US Suspends Microsoft, TCS, Infosys From Green Card Program

The United States has stopped processing green card paperwork for some of the biggest employers of foreign engineers in the world. On October 8, 2026, the Department of Labor suspended Microsoft, Adobe, Cognizant, Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services, Wipro, HCL Technologies and Capgemini from the PERM program, the labor certification step that comes before most employment-based green cards. Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling said the department "will not accept any new or process any pending permanent labor certification applications involving these companies." No end date was announced.

H-1B visas are not cancelled. But for thousands of workers at these eight firms, the road from temporary visa to permanent residency is now blocked, and for some of them, the H-1B extensions that depend on a pending green card case are at risk too.

What the PERM Suspension Actually Is

The PERM suspension is a Labor Department order that blocks eight named employers from filing new permanent labor certification applications and freezes the ones already filed, citing alleged fraud and active federal investigations. It does not revoke existing visas or work permits.

PERM is the step where an employer proves to the Labor Department that no qualified, willing and available US worker exists for a specific job. Without a certified PERM, most employers cannot file the I-140 immigrant petition, and without an I-140 most workers cannot lock in a priority date, their place in the green card queue.

Who Announced It and What They Said

The announcement came at a White House press conference led by Vice President JD Vance, with Sonderling, Attorney General Todd Blanche and Labor Inspector General Anthony D'Esposito.

Vance focused on Microsoft. He said the company "laid off last year 6,000 American workers" while benefiting from "6,300 H-1B visas and almost 3,000 green cards," adding: "for every worker that Microsoft laid off, they replaced that worker with one and a half foreign indentured servants." He also claimed H-1B workers earn $20,000 less than Americans in the same role and outsourcing-firm workers $48,000 less.

Sonderling then named the six IT services firms. Microsoft and Adobe were included because of what he described as multiple active federal investigations.

The same event opened J-1 visa investigations into nine universities: Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Brown, the University of Pittsburgh, UC Davis, Caltech, Arizona State and MIT. Vance said they use J-1 visas on federally funded grants at about 61%, against a national average of 38%. D'Esposito said subpoenas had already been served.

The Eight Companies at a Glance

This did not come out of nowhere. In May, the Labor Department froze Cloudera's PERM filings for 180 days over alleged discrimination against US workers. In September, the inspector general suspended filings by Cognizant and Cloudera. October widened the same tool to household names.

How the Companies Responded

TCS said it will comply, and that its "PERM applications were in single digits in the last two years," so it does not expect any impact on its workforce strategy or client work. It repeated a plan to hire 15,000 more people in the US over five years.

Microsoft said in a blog post that of roughly 6,000 H-1B applications last fiscal year, 80% were extensions or status changes for existing employees, and the remaining new-hire filings were for people already legally in the US, equal to about 1% of its US workforce.

NASSCOM, India's IT industry body, said immigration and skilled talent mobility "are two distinct issues and should not be viewed through the same lens."

India's Ministry of External Affairs pushed back on Vance directly, calling his descriptions "unwarranted" and saying Indian professionals in the US are "highly educated and skilled contributors to its economy and innovation ecosystem."

Why Indian IT Stocks Went Up, Not Down

Traders braced for a sell-off on Friday, October 9. Instead, the Nifty IT index rose more than 3%, the Nifty 50 gained 1.37% to close at 22,535.65, and TCS jumped more than 5% in early trade on its quarterly results, even though those results showed just 0.5% constant-currency sequential growth, its weakest September quarter in three years.

Two reasons. First, TCS's own disclosure that it files only a handful of PERM cases told the market the direct hit to Indian IT is small: these firms mostly rotate staff on temporary visas rather than sponsoring green cards. Second, Indian IT stocks had already fallen about 25% this year against a 14% drop in the benchmark, per Reuters, so a lot of bad news was priced in. HCLTech and Wipro report next week.

