IBM has a message for its immigrant workers: you can leave the country or you can leave the company. Either way, you’re gone by December 31.
The tech giant is ending visa and green card sponsorship for the majority of roles in IBM Consulting, its biggest division. Affected workers can continue working for IBM outside the US or exit the company when the year closes. That is the choice. Pack your bags or pack your desk.
The Crumbs
IBM says the decision reflects a shrinking need for visa sponsorship. “We have opted to discontinue visa and green card sponsorship for the majority of such roles in IBM Consulting,” a spokesperson said.
They also said participation has been shrinking for years and that the “supply of skills and what clients require have both shifted.” That is corporate speak for: we do not need you anymore.
The timing is not subtle. IBM made this decision after the Trump administration imposed a $100,000 fee on most new H-1B petitions and proposed changes to the lottery that favor employers paying top salaries. The Labor Department also barred Microsoft, Adobe, and a set of IT outsourcing companies from the permanent labor certification program because of federal investigations.
IBM is not the first company to do this. It will not be the last. But it is one of the biggest, and it is doing it to its own employees, in the middle of the holiday season, with a smile and a press release.
The Reality
IBM Consulting has more than 150,000 workers. The company did not say how many would be affected. But even a small percentage is a lot of people. A lot of families. A lot of children. A lot of lives upended because a corporation decided it was cheaper to cut them loose than to fight for them.
The workers have two options. They can uproot their lives and move to another country to keep their jobs. Or they can lose their jobs and their legal status in the United States. Either way, they lose.
The Bottom Line
IBM is ending visa and green card sponsorship for most roles in its consulting division. Affected workers can continue working for IBM outside the US or leave the company by year-end. The decision follows the Trump administration’s $100,000 H-1B fee and other immigration restrictions.
My Opinion
IBM just told thousands of its own employees to get out of the country. And it did it in the middle of the holiday season. This is pure cowardice because IBM could have fought the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. It could have stood up for its workers. It could have said, “These are the people who built our company, and we will not abandon them.” Instead, it chose the cheapest and easiest path and threw its workers under the bus.
The workers have two options. Leave the country or leave the company. But that’s the kind of ultimatum you issue to people you do not care about, people you see as expendable, and people you are happy to discard the moment they become inconvenient.
IBM says the decision reflects a “shrinking need” for visa sponsorship. That is a lie. IBM needs these workers. They are some of the most highly skilled people in the world. They are engineers, developers, consultants and the backbone of IBM’s consulting business. The company is not letting them go because it does not need them. It is letting them go because it is afraid of the Trump administration.
This is what corporate America has become. A machine that chews up workers and spits them out. A machine that will abandon anyone, at any time, for any reason, as long as it saves a dollar.
