- The 2025 proclamation covered new petitions for workers outside the United States; extensions and some in-country changes were generally excluded.
- The proposed $103,265 payment is not a final rule, and the proposed charge is not owed.
- TCS filed 2 PERM applications in FY2026, down from 513 in FY2025 and 1,804 in FY2024.
Checked against USCIS
The Labor Department freeze has halted new and pending PERM applications involving eight technology companies, putting some employees’ employer-sponsored green-card plans on hold. Existing H-1B status and jobs are not affected.
The reported start date is October 8, 2026, though the formal effective date remains unclear. Workers may keep working, but some will have to wait on a step toward permanent residence.
The companies named are Microsoft, Adobe, Cognizant, Infosys, TCS, Wipro, HCLTech and Capgemini. PERM is a labor certification, usually the first stage of an employer-sponsored green-card case.
The announcement was linked to administration allegations against the companies. JD Vance, head of the task force, attended the announcement; no separate task-force enforcement action is established here.
The proposed H-1B payment remains blocked by court orders
A separate restriction created a $100,000 payment requirement for certain new H-1B petitions. It is not currently being collected because court orders block its implementation. Its legal position does not determine whether the labor-certification pause continues.
Presidential Proclamation 10973 was signed September 19, 2025, and took effect at 12:01 a.m. ET on September 21, 2025. It covered new petitions for workers outside the United States, while extensions, amendments and changes of status inside the country were generally excluded.
On June 8, 2026, the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts vacated the USCIS guidance that implemented the payment in State of California v. Mullin. The First Circuit declined to pause that ruling on July 24, 2026.
USCIS says it is complying with the court orders and would collect the payment if they are lifted. The USCIS alert sets out the agency’s position. Litigation could still change the payment’s status.
DHS also proposed a separate $103,265 payment for each cap-subject H-1B petition, according to the proposal described in the material. The proposed rule was published August 25, 2026, and its comment period closed September 24, 2026. It is not a final rule, so the proposed charge is not owed.
Offshore delivery is a forecast, not a company-by-company decision
Ashwin Karanth described a potential industry response as a shift toward project delivery outside the United States, rather than a large increase in local hiring.
“The more durable shift, in our view, is towards shifting projects and increasing nearshore and offshore delivery structures rather than hiring local talent at scale in the US,” Karanth said.
India could gain work, while Poland and other parts of Europe are possible nearshore locations. But no named Indian IT firm has committed to moving a specified volume of work because of the pause.
TCS said it does not expect a material effect on its workforce strategy or client engagements. Its PERM filing numbers had already fallen: 2 in FY2026, compared with 513 in FY2025 and 1,804 in FY2024. That history suggests exposure can differ sharply by employer.
Wipro has said more than 80% of its U.S. workforce is locally hired. Nasscom says Indian firms have reduced dependence on H-1B workers and that transitions from those visas to green cards are relatively limited. HDFC Securities has also characterized PERM-linked roles as a small share of technology firms’ revenue.
Economist Britta Glennon’s Management Science paper found that a one-percentage-point reduction in H-1B supply led to 12–16% growth in foreign-affiliate employment. That finding points to a possible shift in where companies employ people, not a forecast of how much work these eight firms will transfer.
Multinational companies’ India-based global capability centers are another possible source of local work. Microsoft, Amazon and Google operate such centers, which can serve company operations without relying on the same visa route or an IT vendor. They do not prove that a named contractor is moving a project.
An estimate places the potential affected population at about 5,000–6,000 Indian technology professionals and their families. That is an estimate of people facing possible case delays, not a count of jobs or projects moving offshore.
A paused labor-certification case is not a cancelled job or visa
| Case or worker situation | What changes | Timing |
|---|---|---|
| New or pending PERM case at a named employer | The Department of Labor stopped accepting these applications | The suspension began October 8, 2026, with no stated end date |
| Existing H-1B worker or job | Existing H-1B status and jobs are not affected by the PERM suspension | No change to existing status or job |
A move to an employer outside the named group remains possible through a regular H-1B transfer.
Workers and employers should check case stages and staffing plans
- Ask employer immigration counsel about the case stage and review the H-1B expiration and extension timeline.
- If considering a move, discuss transfer procedures before changing employers.
- Employers should model staffing options, including local U.S. hiring and delivery through India or other locations, without treating an analyst forecast as a company decision.
- Check the USCIS payment alert and agency updates before making international travel or filing decisions. The Labor Department has not provided a stated end date for the suspension.
