US suspends Microsoft, Infosys, TCS from green card programme

The move marks a sharp escalation in Washington’s crackdown on alleged abuse of foreign-worker programmes and puts some of the world’s biggest technology companies directly in the crosshairs of the Trump administration.

Sonderling said the Labour Department was suspending Cognizant, Infosys, Tata, Wipro, HCL and Capgemini from the Permanent Labour Certification (PERM) programme, while Microsoft and Adobe were also being suspended amid federal investigations. The department said it would not accept new or process pending PERM applications involving the companies.

The suspension could nevertheless disrupt the long-term immigration plans of foreign professionals, particularly Indian technology workers whose path to permanent residency depends on employer-sponsored green cards.

Vance accused Microsoft of abusing the system and alleged that the company had replaced laid-off American workers with foreign workers. “Our message to Microsoft is: You’re a great American company, but you’ve got to hire great American workers,” he said.

The action comes amid a wider Trump administration campaign against what it describes as misuse of the H-1B and other foreign-worker programmes.

The administration is also expanding scrutiny beyond technology companies. Officials said nine major US universities, including Harvard, Yale and Stanford, would be investigated over allegations involving international students, wages and foreign-worker programmes. Labour Inspector General Anthony D’Esposito said subpoenas had already been issued.

For Indian IT professionals, Thursday’s decision could have implications well beyond the companies directly named. Infosys, TCS, Wipro, HCL and Cognizant are among the major Indian technology companies with substantial operations in the US.

The administration’s message is clear: access to the US labour market and the pathway to permanent residency will face increasingly stringent scrutiny where Washington believes foreign hiring has come at the expense of American workers.

The move therefore opens a significant new front in the Trump administration’s foreign-worker crackdown — targeting not the H-1B visa directly, but the green-card pipeline through which temporary skilled workers seek permanent residency in the United States.