--- title: "IBM ends visa sponsorship for most roles in its 150,000-person consulting arm" description: "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." publisher: "The Inference" section: "Policy & Labor" published: 2026-11-11T15:07:28.153Z modified: 2026-11-11T15:07:28.153Z canonical: https://theinference.org/article/ibm-ends-visa-sponsorship-for-most-roles-in-its-150-000-person-consulting-arm language: en keywords: "Immigration, H 1B, Consulting, Offshoring, Labor, AI" --- # 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. [IBM told managers this week](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-11-10/ibm-to-end-immigration-sponsorship-for-roles-in-biggest-unit) it will stop sponsoring work visas and green cards for the majority of roles in [IBM](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/ibm) 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 [1][2][3]. 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 [2][3]. ## 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 [2][3]. 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](https://www.forbes.com/sites/stuartanderson/2026/08/25/dhs-immigration-rule-proposes-a-103265-tax-on-new-h-1b-visa-holders/) through formal rulemaking, still pending [5][8]. In October, [the Labor Department suspended Microsoft, Adobe and six other firms](https://thenextweb.com/news/perm-suspension-capgemini-europe), including consultancies [Cognizant](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/cognizant), [Infosys](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/infosys), 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 [2][3]. Meanwhile the business it funds is IBM's slowest. [Third-quarter consulting revenue](https://www.techpowerup.com/353994/ibm-releases-third-quarter-2026-results) of $5.3 billion was flat while Software grew 8 percent [7]. *Chart: **Consulting is IBM's slowest segment at the moment it reprices its labor** Bars of third-quarter 2026 segment revenue for IBM: Software $7.8 billion, Consulting $5.3 billion, Infrastructure $3.7 billion, with Consulting highlighted as the only flat segment.* *Segment revenue, US$ billions, third quarter 2026, from IBM's earnings release of October 21, 2026. Year-over-year growth shown in each label. [7]* ## Two rebuilds at once The same week, rival Cognizant [dedicated more than 25,000 professionals to running Anthropic's Claude](https://www.unite.ai/cognizant-launches-claude-managed-services-with-25-000-plus-professionals/) 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 [5][8]. ## Takeaway IBM Consulting's staffing-spread business is being repriced under a hostile visa regime, with roles offered relocation offshore just as agents absorb consulting work. ## Sources 1. [Bloomberg, IBM to End Immigration Sponsorship for Roles in Biggest Unit, 10 November 2026](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-11-10/ibm-to-end-immigration-sponsorship-for-roles-in-biggest-unit) 2. [TNW, IBM ends visa and green card sponsorship for most consulting roles, 11 November 2026](https://thenextweb.com/news/ibm-visa-green-card-sponsorship-consulting) 3. [Business Insider, IBM is ending immigration sponsorship 'for the majority' of roles in its biggest unit, 10 November 2026](https://www.businessinsider.com/ibm-immigration-sponorship-consulting-roles-2026-11) 4. [Unite.AI, Cognizant Launches Claude Managed Services with 25,000+ Professionals, 10 November 2026](https://www.unite.ai/cognizant-launches-claude-managed-services-with-25-000-plus-professionals/) 5. [JD Supra (Harris Beach Murtha), Current Status of the $100,000 H-1B Fee and Related News, 22 October 2026](https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/current-status-of-the-100-000-h-1b-fee-1974927/) 6. [TNW, US suspending permanent residency programme for Microsoft and Capgemini, officials say, 8 October 2026](https://thenextweb.com/news/perm-suspension-capgemini-europe) 7. [IBM press release via TechPowerUp, IBM Releases Third-Quarter 2026 Results, 21 October 2026](https://www.techpowerup.com/353994/ibm-releases-third-quarter-2026-results) 8. [Forbes, DHS Immigration Rule Proposes A $103,265 Tax On New H-1B Visa Holders, 25 August 2026](https://www.forbes.com/sites/stuartanderson/2026/08/25/dhs-immigration-rule-proposes-a-103265-tax-on-new-h-1b-visa-holders/) --- IBM ends visa sponsorship for most roles in its 150,000-person consulting arm — The Inference. Canonical: https://theinference.org/article/ibm-ends-visa-sponsorship-for-most-roles-in-its-150-000-person-consulting-arm