One Rockville-Based Filer Accounts for More Than Half of Maryland’s H-1B Approvals

As Washington suspends Tata Consultancy Services from a key green card step, federal data show how much of the state’s H-1B count rests on a single company.

By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews

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The Trump administration on Thursday suspended eight employers, including Tata Consultancy Services, from a federal labor-certification program that serves as an early step in many employment-based green card cases. Tata, a Mumbai-based Indian IT services company, files its U.S. petitions under a Rockville ZIP code, and federal records show that this one filer accounts for more than half of all H-1B approvals credited to Maryland employers.

Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling named Microsoft, Adobe, Cognizant, Infosys, Tata, Wipro, HCL and Capgemini at a White House news conference. The department will not accept new applications or process pending ones involving those companies under the Permanent Labor Certification Program, known as PERM. Employers generally use PERM to show that there are not enough able, willing, qualified, and available U.S. workers for a job, and that hiring a foreign worker will not hurt the wages and working conditions of similar U.S. workers, before they sponsor a foreign worker for permanent residency. The action does not stop these companies from filing H-1B petitions or cancel existing workers’ visas. It targets a separate step in many employer-sponsored green card cases.

Vice President JD Vance, who led the event, said the system has been abused. He said Microsoft laid off 6,000 American workers last year while receiving 6,300 H-1B visas and nearly 3,000 green cards. “You cannot lay off American workers and then replace them with foreign indentured servants,” Vance said. He added that workers recruited through outsourcing firms earn about $48,000 less than comparable Americans, and that the suspensions will last as long as needed. Microsoft disputed the characterization in a statement to GeekWire, saying about 80 percent of its roughly 6,000 H-1B applications last fiscal year were to extend or change the status of employees it already had, and that it pays H-1B workers the same as others doing comparable work. Attorney General Todd Blanche said the Justice Department is investigating and that the possible consequences include criminal prosecution and civil suits to recover money.

One filer, most of the count

“Tata entities accounted for 6,140 of them, or 54 percent.”

An MDBayNews analysis of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services H-1B Employer Data Hub records for Maryland petitioners shows how concentrated the state’s numbers are. In fiscal 2025, Maryland employers had 11,334 approved H-1B petitions, counting both new and continuing employment. Tata entities accounted for 6,140 of them, or 54 percent. In fiscal 2021, the peak year in the data, Tata had 10,526 of 15,803 approvals, or 67 percent.

Tata’s share has stayed above half in every full fiscal year since 2020. Rockville, where Tata’s petitions are listed under ZIP code 20850, accounted for 6,762 of Maryland’s approvals in fiscal 2025, or 60 percent. Tata makes up all but 622 of those.

“Rockville … accounted for 6,762 of Maryland’s approvals in fiscal 2025, or 60 percent.”

Here is how the rest of the state compares:

• Maryland employers other than Tata had 5,194 approvals in fiscal 2025, close to the 5,277 they had in fiscal 2021.
• The largest other filers, by petitioner name, were Infinite Computer Solutions of Rockville (374), GEICO (341, two spellings of its name combined), the University of Maryland (320) and Johns Hopkins University (293).
• Tata accounts for 98 percent of the drop in Maryland’s total between fiscal 2021 and 2025. Tata fell from 10,526 approvals to 6,140, while the rest of the state changed by just 83.

“Tata accounts for 98 percent of the drop in Maryland’s total between fiscal 2021 and 2025.”

What the numbers do not show

The figures are approved petitions, not people, and one worker can be approved more than once in a year. The USCIS records list the petitioner’s city and ZIP code, not where the employee works. Tata’s Maryland total for fiscal 2025 is nearly identical to the 6,139 approvals the National Foundation for American Policy reported for the company nationwide: 846 for initial employment and 5,293 for continuing employment. The near-identical totals suggest that nearly all of Tata’s nationwide H-1B petition approvals counted in that comparison are attributed to its Rockville filing location, although differences in how the two sources identify employers could account for small gaps. The records do not establish where those employees actually work. Continuing-employment approvals can include extensions, amendments, and changes of employer, so neither category is a direct count of newly hired workers.

Although fiscal 2026 ended Sept. 30, the USCIS data available for this analysis cover only part of that year, so it is left out of comparisons with full fiscal years.

“The records do not establish where those employees actually work.”

Pew Research Center reported in 2017 that Maryland had the second-highest rate of H-1B approvals per worker, 4.9 per 1,000 workers, behind New Jersey, in its look at federal data for fiscal 2013. Whatever Maryland’s rank is today, the USCIS records show that one IT services company accounts for more than half of the state’s total. TIME reported that Amazon was the only employer with more approved H-1B beneficiaries than Tata so far in fiscal 2026.

