Washington D.C. – Six global IT outsourcing giants, including Infosys, Tata, Wipro, HCL, Cognizant, and Capgemini, have been suspended from the Permanent Labor Certification (PERM) Program by the US Department of Labor. The announcement, made by Labour Secretary Keith Sonderling, also included Microsoft and Adobe, citing multiple active federal investigations.
Crackdown on H-1B Visa Misuse
The suspensions come amid a vocal campaign by US Vice President JD Vance, who has accused major American companies of exploiting the H-1B visa program. Vance asserts that the program, intended to bring in highly skilled foreign workers for positions that cannot be filled by American citizens, has been widely abused to replace domestic employees with cheaper labor.
"The H-1B visa program is meant to allow companies to bring in really the best of the best from outside the United States of America for positions that are completely impossible to fill with American workers," Vance stated, adding that the program has become "rife with fraud over the last several years."
Microsoft Singled Out by Vance
Vice President Vance specifically highlighted Microsoft, claiming the company laid off 6,000 American workers in 2025 after certifying it could not find qualified domestic employees. Concurrently, he noted, Microsoft was approved for over 6,000 H-1B visas and filed 3,682 PERM applications, with nearly a thousand of these for positions identical to those held by the recently laid-off American workers.
“You bring in indentured servants from outside the country, you lay off American workers, and if you're a corporation, you make a ton of money by undercutting the wages of American workers, replacing them with people who, frankly, shouldn't be in the United States of America to begin with,” Vance asserted.
Impact on Global IT Outsourcing
The suspension from the PERM program represents a significant setback for these IT outsourcing firms, impacting their ability to sponsor certain types of employment-based green cards for foreign workers in the United States. The Department of Labor's move underscores a heightened scrutiny on immigration programs and corporate labor practices.