Microsoft, Adobe green card suspension: what the PERM freeze means for Indian H-1B workers
By Shamyak
Published
The US has frozen green card labour certification at eight firms, including Infosys, TCS and Wipro. H-1B status is safe, but the first step to permanent residence is shut, with no end date.
Original report
The US Labor Department has stopped accepting or processing green card labour certification (PERM) applications from eight employers, including Microsoft and Adobe, in a move announced on 8 October 2026, Newsweek and The Next Web reported (Gooding, 2026; Stanciuc, 2026). The other six are Cognizant, Infosys, TCS, Wipro, HCL Technologies and Capgemini.
For an Indian engineer on an H-1B visa at one of these firms, the visa itself is not affected, and nor are existing green cards (Stanciuc, 2026; Ellis, 2026). What stops is the first step towards permanent residence: pending PERM cases are frozen and new filings rejected, with no end date (Gooding, 2026; Schuler, 2026).
PERM is the first step, and it is now frozen
PERM is the employer-filed first step of most employer-sponsored green cards, the immigration law firm Ellis explains (Ellis, 2026). While the suspension lasts, workers at these eight firms cannot get past that first step.
- Pending cases: frozen. New filings: rejected (Gooding, 2026).
- H-1B status: workers keep it (Stanciuc, 2026).
- Existing green cards: not affected (Ellis, 2026).
- End date: none given, and more companies may be added, Ellis said; we found that in one source only (Ellis, 2026).
Washington's stated reason is fraud and American jobs.
What the US government says
The suspension was announced by Vice President JD Vance and Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling, who framed it as an anti-fraud step that protects US jobs, according to Ellis (Ellis, 2026). "You've got to hire great American workers," Vance said, The Next Web reported (Stanciuc, 2026).
Vance claimed Microsoft laid off 6,000 US workers last year while obtaining 6,300 H-1B visas and about 3,000 green cards (Gooding, 2026). The Next Web alone reported that 80% of Microsoft's H-1B applications were for existing employees (Stanciuc, 2026). Implicator alone reported that the firms received more than 230,000 H-1B approvals and 100,000 labour certifications since 2009, and that Attorney General Blanche said criminal charges were possible (Schuler, 2026). The Next Web alone reported Cognizant had already been suspended in September.
We could not find or open a primary Labor Department statement, so these figures rest on the outlets that reported them. Not everyone agrees with the policy: "Blocking green cards is incoherent policy," immigration policy expert Doug Rand told Implicator (Schuler, 2026).
The freeze lands on a queue in which India was already the longest line.
India already held 63% of the queue
About 1.8 million employment-based green card cases were waiting as of March 2023, and about 1.1 million of them, 63%, were from India, according to Cato Institute data reported by Boundless (Moodie, 2024). A 7% per-country cap applies whatever the demand.
That cap means India can receive no larger share of each year's employment green cards than any other country, despite holding almost two-thirds of the queue. Cato estimated in 2024 that a new Indian applicant in the EB-2 or EB-3 category faced a 134-year wait, and that about 424,000 people may die before getting one (Moodie, 2024). These are 2023-24 estimates, not current counts.
How outlets framed it
- The Next Web: a crackdown over alleged visa fraud that hurts American workers.
- Newsweek: tech firms blocked from an H-1B-linked green card step.
- Implicator: an escalation in limits on foreign-worker hiring.
- Ellis: a compliance alert for employers.
Questions people are asking
Does the PERM suspension cancel H-1B visas?
No. Workers at the eight firms keep their current H-1B status (Stanciuc, 2026; Ellis, 2026).
Which Indian IT firms are affected?
Infosys, TCS, Wipro and HCL Technologies are on the list, along with Cognizant and Capgemini (Gooding, 2026).
How long is the green card wait for Indians?
Cato estimated in 2024 that new Indian EB-2 and EB-3 applicants faced a 134-year wait (Moodie, 2024).
When will the suspension end?
No end date has been given, and investigations are continuing (Ellis, 2026).
What happens to cases already past the PERM stage?
Not known yet. No source we read says how cases already filed at the next stage are treated.
References
- Ellis (2026) PERM suspension: Microsoft, Adobe. Ellis. Available at: PERM suspension: Microsoft, Adobe (Accessed: 12 October 2026).
- Gooding, D. (2026) Green card update: Trump admin blocks tech companies from H-1B PERM program. Newsweek. Available at: Green card update: Trump admin blocks tech companies (Accessed: 12 October 2026).
- Moodie, A. (2024) Indians face 134-year wait for employment-based green card. Boundless. Available at: Indians face 134-year wait for employment-based green card (Accessed: 12 October 2026).
- Schuler, M. (2026) US suspends Microsoft, Adobe green card program. Implicator. Available at: US suspends Microsoft, Adobe green card program (Accessed: 12 October 2026).
- Stanciuc, A.-M. (2026) US suspends Microsoft and seven other firms from green card programme. The Next Web. Available at: US suspends Microsoft and seven other firms from green card programme (Accessed: 12 October 2026).
How we did this
On 12 October we read the reports from The Next Web, Newsweek and Implicator and the employer alert from Ellis, and sorted what each says into what changes for workers and what does not. We set the suspension against the India backlog figures from Boundless, which reports Cato Institute data, and kept their dates. Claims found in one source only are marked as such. We could not open a primary US Labor Department notice.
This story was produced, reviewed, edited and verified by the reporter before publication, with AI assistance where required.
Covered by 5 outlets across the spectrum: 20% left, 80% center, 0% right.
Who is covering this story
- Left-leaning (1): newsweek.com
- Center (1): The Next Web
- Not yet rated (3): Boundless, Ellis, Implicator
Sources
- US suspends Microsoft and seven other firms from green card programme — The Next Web (center) ·
- Indian Workers Face Up to 134-Year Wait For a Green Card — Boundless (not yet rated) ·
- DOL Suspends Microsoft, Adobe From PERM: What It Means — Ellis (not yet rated) ·
- US Suspends Microsoft and Adobe From Green Card Program — Implicator (not yet rated) ·
- Green card update: Trump admin blocks tech companies from H-1B PERM program — newsweek.com (left-leaning) ·