US suspends Microsoft, Adobe and six major IT firms from green-card labor certification program

The US Department of Labor is suspending Microsoft, Adobe and six large IT companies from its permanent labor certification program, Keith Sonderling, the head of the department, announced on Thursday, October 8, 2026, at a press conference alongside Vice President JD Vance. Employers use the program to hire foreign workers who can then reside permanently in the US; according to The Verge, it is intended for jobs where sufficient US workers are not available. CNBC places the step within the Trump administration's wider push against immigration and foreign hiring programs in the run-up to the midterm elections in November.

Besides Microsoft and Adobe, the suspension covers Capgemini, Cognizant, HCL, Infosys, Tata and Wipro. Sonderling said the department would no longer accept or process new applications under the program for these employers; TechCrunch reports that pending applications are included as well. For Microsoft and Adobe, Sonderling cited "multiple active federal investigations" as the reason, according to CNBC. The reports do not say how long the suspension will last.

Sonderling backed the move with figures. As quoted by CNBC, he said that since 2009 the suspended companies together had requested almost 3 million foreign workers and received more than 230,000 H-1B visa approvals and more than 100,000 permanent labor certifications, which he described as jobs taken from American workers. The Verge attributes the same figures to Microsoft and Adobe alone. Vance claimed the program had become "rife" with fraud and that no company had "abused" it more than Microsoft.

Vance pointed to the 6,000 layoffs Microsoft made in 2025 and claimed the company had replaced those workers with H-1B visa holders. According to The Verge, he also put the number of H-1B visas Microsoft had benefited from at 6,300, along with almost 3,000 green cards. Vance said the administration still wants a good relationship with Microsoft but will block its applications for permanent residency until it shows it puts American workers first. "Our message to Microsoft is: you're a great American company, but you've got to hire great American workers," he said.

The announcement came at the same summit where President Donald Trump was due to honor Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella with the National Medal of Science; other recipients include Nvidia's Jensen Huang, Elon Musk and AMD's Lisa Su, all of whom immigrated to the US, CNBC reports. Vance also said nine universities, including Harvard, Yale and Stanford, would be investigated over the use of a program for international students that he said is undercutting American wages, according to TechCrunch. Microsoft and Adobe had not responded to requests for comment from CNBC and TechCrunch when those outlets published, and Microsoft had not replied to The Verge.