International Business Machines Corp. is ending immigration sponsorship for some roles in its largest division following a crackdown by the Trump administration on a visa program that’s been a talent pipeline for the tech industry.

“We have opted to discontinue visa and green card sponsorship for the majority of such roles in IBM Consulting,” an IBM spokesperson said.

Impacted workers can continue working with IBM outside the U.S., or leave the company at the end of the year, according to a document seen by Bloomberg that was shared with managers in that division this week. Consulting is by far IBM’s largest division, with over 150,000 workers, according to its website.

The company’s shares were down about 1% on Tuesday.

The technology industry’s reliance on foreign workers has long been a flashpoint in the debate over immigration. Since President Donald Trump’s return to office last year, the administration has seized on those concerns and pressed tech giants to do more to train and hire U.S. workers.

As part of that effort, Trump has moved to make it harder for companies to use H-1B visas to attract foreign talent. The changes have included proposals for $100,000 filing fees for most candidates and tightening the rules of how the H-1B visas are awarded in an annual lottery, giving priority to companies offering the highest salaries.

IBM secured 1,611 H-1B approvals during the 2026 budget year that ended Sept. 30, according to published data from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. That’s down a bit from 2025, when the company won 2,045 such approvals. Since 2009, IBM has successfully sponsored H-1B workers 27,863 times, making it 20th among the visa’s sponsors, according to USCIS.

Last month the administration accused Microsoft Corp., Adobe Inc. and a half-dozen other companies of abusing a U.S. worker visa program and suspended them indefinitely from using it. Microsoft has long been one of the largest users of H-1B visas, securing approval for 3,828 in 2026, according to USCIS.

The affected IBM division participated “U.S. high-skilled visa programs” to address skill shortages, the spokesperson said. But participation has been declining for a number of years and skill availability and client need have evolved, the spokesperson said.

Big Blue has refashioned itself as a high-growth software company through major acquisitions of Red Hat, HashiCorp and Confluent. At the same time, its consulting business has lagged — the division’s growth has been largely flat since 2024.

(With assistance from Jennifer A. Dlouhy and Matt Day.)

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