In a major escalation of the White House’s promised immigration-fraud crackdown, Vice-President J.D. Vance announced on 8 October that Microsoft, Adobe, Cognizant, Infosys and four other technology companies have been suspended from the U.S. Department of Labor’s PERM permanent-labor-certification program. PERM is the gateway through which employers sponsor H-1B workers for green cards; suspension means the companies may not file new applications and existing cases will be audited. Speaking at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, Vance said the Fraud Task Force had uncovered evidence that the firms “systematically replaced recently laid-off U.S. workers with cheaper foreign labor and then misrepresented the facts on PERM filings.” According to task-force officials, investigators compared payroll records, termination notices and prevailing-wage applications and found multiple instances where the same jobs were reposted at lower wages within weeks of U.S. staff being let go. The Department of Labor has opened formal debarment proceedings that could bar the companies from PERM for up to three years. The move deepens the administration’s broader effort to tighten business immigration. In May the White House floated a rule that would force H-1B holders to apply for adjustment of status from abroad; in June it proposed raising H-1B filing fees above $100,000 for large employers. Immigration lawyers say October’s action is unprecedented in both the number of companies targeted and the speed of enforcement. “For corporate mobility teams this is a five-alarm fire,” said Cyrus Mehta, a New York attorney who represents several affected employers. “Recruitment timelines, relocation budgets and global staffing models are all immediately in flux.” Practical implications are already rippling through HR departments. PERM cases that were ready to file must now be held or reassigned to third-party vendors, and thousands of foreign employees nearing the end of their sixth H-1B year will have to switch employers—or leave the United States—unless the suspensions are lifted quickly. Foreign nationals in Microsoft’s pipeline report receiving template e-mails advising them to “explore alternative status strategies." Startup recruiters, meanwhile, say they are being flooded with résumés from nervous tech workers. While the administration framed the action as protecting U.S. jobs, business groups warn of talent-flight and retaliation abroad. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce called the suspensions “collective punishment that will ultimately push R&D offshore.” India’s Ministry of External Affairs said it is reviewing whether the step violates WTO commitments on trade in services. For now, mobility managers should audit their own PERM practices, prepare contingency plans for H-1B holders facing time-limits and brace for wider enforcement across the tech sector.
Source: Associated Press / Semafor
