Microsoft PERM suspension stops new and pending labor-certification cases
The Labor Department will not accept or process Microsoft PERM cases, affecting a key employment-based residency step but not all H-1B filings.
By Dominic Okoye · Staff Writer
· 3 min read
The U.S. Labor Department has suspended new and pending permanent-labor-certification cases involving Microsoft, a move that blocks the company’s use of a key employment-based residency process while the suspension is in place. The Microsoft PERM suspension, announced October 8, also covers Adobe and six IT services companies, according to Reuters.
Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling said the department would neither accept new applications nor process pending applications involving Microsoft, Adobe, Cognizant, Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services, Wipro, HCL Technologies and Capgemini. The government did not state an end date. Vice President JD Vance said the suspensions would remain in effect for as long as the administration considers necessary.
What does the Microsoft PERM suspension cover?
PERM, short for Permanent Labor Certification, is a Labor Department process required for most employment-based green cards. Employers must show that hiring a foreign worker will not harm the wages or job opportunities of U.S. workers. The announced action stops the named companies’ new and pending PERM cases; it does not, based on the reported scope, amount to a blanket prohibition on employing foreign nationals or filing every type of H-1B petition.
The distinction matters for technology companies with large skilled-worker visa populations. Microsoft said about 80% of the H-1B petitions it filed in the last fiscal year sought extensions or changes of status for existing employees, rather than authorization for new hires. The company also said H-1B employees receive the same compensation as colleagues doing comparable work and that the vast majority of its U.S. workforce is American.
Administration officials framed the action as an enforcement measure. Vance alleged that Microsoft and other companies had misused skilled-worker immigration programs, including through recruitment practices that he said could be used to hire lower-paid foreign workers. Those claims are allegations by the administration; the reporting does not establish them as findings of the investigations.
Microsoft was singled out in Vance’s remarks. He said the company had laid off 6,000 U.S. workers last year while receiving 6,300 H-1B visa approvals and nearly 3,000 green cards. Microsoft said its cited H-1B filings largely concerned employees already at the company. Reuters reported separately that Microsoft said in July it would cut 4,800 jobs, about 2.1% of its global workforce.
Which companies are affected and what comes next?
Beyond Microsoft and Adobe, the suspension applies to Cognizant, Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services, Wipro, HCL Technologies and Capgemini. Tata said its U.S. hiring strategy centers on local recruiting and that its PERM applications had been in single digits over the previous two years, according to the Financial Times. Several other companies did not immediately respond to requests for comment, Reuters reported.
The move is part of a wider immigration enforcement push by the Trump administration. Reuters said the Labor Department launched Project Firewall in September of the prior year, alongside a White House proclamation that imposed a one-time $100,000 fee on certain new H-1B petitions for workers hired from abroad. The PERM action targets the permanent-residency pathway, leaving the immediate handling of other H-1B petitions outside the announced scope.
This story draws on original reporting from Ars Technica.
