Big Tech's big green card problem
- Big tech companies have pulled back on PERM applications, often the first step to a green card.
- Huge layoffs by Google, Amazon, Meta and other tech companies have made the process harder.
- Ava Benach, a top immigration attorney, advises foreign tech workers to look beyond Silicon Valley.
Big tech companies have backed off green card applications in a big way because the process has become tougher and there's less competition for talent.
This situation is making it harder for foreign tech workers to stay in the US, and it may mean overseas candidates have to search far beyond Silicon Valley and New York City for jobs in the industry.
Google stopped so-called PERM applications in January 2023, the same month it laid off 12,000 employees. PERM is a certification process run by the Department of Labor. It aims to ensure that admitting foreign workers into the country doesn't impact US workers' job opportunities, wages, or working conditions. It's often the first step toward a green card.
Earlier this year, Googlers were told the company wouldn't restart the PERM process until at least Q1 2025, according to a current employee with direct knowledge of the matter. A Google spokesperson declined to comment.
"Tech companies have been following Google's lead and taking their foot off the pedal in terms of green card applications," said Ava Benach, founding partner of Benach Collopy, a leading immigration law firm in Washington DC.
"Google has an outsized influence here," she added. "It has a reputation for treating workers well and leading on these things, so if Google stepped back, then this gives other tech companies cover to step back, too."
Amazon and Meta moves
Earlier this year, Amazon told employees it would continue to pause all new PERM filings through 2024, according to an internal announcement seen by Business Insider.
Amazon said in the memo it had initially paused PERM applications in 2023 and decided to keep these suspended until the end of this year after reviewing "labor market conditions and immigrant requirements."
While Meta continues to undertake green card sponsorships for international hires, the process has become painfully slow. Getting a green card through Meta is now taking "a year or more," a current employee with knowledge of Meta's hiring processes said.
PERM is a lot harder now
A wave of job cuts by Google, Amazon, Meta, and other tech companies has made the PERM process more complicated.
Companies now have to demonstrate that laid-off employees are not qualified for the jobs intended for foreign workers. They also have to notify people who were laid off in the past six months about job openings before filing PERM applications for foreign workers.
"With more US workers available for open positions, the labor market test fails and so the process becomes a waste of time and money for these tech companies," Benach explained.
"If tech companies have done layoffs relatively recently, they also have to notify laid off workers of new positions that may be going to foreign workers," she added. "If some of these people say 'yes, I'm interested,' then you're out of luck with the green card application."
Meta's multiple rounds of mass layoffs reduced the company's headcount by over 20%. The company is now hiring again, but it is having to work harder to explain to US Citizenship and Immigration Services why international workers are needed.
"It's hard to justify PERM after laying off people," the Meta employee told BI.
Supply and demand
Big tech companies may also be less willing to pursue green cards because of changes in supply and demand across the tech labor market.
The industry went on a record hiring spree in the previous decade, and this only intensified during the pandemic boom. When big tech companies were fighting over a limited supply of tech talent, the PERM process was a useful weapon to wield.
"This is a cumbersome, arduous process that no one likes. It often happens when companies are competing intensely for talent," Benach explained. "Saying 'we'll do your green card for you,' is a great perk to attract the best tech employees."
"So when, like now, there are more tech workers on the market, these companies don't have to do this as much," she added. "They are not all scrambling for talent anymore, or at least not as much."
Alternatives for foreign tech workers
What should foreign tech workers do if their current employer is taking too long with PERM applications, or has stopped the process entirely?
Benach advises candidates to look outside of the Bay Area and New York City for tech jobs in the US. Many other employers across the country need people with science, technology, engineering, and math qualifications, she noted.
"It's not just Google and the other big Silicon Valley companies," Benach said. "Other companies in other parts of the country are in desperate need of tech workers."
Labor market tests for the PERM process are by their nature local. And there are fewer tech workers in other parts of the country, with some people unwilling to move far for jobs. So this makes the green card process potentially easier outside of places like the Bay Area and NYC, she explained.
Big Tech is trying alternatives, too
In an email to BI, an Amazon spokesperson said the company is working with affected employees to find "alternative immigration pathways" to extend their stay in the US.
To get around PERM hurdles, some companies are opting to classify international hires as applicants for a National Interest Waiver, the Meta employee noted.
An NIW application can be done without corporate sponsorship, so an employee can "self-petition" without a specific job offer in hand. This process classifies foreign candidates as people with specific skills and experience that would benefit the US if they became permanent residents.
NIW applications jumped in 2023, according to data from the US Citizenship and Immigration Services.
Google wants to change the roles
Google is trying to fix PERM bottlenecks. On Wednesday, it filed a letter with the Department of Labor arguing for changes that broaden the list of roles that can be fast-tracked to a green card.
This "Schedule A" list focuses on jobs the Labor Department considers to be poorly supplied with talent. It hasn't been updated in 20 years, and Google argues the list hasn't evolved to meet the needs of the modern labor market.
Google is in particular need of AI experts and the company says it will be hard to hire them all.
"We project that our need for AI Engineer roles, including Software Engineer, Research Engineer, and Research Scientist roles, will increase significantly in the coming years," Google wrote in the letter. "AI advancements offer incredible promise, but the lack of skilled professionals threatens to hinder their full potential."
