US Suspends Eight Tech Firms Including Infosys and TCS from PERM Green Card Programme

The US Department of Labor suspended eight technology companies from the Permanent Labor Certification (PERM) programme on 8 October. The firms are Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services, Wipro, HCL Technologies, Cognizant, Capgemini, Microsoft, and Adobe. Labour Secretary Keith Sonderling said the department would accept no new applications and would not process pending ones from these companies.

PERM is the required first step for most employer-sponsored employment-based green cards. Employers must show that no qualified US worker is available for the role. Sonderling stated that the six outsourcing firms had collectively requested nearly three million foreign workers since 2009, received more than 230,000 H-1B approvals, and obtained over 100,000 permanent labor certifications. He said Microsoft and Adobe were suspended because of multiple active federal investigations. Vice President JD Vance, who leads an anti-fraud task force, highlighted Microsoft’s recent layoffs of US workers alongside its H-1B and green-card activity.

Recent filing data show that Indian IT services companies have sharply reduced their PERM use. Between October 2024 and September 2025 they accounted for fewer than 1,400 of 117,849 total PERM requests, or under 2 percent. Microsoft alone had more than 3,000 cases decided in fiscal 2025. Infosys has recorded almost no new filings since 2022. The suspension therefore hits a pipeline that was already slowing for the Indian firms, while still blocking Microsoft and Adobe.

Existing H-1B visas remain valid. Workers who already hold approved PERM certifications are not immediately affected, but those in the queue face delays and must remain on temporary status longer. Indian professionals who relied on their employers for sponsorship now have fewer options to convert temporary visas into permanent residency. India’s foreign ministry said the decision does not advance shared ambitions.

The move is the latest step in the Trump administration’s tighter controls on skilled foreign labor. Earlier actions included higher H-1B fees and investigations into specific companies. The PERM suspension does not prevent the firms from employing workers in India or on existing US temporary visas. It does close one of the main legal routes from temporary status to permanent residency for employees of these eight companies.

Analysts note that the practical effect on US hiring by the Indian firms may be limited because their recent PERM volumes were already low. The larger immediate impact falls on employees already in the United States who expected their employers to complete the green-card process. Alternative paths, such as self-petitioned EB-1 or EB-2 national-interest waivers, remain available but are narrower and slower.