The US Labour Department has suspended several major technology and IT outsourcing companies, including Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Wipro, HCL Technologies, Cognizant and Capgemini, from the country's Permanent Labor Certification (PERM) programme.
The department also suspended Microsoft and Adobe, citing multiple active federal investigations, according to a press statement by US Labour Secretary Keith Sonderling.
“I am hereby suspending from the Permanent Labor Certification Program some of the largest IT outsourcing firms in the world, Cognizant, Infosys, Tata, Wipro, HCL, and Capgemini, and also, due to multiple active federal investigations, @USDOL is suspending Microsoft and Adobe from the program,” Sonderling said.
He also singled out Microsoft, alleging that no other US company had abused this system more than the software giant. Sonderling alleged that Microsoft laid off around 6,000 American workers in 2025 after certifying that it could not find qualified US workers for certain positions.
At the same time, the company was approved for more than 6,000 H-1B visas and filed 3,682 PERM applications, according to the statement. Sonderling further alleged that nearly 1,000 of those applications were for positions similar to those held by the American workers who had been laid off.
The allegations put renewed focus on the relationship between the H-1B visa programme and the US permanent labour certification system, both of which are closely watched by American workers and technology companies.
The H-1B programme allows US employers to hire foreign workers in specialised occupations when they meet the programme's requirements. The PERM process, meanwhile, is generally used by employers seeking to sponsor foreign workers for permanent employment and requires employers to demonstrate that there are not sufficient qualified and available US workers for the position.
Sonderling said the H-1B programme was intended to enable American companies to recruit “the best of the best” from outside the US for roles that could not reasonably be filled by American workers.
“Unfortunately, the program has become rife with fraud,” he said.
The suspension of the major IT companies marks a significant escalation in the Trump administration's scrutiny of employment-based immigration and foreign-worker programmes.
For Indian IT companies, the move could have wider implications because firms such as Infosys, TCS, Wipro, HCL and Cognizant have historically relied on a combination of US-based employees and overseas talent to serve American clients.
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