00:00But the big story that's breaking at the moment, the Donald Trump administration has taken on
00:04India's IT giants. Donald Trump has now suspended IT companies from the green card program that
00:13includes Cognizant, Infosys, Tata, Wipro, HCL, all suspended for their employees to hold green
00:22cards. U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance announced that the U.S. has suspended this green card
00:28process for Microsoft and Adobe. So clearly now, the United States once again cracking
00:35down, it appears, on immigrants. H-1B visas also, remember, have already come under severe
00:43strain. Rohit Sharma, our man in Washington, joins me. Rohit, give us a sense. What does
00:47this mean for many, many Indian employees working for these leading companies in the United States?
00:55Well, essentially, there are two parts to being in America. First is you get here on the work
01:02visa, and then you apply for permanent residency, which is your green card. What the administration
01:07has done today, and as Vice President J.D. Vance said, that they conducted an investigation.
01:12They found out that some of these companies are engaging in fraud. And he specifically mentioned
01:17Microsoft and Adobe. And he cited the fact that there were 6,600 people that were laid off by
01:23Microsoft last year. Well, they did file permanent residency for about 6,000 people, like foreign
01:29workers. So what it essentially means is that Microsoft, going forward, as announced by today,
01:34and we're still waiting on the fact sheet, will not be able to sponsor anybody for a green card
01:39unless and until they meet the new guidelines or unless and until they're able to satisfy this
01:44administration to say that they're not engaging in fraud. We still do not know what those KPIs are.
01:51We still do not know, you know, if they're going to hold them accountable to the previous people who
01:56laid off. But today, J.D. Vance coming out and saying that, you know, they're going to be
02:01suspending it for both Adobe and as well as Microsoft. And they're also named the which
02:08companies, which is Vipro, Infosys, TCS, Capgemini, Cognizant, and HCL. Again, a new acronym
02:16introduced today, essentially saying that these companies also engage in visa fraud. And then we
02:22saw Attorney General Blanc saying that these companies will also be investigated and such
02:26actions will be taken. Do you understand this also, Rajdeep? This is coming literally like
02:30four, three and a half weeks before the mid-tend. So some of the messaging could also be towards
02:35American workers trying to lure them to vote for the GOP, but a very, very big step by the government
02:40indeed.
02:43Okay, there is Rohit Sharma breaking that down for us. Clearly, Donald Trump on H-1B visas,
02:51now green cards, getting tough on labor coming out of India, targeting some of India's leading companies.