Our Analysis: The Real Impact Falls on Microsoft and Adobe Employees

The headlines say "Indian IT firms," but the arithmetic says otherwise. If TCS files single-digit PERMs a year, the people most exposed are the ones whose employers actually sponsor green cards at scale. That is Microsoft and Adobe, whose engineers, many of them Indian and Chinese nationals, rely on employer sponsorship to stay long term.

The most dangerous effect is on H-1B time limits. H-1B status normally caps at six years. Workers can extend beyond six years only if a PERM or I-140 was filed at least 365 days earlier, or if they hold an approved I-140. A worker in year five whose employer has not filed PERM yet now has no way to start the clock. That turns a paperwork freeze into a hard deadline to leave the company, or the country.

This table is general guidance, not legal advice. Anyone affected should get an immigration attorney to review their specific dates.

Second effect: talent drain toward non-suspended employers. Expect Google, Amazon, Meta, Apple, Nvidia and mid-size tech firms to see more applications from Microsoft and Adobe engineers who need a sponsor. Recruiters will notice before regulators do.

Third effect: precedent. The Labor Department has now used PERM suspension against a startup (Cloudera), an IT services firm (Cognizant), and two of America's most valuable software companies. No company that sponsors green cards should assume it is too big to be named.

Checklist for Affected H-1B Workers

1. Find your exact PERM and I-140 status and filing dates in writing from your employer's immigration counsel.
2. Calculate the date you hit six years of H-1B time, including time spent at prior employers.
3. If you have an approved I-140, confirm your priority date and keep a copy of the approval notice.
4. Before switching jobs, confirm your new employer will file PERM quickly, and check whether your current H-1B extension rules carry over.
5. Track Labor Department notices; no written notice had been posted as of October 9.
6. If you are a student or researcher on a J-1 at one of the nine universities, ask your international office what the investigation means for your program.

For a sense of how AI is reshaping the same jobs these visas cover, try our Will AI Replace Me tool.

The Bigger US-India Picture

The suspension lands in the middle of trade talks. Our breakdowns of the US-India trade deal and the India-UK FTA both flagged worker mobility as the weakest point for India. A Vice President calling Indian engineers "indentured servants" at the podium makes that harder, and India's MEA said the move "did not advance" shared ambitions.

It also lands as US tech keeps cutting staff while spending record sums on AI, a pattern we covered in Meta's 8,000 layoffs. The administration's argument links those two facts. Companies will argue they are unrelated. Expect that fight in court if suspensions run past 180 days. More context in our tech geopolitics hub.

What To Watch Next

• A written Labor Department notice with the legal basis and duration
• Whether any of the eight sue to lift the suspension
• Whether more names are added; Vance said the program is "rife with fraud"
• HCLTech and Wipro earnings commentary next week
• USCIS treatment of I-140s already filed by the eight companies

Key Takeaways

• Oct 8, 2026: the Labor Department suspended Microsoft, Adobe, Cognizant, Infosys, TCS, Wipro, HCL and Capgemini from PERM, with no end date
• No new PERM filings and pending cases frozen; H-1B visas and current work status are not cancelled
• Vance claimed Microsoft laid off 6,000 Americans while using 6,300 H-1Bs and almost 3,000 green cards
• TCS says its PERM filings were in single digits; Microsoft says 80% of its ~6,000 H-1B filings were for existing staff
• Nifty IT rose 3%+ on Oct 9; Indian IT stocks were already down about 25% this year
• Nine universities face J-1 investigations, including Harvard, Stanford and MIT
• Biggest risk: H-1B workers near the six-year cap who cannot start PERM at a suspended employer

Sources

• Reuters, Fortune, ABC News and Fox Business on the October 8 press conference
• Ellis Immigration and Indian Express explainers on PERM mechanics and impact
• TCS stock exchange filing and Microsoft blog statement (Oct 9, 2026)
• India Ministry of External Affairs statement (Oct 9, 2026)
• India Today, Forbes India and market data on Nifty IT moves (Oct 9, 2026)