Correction, 9 October 2026

An earlier version of this article said the suspension covers only new filings. It said cases already filed are not affected. Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling said the department will not accept new applications or process pending ones from the eight companies. We have also added Microsoft’s statement.

The US has suspended eight technology companies from a programme for sponsoring foreign staff for permanent residency. It cites alleged fraud. One of the eight is European.

Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling named Microsoft, Adobe, Cognizant, Infosys, Tata, Wipro, HCL and Capgemini at a White House press conference on Thursday, Reuters reported. Vice President JD Vance announced the suspension of Microsoft at the same event.

New and pending applications

PERM is the labour certification an employer must obtain before it can petition for a worker’s green card. Sonderling said the suspension reaches applications already in the system as well as new ones.

“We will not accept any new or process any pending permanent labor certification applications involving these companies.”

Vance said the suspension will last “as long as it needs to”. He said the administration wants the companies to change how they hire.

Vance said Microsoft laid off 6,000 American workers last year. He said it benefited from 6,300 H-1B visas and almost 3,000 green cards in the same period. Microsoft said in a statement that about 80% of its H-1B applications in its last fiscal year were for current employees. They extended or changed their status, and were not new hires. It also said it pays H-1B employees the same as other staff doing comparable work.

Adobe, Cognizant, Infosys, HCL, Wipro and Capgemini did not immediately respond to Reuters. Tata Consultancy Services declined to comment.

Not the first suspension

The department’s inspector general opened a nationwide H-1B and PERM fraud investigation in July. It cited fraudulent applications, wage kickbacks and benching. It then held new filings from Cognizant and the data firm Cloudera in September.

Separately, the Justice Department took $3.2M from OpenAI in August over how it advertised PERM roles. The Department of Homeland Security proposed a $103,265 fee in August for each new capped H-1B. Prosecutors have brought no criminal charges in the labour investigation.

Capgemini is the European name

The Paris company employs 421,000 people. It took EUR 1,721M from North America in the first quarter. The region is worth 29% of group revenue and grows faster than any other. It is one of four consultancies in OpenAI’s Frontier Alliances, alongside Accenture, McKinsey and BCG.

Last month, its research institute found that 86% of large organisations have significant exposure to foreign or externally controlled supply chains. It also found that 36% would need more than a year to leave a critical provider.

Nine universities

Labor Inspector General Anthony D’Esposito announced investigations into nine universities over their use of J-1 exchange-visitor visas. They are Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Brown, MIT, Caltech, UC Davis, Arizona State and the University of Pittsburgh. D’Esposito said investigators had served subpoenas.