Are you a foreign tech worker struggling with a green card application? Get in touch:
Contact Hugh Langley through the encrypted messaging apps Signal and Telegram (628-228-1836) or via email.
Contact Kali Hays at [email protected] or on Signal at 949-280-0267.
Contact Eugene Kim, via Signal or Telegram (+1-650-942-3061) or email ([email protected]).
Reach out using a nonwork device. Check out Business Insider's source guide for other tips on sharing information securely.
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Kali Hays was a Tech Correspondent at Business Insider covering the major social media platforms like Meta, Twitter, and Snap. Her reporting covered major changes and the internal culture at these companies, the founders and executives who run them, and business developments and products. Hays also wrote frequently about AI and emerging trends and shifts in the tech industry overall. Her work has been widely cited, including by the FTC in an investigation into Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter, and she has appeared as an expert on NBC, CBS, the BBC and elsewhere. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area and can be contacted directly with information by phone or text at +1-949-280-0267. Reach out using secure messaging app Signal or with a non-work device. Find her on Twitter at @hayskali or on Threads @kalihays1.Her exclusive reporting and scoops include:Meta's Facebook Messenger hit with layoffs amid ongoing 'efficiency' pushLayoff angst looms over Meta employees as they face tough performance reviews and ongoing reorgsMeta aiming to reveal and demo Orion, its first true AR glasses, at its fall developer conferenceMeta's Responsible AI team shrinks amid layoffs and restructuring, even as the company goes all-in on AIMeta updates RTO policy with stricter mandate, saying workers may lose their jobs if they don't show up 3 days a weekLeaked documents from Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan's charity include a tacit admission that their biggest bet on education reform was a flop'He is in war time': Mark Zuckerberg's desperate, last-ditch attempt to remake himself — and MetaOpenAI is expected to release a 'materially better' GPT-5 for its chatbot mid-year, sources sayOpenAI's employees were given 2 explanations for why Sam Altman was fired. They're unconvinced and furious.AI is killing the grand bargain at the heart of the web. 'We're in a different world.'Jack Dorsey warns Block employees of coming job cuts: 'The growth of our company has far outpaced the growth of our business.'Elon Musk is considering taking X out of Europe amid EU compliance investigationLeak: Elon Musk said he wants X to be a dating app, too, in an all-hands meeting on the anniversary of his Twitter takeoverLinda Yaccarino, Elon Musk, and the most difficult CEO job on earthElon Musk's Twitter races to build a live video service as it woos right-wing media personalitiesElon Musk is moving forward with a new generative-AI project at Twitter after purchasing thousands of GPUsSnap begins a new round of layoffs with staffers expecting more next weekEvan Spiegel proclaims 'social media is dead' in leaked memo, predicts Snap is about to 'transcend' the smartphoneSnap workers say they're being closely 'tracked' to enforce compliance with the RTO mandateHow Snap misread big threats from TikTok and Apple and lost its chance at becoming an advertising giant
Eugene is Business Insider’s Chief Tech Correspondent, where he leads coverage of Amazon. His reporting spans the company’s retail operations, AWS, Alexa, and its secretive internal work culture.Previously, he worked at CNBC, Fortune Magazine Korea, and Japan's Yomiuri Shimbun. He holds degrees from NYU and Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism.In 2022, Eugene broke a story uncovering Amazon’s practice of deceptively enrolling customers in Prime and deliberately making cancellation difficult. A year later, the Federal Trade Commission sued the company, citing his reporting. That case culminated in a record $2.5 billion settlement in 2025.His reporting has earned multiple honors, including the SF Press Club’s Bay Area Journalism Award and SPJ NorCal’s Excellence in Journalism Award.Eugene lives in the Bay Area. Contact him via email at [email protected], or Signal, Telegram, or WhatsApp at 650-942-3061. Use a personal email address, a nonwork WiFi network, and a nonwork device; here's our guide to sharing information securely. ExpertiseAmazon, Jeff Bezos, Andy Jassy, e-commerce, and cloud computing.Popular ArticlesAmazon:Internal Amazon emails give an exclusive look at how CEO Andy Jassy has started to run the company, with obsessive attention to the retail business and what some employees feel is micromanagingAndy Jassy will be the next CEO of Amazon. Insiders dish on what it's like to work for Jeff Bezos' successor, who built AWS into a $40 billion business.Internal documents show Amazon has for years knowingly tricked people into signing up for Prime subscriptions. 'We have been deliberately confusing,' former employee says.Inside Amazon's flailing brick-and-mortar ambitions: missed projections, pressure to cut costs, and a war with Whole FoodsInside Amazon's complex employee-review system, where workers feel left in the dark and managers expect to give 5% of reports bad reviewsAfter 28 years, 'Day 2' finally arrives at AmazonAWS, Alexa, healthcare:Inside Amazon's struggle to break into the lucrative market for SaaS business applications, including an internal pitch to buy $38 billion HubSpotInside Amazon's struggle to crack Nvidia's AI-chip dominanceAmazon's AI data center dream runs into the reality of 'zombie' facilities, higher costs, and labor shortagesAmazon is gutting its voice assistant, Alexa. Employees describe a division in crisis and huge losses on 'a wasted opportunity.'Amazon is working on a new 'Remarkable Alexa,' but internal politics and technical issues plague the projectAmazon projected huge losses from its healthcare business in 2024, but strong sales growth, internal document reveals