IBM ends visa sponsorship for most roles in its 150,000-person consulting arm
Ending H-1B and green card sponsorship across a 150,000-person division is a repricing of onshore labor, made under a $103,265 fee proposal and PERM suspensions, the same week Cognizant put 25,000 staff on Claude.
Vincent Jiangtwo-minute read
IBM told managers this week it will stop sponsoring work visas and green cards for the majority of roles in IBM+1.02% — IBM, up 1.02 percent today Consulting, the largest unit in a company of 264,300 people, and gave affected employees a choice: keep the job from outside the United States, or leave by year end 123. A spokesperson confirmed the move, saying the unit's participation in US high-skilled visa programs "has been declining for a number of years" as skills and client needs evolved 23.
The work does not vanish, it moves
IBM Consulting employs more than 150,000 consultants, over half the company, and its money comes from a staffing spread: bill clients above what the people delivering the work cost 23. Ending sponsorship reprices that labor base. The relocation offer signals roles shift to offshore delivery centers rather than disappear, and the clients and the affected engineers carry the transition 2.
The policy wall behind the decision
Washington made importing labor expensive and risky. A $100,000 fee on new H-1B petitions was vacated by federal courts in June and September 2026, and the administration answered with a proposed $103,265 fee through formal rulemaking, still pending 58. In October, the Labor Department suspended Microsoft, Adobe and six other firms, including consultancies Cognizant−0.92% — Cognizant, down 0.92 percent today, Infosys−1.96% — Infosys, down 1.96 percent today, Tata, Wipro, HCL and Capgemini, from PERM, the green-card sponsorship program, over fraud allegations 6. IBM has not been accused of wrongdoing 2.
The retreat was already underway: IBM's approved H-1B petitions slid from nearly 3,000 in fiscal 2024 to 2,045 in fiscal 2025 and 1,611 in fiscal 2026 23. Meanwhile the business it funds is IBM's slowest. Third-quarter consulting revenue of $5.3 billion was flat while Software grew 8 percent 7.
Consulting is IBM's slowest segment at the moment it reprices its labor
IBM's largest workforce delivers its only flat-growth business
Data
| Value | |
|---|---|
| Software, up 8% | 7.8B |
| Consulting, flat | 5.3B |
| Infrastructure, up 4% | 3.7B |
Two rebuilds at once
The same week, rival Cognizant dedicated more than 25,000 professionals to running Anthropic's Claude for clients, with 44,000 staff trained on it 4. Consulting is being rebuilt twice at once: agents absorbing the work, policy pushing the rest offshore. Watch IBM Consulting's margin and headcount in the fourth quarter, and whether the $103,265 fee survives its own litigation 58.
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