U.S. freezes green-card labor filings for Microsoft, Adobe, and major IT firms

The Trump administration said Thursday it will stop accepting new permanent labor certification applications, and stop processing pending ones, for Microsoft, Adobe, and six large IT services firms.

The companies named are Microsoft, Adobe, Cognizant, Infosys, Tata, Wipro, HCL, and Capgemini. The Labor Department cited alleged fraud in the program and a push to hire American workers. Vice President JD Vance said, "Our message to Microsoft is: You're a great American company, but you've got to hire great American workers." Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling named the IT firms.

Permanent labor certification, known as PERM, is the Department of Labor step that most employment-based green cards require. A freeze on new and pending filings blocks that route for the listed companies until the department changes course. The administration also said it is investigating nine universities, including Harvard, Yale, and Stanford.

Microsoft later told TechCrunch that of about 6,000 H-1B applications in the last fiscal year, 80% were extensions or status changes for people already on staff. New-employee filings, it said, equal only 1% of its U.S. workforce. That statement came after the announcement. An earlier Reuters account had said Microsoft had not yet responded.

The move lands on the firms that file a large share of skilled-worker immigration paperwork for the global IT industry, not only on Microsoft. For employees already in the U.S. on temporary visas, a paused PERM filing delays the usual step toward permanent residency.

Sources: Nikkei Asia, TechCrunch.

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