US suspends Microsoft and Adobe from green-card labor program

The United States government announced a major suspension halting green-card filings for Microsoft, Adobe, and several prominent information technology outsourcing firms on Thursday, October 8, 2026. Reported by Cnbc, Bellingham Herald, Yahoo News Singapore, and the Daily Times, the crackdown targets the Department of Labor's Permanent Labor Certification program, known as PERM, which serves as a necessary pathway for employment-based green cards.

Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling stated that the Department of Labor will not accept or process any new or pending permanent labor certification applications involving Microsoft, Adobe, Cognizant, Infosys, Capgemini, Tata Consultancy Services, Wipro, and HCL Technologies. According to Sonderling, these specific firms have requested nearly three million foreign workers since 2009, acquiring over 230,000 H-1B visa approvals and more than 100,000 permanent labor certifications. CNBC noted that Adobe and Microsoft specifically faced suspension due to multiple active federal investigations. Meanwhile, Bellingham Herald and Yahoo News Singapore reported that the twin policy actions mark the broadest strike yet against skilled-worker immigration programmes.

Media additions

Vice President JD Vance directed sharp criticism at Microsoft during the announcement, claiming the company laid off 6,000 American workers last year while benefiting from 6,300 H-1B temporary worker visas and nearly 3,000 green cards. There has been no company in the United States, unfortunately, that has abused the system more than Microsoft, Vance said, as reported by Bellingham Herald. Vance asserted that some corporations post ineffective job advertisements and subsequently cite a lack of local applicants to justify hiring lower-paid foreign workers. Vance added that the suspensions would persist as long as it needs to, emphasizing that the administration wants firms to alter their hiring methodologies.

Microsoft pushed back against the administration's claims in a formal statement released on Thursday, defending its employment practices. The company maintained that the vast majority of its domestic workforce consists of American citizens. Furthermore, Microsoft clarified that approximately 80% of the H-1B visa applications submitted in the last fiscal year were intended to extend or change the status of existing employees rather than recruit new foreign workers. The tech giant also noted that its H-1B wages rank among the highest across all H-1B filings, and that petitions are solely filed for workers meeting rigorous category standards.

The timing of the announcement coincided with a high-profile summit where President Donald Trump was scheduled to present the National Medal of Technology and Innovation to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. Nadella moved to the United States from India and joined Microsoft in 1992. Additional tech leaders honored at the summit included Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, and Advanced Micro Devices CEO Lisa Su, all of whom are foreign-born immigrants. Vance differentiated these individual leaders from corporate outsourcing models, remarking that the vast majority of American citizens support individuals who build major enterprises in the United States.

Industry observers and market analysts have begun weighing the potential consequences of the policy shift. Ken Mahoney, CEO of Mahoney Asset Management, observed that while the immediate financial impact on major technology companies may remain relatively limited, the longer-term implications for domestic innovation and global competitiveness could prove much more significant. Meanwhile, Nasscom, India's IT industry body, noted that Indian technology companies operating in the United States have already significantly reduced their reliance on H-1B visas, with relatively few workers pursuing green cards through the PERM workflow.

Beyond the tech sector PERM freeze, the administration widened its immigration and oversight sweep by targeting higher education. Labor Inspector General Anthony D'Esposito announced that subpoenas have been served to nine major research universities, including Harvard University, Yale University, Stanford University, Brown University, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Investigators plan to examine whether foreign influence, improper financial relationships, or the misuse of exchange-visitor visas are compromising federally funded research and undercutting American wages. Sarah Spreitzer, a vice president at the American Council on Education, warned that these aggressive probes could create enormous economic ripples, noting that international students historically contribute billions of dollars annually while studying in the United States.

As the administration continues to pressure corporations to keep production and employment domestic, further developments are anticipated regarding the duration of the PERM freezes, the findings of the federal investigations into Microsoft and Adobe, and the legal responses from the subpoenaed universities.