The United States has banned eight leading technology firms – including Microsoft, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Wipro and Infosys – from entering into the Permanent Labour Certification (PERM) for the Employer-Sponsored Green Card (ESGC) scheme. This announcement was made on October 8, 2026, in the wake of the Donald Trump administration’s increased focus on the employment background immigration program.
The other firms impacted are Adobe, Cognizant, HCL and Capgemini. While this action is in effect, the US Department of Labor will not consider approving new PERM applications or processing current PERM applications for any of the industries these firms are applying for PERM/MCAA. The companies have come under fire for exploiting immigration programmes and taking jobs away from American workers. The wrongdoings of each of the companies affected have not been established by these allegations alone.
The ruling could throw a wrench into the plans of Indian IT specialists who rely on employers to secure them a green card to stay in the US on a permanent basis. Many highly trained workers begin their work in the United States with H-1B visas, and then use the PERM process for Green Card applications.
Exempted H-1B and Green Cards will not be cancelled if the suspension takes effect. But it can stall or slow down permanent residency application of employees hired by the impacted employers.
What is the PERM Programme?
US Department of Labor administers the Permanent Labour Certification (or PERM). Unless an employer provides proof that there are no qualified, available and sufficient US workers for the job and that hiring a foreign worker would have a negative effect on the wages and working conditions of similarly-employed US workers. It is a critical step for many employment-based Green Card (immigration) applications.
The programme began in 2005 to reduce the labour certification process. Workers do not apply for the job, it is the employers that applicants apply for it.
The new action falls under the larger campaign by the administration to expand its review of other employment-based pathways for immigrants, including the H-1B program. Depending on their length and the reaction of the companies and authorities concerned its effect will be more or less significant.