PERM Suspension 2026: What Affected Workers Should Know

Introduction

Vice President JD Vance used a White House news conference on Thursday to single out one of the country’s largest employers. “You’re a great American company, but you’ve got to hire great American workers,” he said of Microsoft, according to Reuters reporting carried by TechCrunch. Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling then widened the action to eight companies that rank among the best-known sponsors of foreign technology workers in the United States. TechCrunch

For the workers involved the announcement raised a question the podium did not answer, which is what happens to a green card case that is already under way. The answer depends almost entirely on how far that case had moved before Thursday. This report sets out what officials said, what the Labor Department has not yet put in writing and how the suspension lands at each stage of the process.

What the Administration Announced

Sonderling said the department would “not accept any new or process any pending” permanent labor certification applications involving the companies. He named Cognizant, Infosys, Tata, Wipro, HCL and Capgemini as a group and said Microsoft and Adobe were being suspended amid multiple active federal investigations.

To support the decision he said the eight companies had together requested almost three million foreign workers since 2009 and received more than 230,000 H-1B approvals and more than 100,000 permanent labor certifications. The department has not published the data behind those figures, so they are best read as the government’s account of its own case.

Vance said Microsoft would be denied access to the program until it showed it was serious about putting American workers first. Outlets have reported differing versions of the layoff and visa numbers he cited for Microsoft, which is why we have not repeated them here.

Attorney General Todd Blanche, who also appeared, said criminal charges against companies or individuals were possible. No charges have been announced against any of the eight. Allegations made at a press conference should be distinguished from a final finding of wrongdoing, a point several immigration law firms made within hours.

How the Companies Responded

Microsoft answered the same day. The company said “the vast majority of Microsoft employees in the United States are Americans.” It added that 80% of the roughly 6,000 H-1B applications it filed in the last fiscal year were to extend or change the status of people it already employed.

Tata Consultancy Services followed on Friday morning in India. In an exchange filing the company said it would follow any directions issued by the Labor Department and that its PERM applications had been “in single digits in the last two years.” It said it did not expect the suspension to affect its workforce strategy or customer engagements.

Nasscom, the Indian IT industry body, said the number of employees moving from H-1B visas to permanent residency through PERM is relatively limited. Adobe did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The TCS disclosure is more useful to workers than it first appears. If a company has filed almost no PERM applications in two years, very few of its employees have a pending case to freeze. Reports indicate Infosys filed none in 2024 or 2025. For many employees of the IT services firms the real exposure is therefore not a stalled application. It is the absence of one as the H-1B six-year limit approaches.

What the Labor Department Has Not Put in Writing

As of October 8 the department had not posted a press release, published a written notice or named the regulation it was relying on. Neither official said when or whether the suspensions would end.

Immigration attorneys point to an existing rule, 20 CFR 656.31(b), which permits the department to suspend PERM processing in connection with investigations into possible fraud or willful misrepresentation. An initial suspension under that rule may last up to 180 days and can be extended while an investigation or court proceeding remains unresolved. WR Immigration cautioned that the authority and duration that actually apply should be confirmed in the department’s written notices.

Three Labor Department actions are easy to confuse. Only the first has been announced.

There is recent precedent.

In his September post D’Esposito wrote, “Threats to American workers will NOT be tolerated.”

Two gaps matter most for individual workers. The names read out on Thursday are not legal entity names, and no source says which U.S. employing entities are covered. The announcement also did not state that previously certified PERM applications are revoked, and there has been no announcement of a blanket cancellation of approved I-140 petitions.

Where PERM Sits in a Green Card Case

Most employer-sponsored green cards in the EB-2 and EB-3 categories move through three stages. The employer first obtains a PERM labor certification from the Department of Labor (DOL) after testing the U.S. labor market. It then files Form I-140, the immigrant petition, with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). The worker files Form I-485 to adjust status once a visa number is available.

For workers born in India the wait for that visa number in EB-2 and EB-3 can run many years past I-140 approval. During that wait, H-1B extensions past the six-year limit are often what keep a worker in status, and those extensions depend on a PERM or I-140 already being on file. That is why a freeze at the first stage weighs most heavily on employees of these eight companies.

