Overview
- The Labor Department on Thursday suspended Microsoft, Adobe and several large IT outsourcing firms, including Cognizant, Infosys, Tata, Wipro, HCL and Capgemini, from the PERM permanent labor certification process so those employers cannot file or have processed new or pending applications.
- PERM requires employers to show the Department of Labor that no qualified and available U.S. worker can fill a job before sponsoring most employment-based green cards, and the suspension blocks that step for affected companies.
- Officials, led by Vice President JD Vance and Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling, said the moves respond to alleged fraud and instances of U.S. workers being replaced by foreign hires, and the Labor Inspector General has served subpoenas to nine universities, including Harvard, Yale and Stanford, to probe visa and research-related practices.
- Key questions remain unanswered about how long the suspensions will last, what will happen to employees with pending green-card cases, and how ongoing court challenges to the administration's broader H‑1B fee and rule changes will affect enforcement.
- The announcements build on a wider campaign to tighten skilled‑worker visas — including prior proposals for steep H‑1B fees and executive directives — and could slow hiring, complicate visas for foreign STEM workers, and reshape how universities and employers use exchange and student visas.