US Suspends Permanent Residency Processing for Microsoft, Adobe, and Five Tech Firms

The United States government has suspended permanent labor certification processing for major technology companies, accusing them of abusing the H-1B visa and green card programs. The action directly targets Microsoft, Adobe, and five prominent IT outsourcing firms: Cognizant, Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services, Wipro, HCL Technologies, and Capgemini. Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling confirmed that authorities will neither accept new applications nor process pending permanent labor certifications involving these organizations.

Vice President JD Vance claimed that the affected corporations engaged in fraud by intentionally under-advertising open positions domestically to favor foreign workers over American citizens. Vance singled out Microsoft, alleging the company used the immigration system to replace local talent with what he described as foreign indentured servants. According to US Citizenship and Immigration Services data cited by Reuters, Amazon, Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys, Apple, and Microsoft represent the top employers of H-1B visa holders across the country.

Microsoft strongly pushed back against the accusations, stating that the vast majority of its domestic workforce consists of Americans. The tech giant clarified that of roughly 6,000 H-1B filings submitted in the previous fiscal year, 80 percent sought to extend or alter the status of existing staff rather than recruit new hires. Microsoft added that petitions for incoming staff accounted for only 1 percent of its total domestic workforce, involving professionals already living legally in the United States who meet strict visa standards.

The clampdown marks an escalation in federal scrutiny over corporate immigration practices. In August, the Department of Justice secured a $3.2 million settlement from OpenAI over allegations of favoring temporary visa holders over domestic workers, following similar settlements with Meta in 2021 and Apple in 2023. Additionally, federal authorities announced ongoing investigations into nine prominent universities, including Harvard, Yale, and Stanford, regarding alleged abuses tied to the J-1 exchange visitor program.