The US government has suspended new and pending permanent labor certification processing involving Microsoft, Adobe, Cognizant, Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services, Wipro, HCL Technologies and Capgemini. The action puts a consequential immigration-related process on hold for seven major technology and IT-services companies, while the administration pursues allegations that they improperly used programs connected to H-1B workers seeking permanent residency.

Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling said the department would not accept any new permanent labor certification applications involving the named companies and would not process applications already pending. That wording is important: the announced measure concerns permanent labor certification applications, rather than a statement that all H-1B visas held by employees at those companies have been cancelled.

The administration has accused the companies of fraud, alleging that they under-advertised US job opportunities in order to recruit international workers instead of American citizens. Vice President JD Vance singled out Microsoft in remarks announcing the action and alleged that companies were exploiting a lack of domestic applicants to replace US workers.

Microsoft has rejected the premise that its filings represent a large influx of new overseas hires. The company said that the vast majority of its US employees are American and that it intends to give the administration additional information. It said approximately 6,000 H-1B applications were filed by Microsoft in the last fiscal year, with 80 percent submitted to extend or alter the status of existing employees. Microsoft also said the filings for new employees involved people already legally present in the US and represented 1 percent of its US workforce.

What the pause covers — and what remains unclear

There are two immigration terms at the center of this development, and they should not be treated as interchangeable.

  • H-1B: a visa category for skilled international workers, as described in the government’s action and the companies’ responses.
  • Permanent labor certification: an application process implicated in workers’ efforts to seek green cards, which confer permanent residency.

The government’s operational instruction is specific: no new permanent labor certification applications involving the seven companies will be accepted, and pending applications involving them will not be processed. For affected employees, that can matter even where their present work authorization is a separate question. An employee may be working under an H-1B status while also seeking a longer-term route to permanent residency; the announced halt targets the latter process described here.

At the same time, the available details do not specify how long the pause will last, what findings the government has reached beyond its allegations, what evidence will be required to resolve the matter, or how individual applications may ultimately be handled. The companies are named in an announcement of alleged wrongdoing, not in a supplied account of final court judgments on these specific claims. That distinction matters for workers, prospective recruits and observers trying to assess the immediate practical effect.

The companies named in the action

Microsoft and Adobe are the two most recognizable consumer-facing software brands on the list, but the action also reaches some of the largest global IT consulting and services businesses: Cognizant, Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services, Wipro, HCL Technologies and Capgemini.

The breadth of that group is notable. It combines companies that build widely used software platforms with firms that supply technical services and personnel across many corporate sectors. A disruption to permanent residency processing can therefore extend beyond a company’s own offices, potentially affecting employees whose work supports a broad range of business customers. The announcement, however, does not identify particular roles, teams, projects or application totals at the seven companies other than Microsoft’s own statement about its H-1B filings.

For readers following the wider interactive-entertainment business, this is also a reminder that workforce and immigration policy can intersect with industries that depend on specialized technical skills. Elsewhere on the business calendar, the Galaxies Showcase 2026 is set to bring together more than 40 partners, underscoring how interconnected technology, software development and entertainment remain. This labor-certification action does not identify any game projects or game studios, so it would be premature to infer a direct effect on particular releases.

Microsoft’s response focuses on existing employees

Microsoft’s response centers on a point often lost in broad discussions of H-1B figures: visa petitions may involve people already working for the employer rather than only new hires arriving from abroad. The company said four-fifths of its roughly 6,000 filings in the last fiscal year were for extensions or changes of status for existing Microsoft employees.

It further characterized the remaining filings for new employees as people already legally in the country who chose to work at Microsoft, rather than new arrivals. Microsoft says those new-employee filings amount to 1 percent of its US workforce. The company also said it files H-1B petitions only for people who meet the visa category’s standards.

Those figures are Microsoft’s position and directly address the administration’s allegation that the company used the system to displace American workers. They do not, by themselves, resolve the government’s accusation concerning job advertising or the permanent labor certification process. The significance of the dispute will rest on whether the administration’s allegations are substantiated and how it responds to the information Microsoft says it plans to provide.

No response from Adobe is included in the available information. The announcement likewise provides no company responses from Cognizant, Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services, Wipro, HCL Technologies or Capgemini.

H-1B employment remains a major issue for large technology employers

The government’s move arrives against a backdrop in which many of the country’s largest technology employers appear prominently in H-1B employment statistics. US Citizenship and Immigration Services data cited in reporting places Amazon as the largest employer of H-1B recipients, followed by Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys, Apple and Microsoft.

That ranking helps explain why a policy dispute over H-1B-linked permanent residency processes has drawn attention far beyond the seven companies currently named. Yet it also demonstrates the limits of assuming that a high position in recipient data alone establishes misconduct. The action is based on allegations about how jobs were advertised and how federal employment-based processes were used, not simply on the fact that a company employs H-1B recipients.

The administration’s rhetoric frames the matter as a domestic-hiring enforcement issue. Vance alleged that employers used limited responses to job advertisements as a rationale for turning to international workers. Microsoft’s defense, in contrast, emphasizes its US workforce composition and the fact that most of its reported H-1B filings were for workers already employed by the company. These are competing characterizations of the same broad system, and the supplied information does not establish a final resolution.

Earlier settlements and a widening federal focus

The current action follows other cases involving allegations that employers favored temporary-visa workers or failed to properly advertise jobs domestically. In August, the Department of Justice obtained a $3.2 million settlement from OpenAI over similar claims that it under-advertised openings in the US and instead preferred workers with temporary employment visas.

Comparable cases were previously brought and settled with Meta in 2021 and Apple in 2023. A settlement is not identical to the administrative suspension now imposed on Microsoft, Adobe and the other five companies, but the sequence indicates that federal scrutiny of hiring and immigration practices has reached multiple major technology employers over several years.

In a related step, the government said it will investigate nine higher-education institutions over alleged misuse of J-1 visa programs for international students. Harvard University, Yale University and Stanford University are among those institutions. The J-1 inquiry is separate from the labor-certification pause involving the tech companies, but it signals a wider enforcement posture toward programs used by international workers and students.

What employees and observers should watch next

The immediate development to monitor is whether the Department of Labor gives a timetable, identifies a process for the affected companies to respond, or clarifies what happens to cases already in the system. The department’s statement covers both incoming and pending permanent labor certification applications, making the treatment of the backlog especially significant.

Microsoft’s promised additional information is another key point. Its statement supplies a detailed defense of the composition of its H-1B filings, but the government’s allegations focus on domestic advertising and hiring practices. Any future response from the administration may reveal whether it regards Microsoft’s explanation as responsive to those claims.

For now, the core facts are narrow but substantial: seven companies cannot submit new permanent labor certification applications and will not have pending applications processed under the announced measure. The government alleges that the firms misused a pathway associated with H-1B workers pursuing green cards. Microsoft disputes the portrayal of its hiring and filing practices, while public responses from the other named companies are not provided here. Until there are further administrative findings, the allegations and the companies’ defenses should be considered separately from established conclusions.