came “as skill availability and client needs have evolved”.
IBM Consulting’s size and visa figures
IBM Consulting employs more than 150,000 of IBM’s 264,300 staff worldwide. The company has relied less on H-1B visas for highly skilled foreign workers in recent years. US Citizenship and Immigration Services data show that only 1,611 H-1B petitions were approved for IBM in fiscal year 2026.
Pressure from the Trump administration on H-1B sponsorship
The announcement comes as the Trump administration pushes large companies to reduce their highly skilled foreign workforce in the US. President Donald Trump has claimed the programme is often exploited for fraud and takes jobs from skilled Americans and gives them to immigrants. Last year, the administration said it would require a one-time fee of $100,000 on new H-1B petitions.
Tech firms suspended as Nadella receives medal
In October, the administration said it was suspending several tech companies from a programme that lets H-1B workers apply for green cards. It said the move was aimed at cracking down on fraud and ensuring American workers were not being replaced by foreigners. The suspended firms included Adobe, Cognizant, Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services and Microsoft.
The suspensions were announced within hours of Trump honouring Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella with the National Medal of Technology and Innovation. Nadella, who was born in India, was one of six business leaders honoured, and five of the six were foreign-born US citizens. These included Tesla boss Elon Musk, born in South Africa, and Google co-founder Sergey Brin, who immigrated from Russia as a child.
