WASHINGTON â Yes, H-1B workers at Microsoft, Infosys and Tata Consultancy Services can be affected by the PERM suspension, because it blocks new and pending labor certifications used for employer-sponsored green cards. The impact falls on their permanent-residency plans and, in some cases, the timetable for securing eligibility for longer H-1B stays. It does not automatically cancel their existing H-1B status.
The United States announced the action on October 8 against eight companies: Microsoft, Adobe, Cognizant, Infosys, Tata, Wipro, HCL and Capgemini.
Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling, speaking alongside Vice President JD Vance, said: âWe will not accept any new or process any pending permanent labour certification applications involving these companies,â according to Press Trust of India.
For an employee working legally in the United States while waiting for green card sponsorship, that means the job and the immigration plan can now move on different tracks: existing work authorization may remain valid while the labor-certification stage of permanent residency is stalled.
How the suspension affects H-1B workers
Workers whose PERM application has not been filed: A named employer cannot submit a new application under the announced restriction. An employee expecting that employer to begin a PERM-based green card case therefore faces a blocked filing until the restriction is lifted or otherwise resolved.
Workers with a pending PERM application: Sonderlingâs statement explicitly covers these cases. Processing stops even though the employer has already filed. A worker waiting for certification cannot rely on that pending application being approved on the previously expected timetable.
PERM is not itself a green card. Under Labor Department rules, employers generally must establish that sufficient qualified, willing and available U.S. workers cannot fill the position and that foreign hiring will not adversely affect comparable workersâ wages or working conditions. Certification is normally needed before an employer files the I-140 immigrant petition for a PERM-based case.
Workers approaching the six-year H-1B limit: This group may face a more urgent timing problem. State Department guidance describes qualifying extensions beyond the usual six-year maximum, including one-year extensions where a labor certification or immigrant petition was filed at least 365 days earlier.
Consequently, an employee who needs a timely PERM filing to qualify through that route could be disadvantaged if the employer cannot file. That is a potential consequence of the existing extension rules, not an announcement that every affected employee will lose extension eligibility. Other qualifying grounds and the individual case history matter.
Workers with approved PERM certifications or cases already at USCIS: The announcement stopping new and pending labor certifications does not establish that approved certifications, I-140 petitions or existing green cards have been revoked. The handling of later-stage cases requires further clarification.
Can employees keep working? The H-1B programme authorizes temporary specialty-occupation employment through a separate process. A PERM suspension alone does not terminate that authorization. Continued employment still depends on each worker maintaining valid status and meeting the conditions of their approved employment.
Why the government actedâand what remains unclear
Officials linked the suspension to investigations into alleged abuse of foreign-worker programmes. Vance pointed to Microsoftâs 2025 layoffs alongside its H-1B and green card approvals, alleging displacement of American workers. These are the administrationâs allegations, not a final court finding. Microsoft did not immediately respond to the Associated Pressâs request for comment.
The wider action follows scrutiny of Cognizantâs PERM filings and the separate Cloudera enforcement case.
Past cases show why recruitment is central. Apple reached a $25 million Justice Department settlement in 2023 after investigators found discriminatory PERM recruitment practices, including requiring mailed applications while accepting electronic applications for other roles. Apple is not among the eight companies named in this suspension.
No clear end date was provided in the reporting reviewed. The confirmed immediate effect is a halt to new and pending PERM applications. For H-1B employees, the practical question is whether that halt delays only their green card plans or also disrupts a filing timetable needed for a future extension.
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