Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) on Friday said it does not expect the US action on the green card programme to affect its workforce strategy or customer engagements, as India’s largest IT services company cited its single-digit applications under the programme over the past two years and focus on local hiring.The US on Thursday suspended eight IT firms, including TCS, Infosys, Wipro, Cognizant and Microsoft, from a programme to apply for green cards for foreign workers, contending that the practice has shut out Americans from the job market.”Our PERM applications were in single digits in the last two years, and hence we do not expect the suspension of the program to impact our workforce strategy and customer engagements,” TCS said in a statement.The company said it will comply with any directive from the US Labour Department, and emphasised its workforce strategy is firmly anchored in hiring local talent, supported by a robust campus recruitment model.”We have noted the announcement by the US Government on the Permanent Labour Certification Program (PERM), and TCS will comply with any directive from the Department of Labour. Our workforce strategy in the US is anchored in hiring local talent, supported by a robust campus recruitment model,” it said, adding that the company has built a significant local workforce across 31 offices and delivery centres throughout the country.As announced earlier, TCS said it intends to hire an additional 15,000 people in the US over the next five years to further augment its local workforce.After the US suspended eight tech firms, including prominent Indian ones, from a key green card programme, industry body Nasscom said immigration and skilled talent mobility are “two distinct issues” that should not be viewed through the same lens.The latest action comes amid mounting challenges for Indian IT companies in the US, including tighter scrutiny of work visas and higher costs for H-1B applicants. The latest development in the US – the biggest market for the USD 300-billion Indian IT industry – adds to uncertainty for tech outsourcers that rely on the cross-border movement of skilled professionals.In a statement, Nasscom said the decision affects a specific immigration pathway, but that it has consistently maintained the two issues should be kept apart.