U.S. suspends Microsoft, Adobe, others from green card program, cites abuse

The U.S. government has suspended Microsoft and Adobe from the PERM program, which facilitates green cards for H-1B visa workers, citing allegations of fraud. Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling announced that the department will also suspend major IT firms including Cognizant, Infosys, Tata, Wipro, HCL, and Capgemini from the Permanent Labor Certification Program due to multiple ongoing federal investigations.

Vance stated that the U.S. aims to reform H-1B and J-1 visa programs, emphasizing the need to hire American workers. Microsoft acknowledged the suspension and stated it was submitting additional information to the Trump administration. The company noted that a majority of its recent H-1B applications were for extending or changing the status of existing employees, not to hire new staff.

The Labor Department also initiated an investigation into nine prominent American universities regarding J-1 visas, serving subpoenas to institutions such as Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Brown, and MIT.