Secretary of Labor Keith Sonderling delivered a major blow to some of the world’s biggest technology and outsourcing companies this week by suspending them from the Permanent Labor Certification Program, the key federal pathway that lets employers sponsor foreign workers for green cards. In a direct announcement, Sonderling named Cognizant, Infosys, Tata, Wipro, HCL, and Capgemini as suspended, adding that Microsoft and Adobe were also being barred due to multiple active federal investigations. The Department of Labor will no longer accept any new applications or process any pending ones involving these eight firms. Officials stressed that the action targets what they describe as long-standing patterns of relying on foreign labor in ways that displace American workers. Sonderling pointed to data showing that since 2009 these companies alone had requested nearly three million foreign workers, received more than 230,000 H-1B approvals, and secured over 100,000 permanent labor certifications. He framed the suspensions as a decisive step to force companies to prioritize U.S. talent first.

The Permanent Labor Certification process requires employers to prove that hiring a foreign worker will not harm American wages or job opportunities, making the freeze a significant barrier to future green-card sponsorships. While existing H-1B visas remain unaffected, the move cuts off a common route for converting temporary foreign workers into permanent residents. Administration officials argued that the scale of past filings represented hundreds of thousands of positions that could have gone to American workers instead. The suspensions come amid broader efforts to combat alleged visa program abuse and are expected to remain in place until the companies demonstrate meaningful changes in hiring practices. Companies now face immediate pressure to adjust recruitment strategies and address ongoing federal scrutiny. This high-profile action signals a tougher stance on how large tech and IT firms use federal labor certification programs.