Key points: The US Department of Labor announced it is suspending Microsoft and Adobe from the Permanent Labor Certification program (PERM).

Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling said Cognizant, Infosys, Capgemini, Tata, Wipro, and HCL have also been removed from the program.

On October 8, 2026, at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House campus in Washington, US Labor Secretary Keith E. Sonderling attended a press conference alongside Attorney General Todd Blanche and Vice President JD Vance to announce a crackdown on H-1B visa fraud.

Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling said the US Department of Labor announced Thursday that it is suspending Microsoft and Adobe from the Permanent Labor Certification program.

With the November midterm elections approaching, the Trump administration continues to tighten immigration and foreign employee hiring programs.

Sonderling said the Labor Department will no longer accept or process new applications from several companies under the program, a list that also includes Cognizant, Infosys, Capgemini, Tata Consultancy Services, Wipro, and HCL Technologies.

The secretary said Adobe and Microsoft were suspended because multiple federal investigations are underway into both companies.

Sonderling said: "Since 2009, these few companies alone have applied to bring in nearly 3 million foreign workers, received approval for more than 230,000 H-1B visas, and obtained over 100,000 permanent labor certifications. Hundreds of thousands of jobs have simply been lost from American workers."

Vice President JD Vance specifically criticized Microsoft, referencing the company's large-scale layoffs in 2025.

Vance alleged that Microsoft replaced laid-off American employees with foreign workers holding H-1B visas.

Vance said: "We will continue to maintain a good relationship with Microsoft and support its growth, but until Microsoft takes action to truly prioritize American workers, we will not allow it to continue applying for this type of permanent residency status."

At the same tech summit where the suspension was announced, President Trump will present awards on Thursday to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and other tech giant CEOs.

Nadella was born in India, came to the United States in 1988, and joined Microsoft in 1992.