DOL Suspends Microsoft, Adobe, and Six IT Firms From the PERM Green Card Process Over Fraud Allegations

On October 8, 2026, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) — not DHS, USCIS, or ICE, all of which sit in a different cabinet department — announced it is suspending eight employers from the Program Electronic Review Management system, better known as PERM, the labor-certification process that is the first step in most employment-based (EB-2 and EB-3) green card sponsorships. Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling named the companies at a White House Fraud Task Force event alongside Vice President JD Vance: Microsoft, Adobe, Cognizant, Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Wipro, HCL Technologies, and Capgemini. DOL says it will not accept new PERM applications from any of the eight and will not act on applications already pending from them, citing active fraud investigations.

What we know

• Announced: October 8, 2026, at a White House Fraud Task Force press event
• Announcing officials: Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling (U.S. Department of Labor) and Vice President JD Vance
• Companies named: Microsoft, Adobe, Cognizant, Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Wipro, HCL Technologies, Capgemini
• Program affected: PERM (Permanent Labor Certification), administered by DOL's Employment and Training Administration / Office of Foreign Labor Certification (OFLC) under 20 CFR Part 656 — the labor-market test an employer must complete before filing an I-140 immigrant petition with USCIS for most EB-2/EB-3 green card cases
• Stated legal basis, per immigration-law-firm analysis of the announcement: 20 CFR § 656.31(b), which lets DOL suspend processing of an employer's PERM applications once possible fraud or willful misrepresentation is referred for investigation
• Duration under that regulation: an initial suspension can run up to 180 days, after which DOL's National Certifying Officer can resume processing some or all of the suspended applications, or extend the suspension while the investigation or related court proceedings continue
• What has not happened: no debarment. A separate, later step under 20 CFR § 656.31(f) — a bar of up to three years, issued by written notice with a right to seek review — has not been applied to any of the eight
• Form of the announcement: a press conference statement, not (as of this writing) a published Federal Register notice or a DOL press release posted to dol.gov with the same specifics

Companies have engaged in a pattern and practice of hiring these workers through visa programs that we believe are not only fraudulent, but actually illegal.Vice President JD Vance, White House Fraud Task Force event, October 8, 2026, as reported by multiple news outlets

Why this is a DOL story, not a DHS/USCIS story

Every other article on this site about H-1B, OPT, or green card changes this year has come out of DHS and its components — USCIS, ICE/SEVP, or CBP. This one does not. PERM sits entirely inside the Department of Labor, a separate cabinet agency. An employer completes PERM — recruitment, a prevailing-wage determination, and a labor-certification application — before it ever files anything with USCIS. Only after DOL certifies the PERM application does the employer file Form I-140 with USCIS, the step that actually moves a worker toward a green card. A PERM suspension is a DOL action on the recruitment and certification step; it has no direct mechanism to touch a visa status (H-1B, OPT, or otherwise), which DHS/USCIS controls separately.

What a PERM suspension actually stops

• A named employer cannot file new PERM applications while the suspension is in effect.
• PERM applications the employer already had pending with DOL are frozen — not denied, not withdrawn, simply not being acted on.
• Any worker whose green card case depends on a PERM filing with one of these employers cannot move to the next step (an I-140 petition, and eventually adjustment of status or an immigrant visa) until that employer's PERM case is unfrozen or refiled once the suspension lifts.
• It does not revoke, shorten, or otherwise change anyone's current H-1B status, OPT, or other nonimmigrant work authorization. Sonderling's announcement was explicit that the action targets the green card sponsorship pathway, not current visa status.
• It does not, by itself, affect H-1B cap registration, H-1B extensions filed independently of PERM, or STEM OPT.

Microsoft's response

Microsoft put out a statement the same day disputing the administration's framing, though notably without directly addressing the suspension itself. The company said roughly 80% of the approximately 6,000 H-1B petitions it filed in its last fiscal year were to extend or change the status of employees it already employed, not to hire new workers from abroad, and that H-1B hires represent about 1% of its U.S. workforce. Microsoft said it pays H-1B employees comparably to others doing similar work and said it looks forward to "providing the Administration with additional information." Tata Consultancy Services separately told press it does not expect the action to have a material impact on its workforce strategy or client engagements.

What is confirmed versus what is not

• Confirmed: the October 8, 2026 public announcement itself, the eight named companies, the stated rationale (fraud investigations, worker-displacement allegations), and Microsoft's and TCS's public responses — all corroborated across multiple independent news outlets and immigration-law-firm client alerts.
• Not yet independently verified in a public written DOL document: the exact regulatory authority invoked for each company, the specific allegations or evidence behind each suspension, a formal end date, and whether every named company received (or will receive) the same written notice procedure that 20 CFR 656.31 contemplates. Immigration counsel are advising clients to confirm particulars against DOL's own written notices once those surface rather than relying on the press-conference framing alone.
• Also unconfirmed: the specific legal entities covered by each company name, and whether PERM cases DOL had already certified before October 8 are affected (early reporting suggests they are not, since the suspension targets new and pending filings).

What this means if you have a pending green card case

• If your employer is not one of the eight named companies, this action does not reach your PERM or I-140 case.
• If you work for one of the eight and have a PERM application pending or planned, expect delay rather than denial for now — the applications are frozen, not rejected, and the regulation contemplates resumption after up to 180 days unless DOL extends the suspension.
• Your current H-1B, OPT, or other nonimmigrant status is not affected by this announcement; continue to track your own status expiration and any extension filings separately from your green card timeline.
• If your I-140 was already approved and you are only waiting on a visa number (priority date) or have an adjustment of status application pending, this announcement targets the PERM step that precedes I-140 filing — it is not reported to reach cases already past that point, but confirm your specific case posture with counsel given how much here is still unwritten.

Bottom line

As of October 8, 2026, DOL has announced — at a press conference, not yet in a published written notice — that it is suspending PERM green-card sponsorship for Microsoft, Adobe, Cognizant, Infosys, TCS, Wipro, HCL, and Capgemini, citing fraud investigations. If your employer is on that list and you have a pending or planned PERM case, expect your green card timeline to stall while the suspension is in effect; your current visa status is untouched either way. We will update this article once DOL publishes written notices or a formal action with the specifics that are still missing from the public announcement.