Washington, Oct 8: The Trump administration on Thursday suspended several of the world’s largest IT outsourcing firms and two big US technology companies from the Permanent Labor Certification (PERM) program, a key step companies use to sponsor foreign workers for American permanent residency.
The decision was announced at a White House event on protecting American workers and fighting visa fraud, and detailed in an official White House Rapid Response account post. A Department of Labor official identified as Sonderling said the department was suspending Cognizant, Infosys, Tata, Wipro, HCL and Capgemini — along with Microsoft and Adobe — from the program.
What the suspension means
The PERM program is the gateway for employers seeking to sponsor foreign nationals for green cards. Under the suspension, the Department of Labor will not accept new PERM applications from the listed firms or process the ones already pending, effectively freezing that route to permanent residency for their workers.
Administration officials framed the action as cutting off, in their words, the head of the snake that they allege has enabled decades of misuse of the visa system. According to data shared at the briefing, the suspended companies together requested nearly 3 million foreign workers since 2009, received more than 230,000 H-1B visa approvals, and secured over 100,000 permanent labor certifications.
Microsoft under the microscope
Microsoft was singled out in the administration’s remarks. Officials claimed the company laid off roughly 6,000 American workers in 2025 after certifying it could not find qualified US employees, yet was still approved for more than 6,000 H-1B visas and filed 3,682 PERM applications — including nearly 1,000 for the same positions held by the laid-off staff. The official described Microsoft as having abused the system more than any other US company.
Microsoft and Adobe, officials said, were included because of multiple active federal investigations, with ongoing criminal inquiries led by the Department of Labor’s Inspector General cited as justification. These are the administration’s allegations; the companies had not publicly responded at the time of reporting.
The suspensions are part of a broader task force effort under President Donald Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance aimed at ending reliance on foreign labor through fraud or systemic abuse of visa programs. Administration officials pledged further steps to realign labor certification with the goal of putting American workers first.
The move is expected to have significant implications for India’s IT services industry, which relies heavily on the US for revenue and has long depended on H-1B and PERM pathways for deploying staff.
Sources:
ET Now: US suspends immigration programs for Cognizant, Infosys, Tata, Wipro, Capgemini and HCL
The decision was announced at a White House event on protecting American workers and fighting visa fraud, and detailed in an official White House Rapid Response account post. A Department of Labor official identified as Sonderling said the department was suspending Cognizant, Infosys, Tata, Wipro, HCL and Capgemini — along with Microsoft and Adobe — from the program.
What the suspension means
The PERM program is the gateway for employers seeking to sponsor foreign nationals for green cards. Under the suspension, the Department of Labor will not accept new PERM applications from the listed firms or process the ones already pending, effectively freezing that route to permanent residency for their workers.
Administration officials framed the action as cutting off, in their words, the head of the snake that they allege has enabled decades of misuse of the visa system. According to data shared at the briefing, the suspended companies together requested nearly 3 million foreign workers since 2009, received more than 230,000 H-1B visa approvals, and secured over 100,000 permanent labor certifications.
Microsoft under the microscope
Microsoft was singled out in the administration’s remarks. Officials claimed the company laid off roughly 6,000 American workers in 2025 after certifying it could not find qualified US employees, yet was still approved for more than 6,000 H-1B visas and filed 3,682 PERM applications — including nearly 1,000 for the same positions held by the laid-off staff. The official described Microsoft as having abused the system more than any other US company.
Microsoft and Adobe, officials said, were included because of multiple active federal investigations, with ongoing criminal inquiries led by the Department of Labor’s Inspector General cited as justification. These are the administration’s allegations; the companies had not publicly responded at the time of reporting.
The suspensions are part of a broader task force effort under President Donald Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance aimed at ending reliance on foreign labor through fraud or systemic abuse of visa programs. Administration officials pledged further steps to realign labor certification with the goal of putting American workers first.
The move is expected to have significant implications for India’s IT services industry, which relies heavily on the US for revenue and has long depended on H-1B and PERM pathways for deploying staff.
Sources:
ET Now: US suspends immigration programs for Cognizant, Infosys, Tata, Wipro, Capgemini and HCL