US Suspends Green Card Sponsorship for 8 Tech Firms

The US Department of Labor has suspended eight technology companies from the Permanent Labor Certification (PERM) programme, the first step in employer-sponsored green card applications.

The firms are Microsoft, Adobe, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Infosys, Wipro, HCLTech, Cognizant and Capgemini.

The department will not accept new PERM applications from these companies and will not process pending cases. PERM requires employers to show that no qualified American workers are available for a role before a foreign worker can proceed to an employment-based green card. The suspension does not cancel existing H-1B visas, but Indian professionals relying on their employers for green card sponsorship could face delays and may have to stay on temporary visas for longer.

US Labor Secretary Keith E. Sonderling, said the firms had sought nearly three million foreign workers since 2009, received more than 230,000 H-1B approvals and secured over 100,000 labour certifications. He said Microsoft and Adobe were suspended due to multiple active federal investigations.

JD Vance, the Vice President of the United States, singled out Microsoft, alleging it laid off about 6,000 US workers in 2025 while benefiting from roughly 6,300 H-1B visas and nearly 3,000 green cards.

“There has been no company in the United States, unfortunately, that has abused this system more than Microsoft,” Vance said at the press conference. He added: “Our message to Microsoft is: You’re a great American company, but you’ve got to hire great American workers.”

Microsoft rejected the claims, saying the “vast majority” of its US employees are Americans. It said about 80% of the roughly 6,000 H-1B petitions it filed last fiscal year were to extend or change the status of existing employees.

For Indian IT companies, the move adds to pressure on the US visa route. TCS said its PERM applications were in single digits over the past two years and that it does not expect the suspension to affect its workforce strategy or customer engagements. “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,” the company said. TCS said it will follow any direction from the Labor Department, and that its US hiring focuses on local workers, with campus recruitment a major part of its approach. It operates across 31 offices and delivery centres in the US and plans to hire another 15,000 people there over the next five years.

Industry body Nasscom said immigration and skilled talent mobility should be treated as separate issues. “While the decision affects a specific immigration pathway, Nasscom has consistently maintained that immigration and skilled talent mobility are two distinct issues and should not be viewed through the same lens,” it said, adding that the number of employees moving from H-1B status to permanent residency through PERM is relatively limited. It noted that Indian technology companies have cut their dependence on H-1B visas and expanded local hiring in the US.

The suspension follows a series of US actions on skilled-worker visas. In September 2025, the administration imposed a one-time USD 100,000 fee on new H-1B petitions, wiping out roughly INR 62,700-63,000 crore in market capitalisation from the top 10 listed Indian IT companies in a single session, according to market reports. The fee has since faced federal court challenges. Reports this year said Indian IT firms cut their H-1B registrations for FY27 by around 92%, shifting toward local US hiring and offshore delivery.