Highlights:
For thousands of foreign technology workers in the United States, the path from an H-1B visa to a green card just became more uncertain.
The US Department of Labor has suspended eight major technology companies from the Permanent Labor Certification Program, known as PERM, preventing them from filing new permanent labor certification applications and stopping the processing of pending applications involving those companies.
The companies named are Cognizant, Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services, Wipro, HCL, Capgemini, Microsoft and Adobe. The move was announced Thursday by Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling alongside Vice President JD Vance as the Trump administration intensifies its scrutiny of programs that bring foreign workers into the United States.
For Indian professionals working in American technology, the development is particularly significant because several of the companies affected are major Indian IT employers.
But one point is important: a PERM suspension does not mean H-1B visas have been canceled.
What exactly is PERM?
PERM is a Department of Labor process that employers generally use as a major step toward sponsoring a foreign employee for permanent employment and, ultimately, an employment-based green card.
Under the system, an employer must demonstrate that there are not sufficient qualified, willing and available U.S. workers for the position and that employing the foreign worker will not adversely affect the wages and working conditions of similarly employed American workers.
The process is employer-driven, meaning the worker does not independently file the PERM application.
After a PERM application is certified, the employer can generally move to the next stages of the employment-based immigration process, including an I-140 petition with US Citizenship and Immigration Services.
That is why the latest suspension matters so much to foreign professionals who were relying on their employers to begin or continue the green card process.
Which companies have been suspended?
The Labor Department said the suspension covers six major IT outsourcing companies, Cognizant, Infosys, Tata, Wipro, HCL and Capgemini, while Microsoft and Adobe are also being suspended amid what officials described as active federal investigations.
Sonderling said the government would not accept new or process pending permanent labor certification applications involving the companies.
The administration has presented the move as part of a broader effort to prevent immigration programs from being used in ways that it says disadvantage American workers.
Sonderling said that since 2009, the companies collectively had requested almost three million foreign workers, received more than 230,000 H-1B visa approvals and obtained more than 100,000 permanent labor certifications.
“That's hundreds of thousands of jobs that were taken from American workers,” Sonderling said.
Those are the administration's allegations and justification for the action, rather than a judicial finding that every company named violated immigration law.
Why Microsoft was singled out
Microsoft received particular attention from Vance, who accused the company of abusing the system.
According to Vance's claims, Microsoft laid off about 6,000 American workers in 2025 after certifying that it could not find qualified US workers for certain positions. He said the company was subsequently approved for more than 6,000 H-1B visas and filed 3,682 PERM applications, including nearly 1,000 applications involving positions similar to those held by workers who had been laid off.
Microsoft did not immediately respond to requests for comment reported by news organizations.
The administration's argument is that companies should not use foreign-worker programs to fill positions that could reasonably be filled by Americans.
What does this mean for an H-1B worker?
This is where the distinction between H-1B and PERM becomes crucial.
H-1B is a temporary employment classification for workers in specialty occupations. PERM is part of a separate process used by employers seeking permanent employment-based immigration.
The Labor Department itself describes PERM as a certification that allows an employer to hire a foreign worker permanently after demonstrating that qualified US workers are not sufficiently available and that the foreign hire will not negatively affect American workers' wages and conditions.
Therefore, someone whose employer is suspended from PERM does not automatically lose their H-1B status simply because of this announcement.
The immediate problem is the green card process.
A worker who has been waiting for an employer to file PERM may now face a delay. Someone whose PERM application is already pending with the Department of Labor could also see that process frozen under the suspension.
The precise effect will depend on where an individual is in the immigration process and whether other immigration filings or protections apply.
Why the timing matters
The PERM system was already facing a substantial processing backlog.
The Department of Labor's latest processing data, updated in October, showed that PERM applications from June 2026 remained in the processing queue, while the average processing time for applications undergoing analyst review in August was 336 calendar days.
That means even before the latest suspension, workers could face lengthy waits.
A suspension affecting new and pending applications could add another layer of uncertainty for employees whose long-term U.S. immigration strategy depends on employer sponsorship.
This can be particularly important for H-1B workers approaching the limits of their authorized stay, although immigration rules can allow certain workers with qualifying pending or approved employment-based filings to receive extensions beyond the standard H-1B period. Individual circumstances matter, and workers should not assume that a PERM suspension automatically determines their immigration status.
What Indian tech workers should do now
For affected employees, the most useful step is to determine exactly where their green card case stands.
Workers should ask their employer's immigration team or attorney:
- Has a PERM application already been filed?
- Is it pending, approved or under audit?
- Has an I-140 already been filed or approved?
- What is the worker's H-1B expiration date?
- Could the suspension affect future extensions or the timing of the case?
- Are there alternative immigration strategies available?
The Department of Labor says the PERM application is filed by the employer, not the employee, making communication with the employer's immigration counsel particularly important.
A bigger shift in US immigration policy
The PERM suspension is bigger than the eight companies involved.
It is another sign that the Trump administration is taking a harder look at how the H-1B and employment-based immigration systems operate.
The Labor Department has already emphasized enforcement against what it considers misuse of the H-1B program, while the administration has argued that immigration programs should complement rather than displace the American workforce.
For Indian professionals, the immediate message is not that their H-1B visas have disappeared.
It is that the road from temporary employment to permanent residency has become more uncertain for workers whose employers are caught in the latest PERM suspension.
And with processing times already measured in months, even a temporary disruption could have consequences for workers whose immigration plans depend on moving through the system without interruption.