The suspension sits at the first stage. The second and third belong to a different agency, which is why a case that had already cleared the Labor Department is in a very different position from one that had not. Our guide to the timeline for an employer-sponsored green card covers the full sequence.

What It Means at Each Stage

A frozen application is still a pending application. That distinction carries weight, since a PERM that has been pending for a year can support H-1B extensions past the six-year limit. We explain the rule in H-1B Extension After 6 Years When PERM Is Suspended.

A certified PERM has a clock the announcement did not stop. Under 20 CFR 656.30 a certification expires unless it is filed with an I-140 within 180 days. Workers at this stage should ask their employer this week whether the I-140 will be filed in time.

An approved I-140 is the strongest position. Under 8 CFR 204.5(e) it generally keeps its priority date unless the approval is revoked for fraud, for a material USCIS error or after the labor certification behind it is revoked or invalidated. Nothing of that kind has been announced. Once an I-140 has been approved for 180 days or more, an employer’s withdrawal alone does not revoke it under 8 CFR 205.1(a)(3)(iii)(C). Workers from countries with a visa backlog can also use an approved I-140 to extend H-1B status past six years in three-year increments.

Workers with nothing filed have lost no existing benefit. Time is their concern, and the alternatives are set out in PERM on Hold: Changing Employers and Green Card Options.

If Your Spouse Is on H-4

H-4 spouses are affected even though the announcement never mentions them. An H-4 spouse can get a work permit only if the H-1B worker has an approved I-140 or has been granted H-1B time beyond six years based on a pending green card case.

That turns the stage table above into a family question. If the H-1B worker’s PERM is frozen before an I-140 has been approved, the spouse may not qualify for a first work permit and a renewal may depend on whether the next H-1B extension is approved. Renewals also need more lead time than they used to. Applications filed on or after October 30, 2025 no longer receive an automatic extension while they are pending, so a late filing can leave a gap in work authorization.

If your spouse holds an H-4 work permit, check its expiration date alongside your own H-1B dates and plan the renewal around them.

What Attorneys Are Watching Next

The most consequential developments will be the department’s written description of the covered entities and applications, the duration of each suspension and any administrative or court challenges. No lawsuit has been reported so far.

One legal question stands out. The rule attorneys point to lets the department suspend the processing of applications involving an employer under investigation. Its text does not mention refusing to accept new filings. The difference matters to workers. A PERM filing date becomes the worker’s priority date and starts the 365-day clock for H-1B extensions past six years. A pending application that is frozen keeps both. An application that is never accepted creates neither. If the department uses this rule to turn filings away, that gap is a likely ground for a challenge under the Administrative Procedure Act.

The second question is whether scrutiny spreads from PERM to H-1B filings. Reddy Neumann Brown, a Houston immigration firm, says it has already noticed H-1B extensions for certain companies not being approved as routinely as before, while stressing that no blanket ban has been announced.

The third is whether more employers are named. Peter Bade of Corporate Immigration Partners told Business Standard that employers that have not received notice can generally keep managing PERM cases under the existing rules.

What Workers Can Do This Week

• Ask whether the company has received written notice and whether your employing entity is covered.
• Get the exact dates for your PERM filing, PERM certification, I-140 filing and I-140 approval.
• Confirm your I-94 expiration and your H-1B six-year date.
• If your PERM is certified, ask in writing whether the I-140 will be filed within 180 days.
• Hold off on resigning until your dates have been reviewed.
• Check your visa stamp and extension basis before any international travel.
• Do not pay anyone who promises to get your case out of the suspension.

Want a second opinion on where your case stands? Visa-Pros can review your stage and your deadlines. Request a consultation.

A Note on Visa-Pros

Visa-Pros is the immigration practice of Weinstock Immigration Lawyers, a Georgia and Alabama firm led by Managing Attorney Karen Weinstock. No law firm can lift a Labor Department suspension. What an attorney can do is confirm which deadlines still apply to your case and assess whether another route fits your profile. The team handles employment-based green cards, PERM and self-petitions. You can schedule a consultation or call (770) 913-0800.

Sources: TechCrunch, UPI, Business Standard on TCS, Business Standard explainer, WR Immigration, Reddy Neumann Brown, DOL release on Cloudera, 20 CFR 656.31, 20 CFR 656.30, 8 CFR 204.5

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