US Blocks Eight Tech Firms From Green Card Sponsorship

Microsoft laid off about 6,000 American workers in 2025, Vice President JD Vance said, while the company used 6,300 H-1B visas. On October 8, 2026, the Trump administration used those figures to accuse Microsoft of misusing the route from temporary work visas to permanent residency. Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling announced the company’s suspension at a news conference with Vance. ^4,16

That suspension covers PERM, the Labor Department process employers generally need before sponsoring a worker for an employment-based green card. The department will reject new applications and stop processing pending ones for eight companies: Microsoft, Adobe, Cognizant, Infosys, Tata, Wipro, HCL and Capgemini. Officials said Microsoft and Adobe were suspended amid active federal investigations; they also accused the named firms of breaking visa rules. PERM requires employers to show that qualified, available US workers cannot fill a job and that hiring a foreign worker will not harm wages or working conditions. ^8,11

Those blocked filings affect workers seeking permanent residency through their employers, including Indian technology professionals. But the action does not automatically cancel existing green cards or H-1B visas, which let foreign workers take certain jobs in the United States. The administration says foreign hiring took jobs from American workers; the companies’ use of visa programs is at the heart of that claim. Microsoft said most of its US employees are American and that about 80% of its H-1B applications in the last fiscal year involved extending or changing existing workers’ status. It said those applications were not for hiring new people. ^18,23,27

That dispute now leaves the companies unable to move forward with covered green-card applications while the suspension remains in force. Vance said the restriction would last as long as needed, and Sonderling said the Labor Department would not accept new PERM filings or process pending ones. Microsoft said it would provide the administration with more information about its visa use. ^20,30