US Suspends Microsoft, Adobe From Green Card Labor Program

At a White House news conference on 8 October 2026, Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling said the Department of Labor is suspending Microsoft and Adobe from the permanent labor certification program, known as PERM, which employers use to sponsor foreign workers for green cards. He said it was suspending six IT outsourcing firms as well: Cognizant, Infosys, Tata, Wipro, HCL and Capgemini.

“We will not accept any new or process any pending permanent labor certification applications involving these companies,” Sonderling said. Vice President JD Vance, who leads the administration’s fraud task force, said Microsoft laid off 6,000 American workers last year while it “benefited from 6,300 H1B visas and almost 3,000 green cards”. Microsoft, in a statement carried by AP, said most of its H-1B filings were for existing employees.

What the Labor Department Announced

Sonderling said the outsourcing firms were being suspended “due to ongoing criminal investigations led by the Department of Labor’s Inspector General”, and that Microsoft and Adobe were being suspended “due to multiple active federal investigations”. The firms he named, in the caption spelling corrected to the companies’ names, were Cognizant, Infosys, Tata, Wipro, HCL and Capgemini.

He gave one combined figure for the eight companies: “Since 2009, just these companies alone have requested almost 3 million foreign workers. They’ve received over 230,000 H1B visas approvals and over 100,000 permanent labor certifications.” He did not break those numbers down by company.

Sonderling also said that, because of the task force, the Department of Labor has uncovered $22 billion in visa fraud. Earlier in the same event, Vance put the fraud uncovered within Sonderling’s department at about $20 billion. The two figures, as spoken, differ.

How Vance Described the Program

Vance described two steps. The H-1B visa, he said, is how workers first enter the United States, and the PERM program is how they stay: after H-1B renewals, companies apply for a PERM so the employee can get a green card. In his words, “the PERM program is how they stay in the United States”.

He said employers advertise a job, report that nobody applied, and use that to justify hiring a foreign worker. He called H-1B workers “foreign indentured servants” because, he said, they must leave the country if they lose the job.

Vance said H-1B workers earn $20,000 less than an American citizen hired in the same position, and $48,000 less if brought in by one of the outsourcing firms. He did not name a source for those figures at the event.

What the Administration Alleges

Asked what exactly the fraud is, Vance said that applicants make certifications, including that the person being brought in has a highly specialised skill set, and that “the fraud is that they’re making representations when applying for this program that are fundamentally illegitimate and therefore ultimately illegal.”

Attorney General Todd Blanche said the Justice Department is “actively investigating companies that do this that favor foreign workers over the American people”. On penalties, he said it depends on the case and that he could not forecast one in particular.

Asked whether the suspension is temporary or permanent, Vance said “the suspension of PERM is going to last as long as it needs to” and that the goal is for the companies to change their behaviour.

Microsoft’s Response

AP carried Microsoft’s statement. Microsoft said that of the approximately 6,000 H-1B applications it submitted in the last fiscal year, 80% were “to extend or change the status of existing Microsoft employees.”

“These were not to hire new people,” Microsoft said in the statement. It said the remaining filings for new employees were for people already legally in the United States, and that “they equal only 1% of our U.S. workforce.”

AP reported that Adobe and the outsourcing firms did not immediately respond to its requests for comment.

Nadella’s Medal the Same Day

AP reported that hours after the announcement, President Trump awarded Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella the National Medal of Technology and Innovation. Asked about that at the news conference, Vance said Microsoft “is a great American company and we have a great relationship with them”, and that the administration would deny it the ability to apply for permanent residencies until it shows it will put American workers first.

The Universities

Vance named nine universities that he said merit an investigation over J-1 visas: Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Brown, the University of Pittsburgh, UC Davis, Caltech, Arizona State and MIT. He said these universities employ J-1 visa holders for federally funded grants at a rate of about 61%, against a national average of 38%.

Labor Inspector General Anthony D’Esposito said: “Subpoenas have been served, investigations are underway”. He also announced a visa fraud strike team. AP reported that MIT, Brown and Pitt said they had received and were reviewing subpoenas, and that Stanford said it would cooperate.

The Structural Read

The official terms at the event are short: Sonderling says no new or pending permanent labor certification applications involving the eight companies will be accepted or processed, and Vance says the suspension lasts as long as it needs to.

The figures on the day came from different speakers and measure different things. Sonderling put the visa fraud uncovered by his department at $22 billion and Vance at about $20 billion; Vance cited 6,300 H-1B visas for Microsoft, while Microsoft’s statement, as AP carried it, counts approximately 6,000 H-1B applications, 80% of them for existing employees.

As we read it, Microsoft’s statement answers Vance’s replacement claim with the make-up of its filings rather than their number, and that is the point the two sides contest. Neither side gave a figure for pending PERM applications.

Three Implications

H-1B EMPLOYEES AT THE EIGHT COMPANIES Sonderling says pending permanent labor certification applications involving these companies will not be processed; the officials gave no count of how many are pending.

MICROSOFT AND ADOBE Sonderling cites multiple active federal investigations; Vance says the suspension lasts as long as it needs to and that the goal is a change in behaviour.

UNIVERSITIES The Labor Inspector General announced an investigation involving nine universities over J-1 visas and said subpoenas have been served; AP reported that MIT, Brown and Pitt said they had received subpoenas.

The Business Engineer Lens

This story maps onto the Business Engineer framework AI’s Geopolitical Chokepoint.

The analysis opens: “The race for AI supremacy is being fought in the wrong arena.”

As we read it, the 8 October action sits in that wider arena: it acts not on chips or models but on the paperwork that decides which workers sponsored by Microsoft, Adobe and six IT outsourcing firms can move from a visa to permanent residence.

What Is Not Established

As read on 11 October 2026: the Department of Labor’s newsroom list showed no separate written release for this action, so the terms here are the officials’ spoken words at the news conference. Beyond citing “multiple active federal investigations”, the officials did not detail the investigations into Microsoft or Adobe.

The officials gave no count of the pending applications affected and no end date for the suspension. No charges against Microsoft or Adobe were announced at the event.

The Bottom Line

The Labor Department says it will not accept or process permanent labor certification applications involving Microsoft, Adobe and six IT outsourcing firms, citing active federal and criminal investigations. Vance says the suspension will last as long as it needs to; Microsoft says most of its H-1B filings were for existing employees.