What Tata says

Tata told Reuters it does not expect the suspension to affect its workforce strategy or client work, noting that it filed single-digit PERM applications over the past two years, according to TIME. Immigration lawyers at Visa Pros noted that nothing announced revokes existing H-1B status, previously certified PERM applications, or approved I-140 petitions, though the Labor Department has not put details in writing. Tata also said in an Oct. 9 filing with Indian stock exchanges that it will comply with any Labor Department directive, and it reiterated an earlier plan to hire 15,000 additional people in the United States over the next five years. TIME cited immigration lawyer Lidice Samper as saying workers nearing the six-year H-1B limit without an earlier green card filing face the greatest risk.

What Labor Department PERM records show

Tata’s statement is about recent filings. The Labor Department’s PERM disclosure files list cases by the fiscal year in which they were decided, so they include applications filed years earlier. In the files for fiscal 2023, fiscal 2024 (older form), and fiscal 2025, Tata Consultancy Services Limited had 3,016 decided PERM cases: 1,036 in fiscal 2023, 1,467 in fiscal 2024, and 513 in fiscal 2025. Of those, 2,975 were certified (including certifications that later expired), and 41 were withdrawn. The cases were received from January 2021 through July 2024, and the last decision in the files came in June 2025.

“In the files for fiscal 2023, fiscal 2024 (older form) and fiscal 2025, Tata Consultancy Services Limited had 3,016 decided PERM cases.”

Those figures do not establish a contradiction with Tata’s statement. The files are not a complete count of applications filed during the two years Tata cited, and recently filed applications could still be pending. The Labor Department’s public processing page, as of Oct. 5, showed its regular review queue working on applications filed in December 2025. The records do show that the company used the program heavily before then.

The records also add to the address caution above. None of the 3,016 cases identifies a Maryland worksite. All but one list New York as the worksite, and the other lists Kentucky. The fiscal 2023 and 2024 records show a New York employer address, while the fiscal 2025 records show Rockville. This count is also likely incomplete, because the Labor Department publishes separate fiscal 2024 files for the older and newer PERM forms, and only the older-form file was reviewed. The disclosure records document Tata’s historical use of PERM. They do not by themselves establish misconduct in any of the applications.

A PERM worksite is the location of the permanent job being certified. It does not establish where all of Tata’s H-1B employees work.

“They do not by themselves establish misconduct in any of the applications.”

What to Watch

• The written notice. Visa Pros reported that as of the afternoon of Oct. 8, the Labor Department had not posted a press release or named the regulation it was relying on. The law firm Wolfsdorf Rosenthal points to a rule, 20 CFR 656.31(b) of the federal regulations, that allows an initial suspension of up to 180 days over possible fraud or willful misrepresentation, with extensions possible. Whether the Labor Department is relying on it for every company has not been established.
• More companies. Manifest Law reported that Vance said the action could extend to other technology companies.
• Maryland’s response. Whether the state’s congressional delegation or the Moore administration weighs in on a suspension that touches a Rockville-based filer.
• Worksite data. The Labor Department’s labor condition application records list where H-1B jobs are located. They could help estimate how much of Tata’s Rockville total is work done in Maryland.

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Sources: MDBayNews analysis of USCIS H-1B Employer Data Hub records for Maryland petitioners, fiscal 2020 through 2026 (partial), combining initial and continuing approvals. Tata records were identified by petitioner name (four name variants, all listed under Rockville ZIP code 20850). City and ZIP totals reflect the petitioner’s mailing location, not employee worksites. Microsoft’s response is from GeekWire, Oct. 8, 2026 (updated Oct. 10). Tata’s filing with the National Stock Exchange of India, Oct. 9, 2026. Alexx Altman-DeVilbiss, The National News Desk, “Microsoft, Adobe blocked from green-card program amid visa fraud crackdown,” KMPH, Oct. 8, 2026. Miranda Jeyaretnam, “Trump Admin Freezes Green Cards at Major Tech Firms, Probes Student Exchange Visas,” TIME, Oct. 9, 2026, which includes Tata’s statement to Reuters. FOX 13 Seattle Digital Team, “Trump administration suspends Microsoft, Adobe from green card program,” Oct. 8, 2026. National Foundation for American Policy, “H-1B Petitions and Denial Rates in FY 2025,” November 2025. Pew Research Center, “Key facts about the U.S. H-1B visa program,” April 27, 2017. Ujwal Jalali, Tribune News Service, “US suspends Indian IT firms from green-card programme,” The Tribune (India), Oct. 8, 2026. Wikipedia, “List of IT consulting firms” (TCS headquarters). Frank Alvarado, WR Immigration (Wolfsdorf Rosenthal LLP), “DOL Announces PERM Suspensions for Microsoft, Adobe, and Major IT Firms,” Oct. 8, 2026. Raquel Michelena, Visa Pros, “PERM Suspension 2026: What Affected Workers Should Know,” Oct. 9, 2026. U.S. Department of Labor Office of Foreign Labor Certification, PERM Disclosure Data, fiscal 2023, fiscal 2024 (older form) and fiscal 2025 (Q4 releases), dol.gov/agencies/eta/foreign-labor/performance, matched to Tata Consultancy Services Limited by employer name. Myles Ma, “DOL Halts PERM for 8 Tech Companies,” Manifest Law, Oct. 8, 2026.

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