Washington has suspended eight tech and IT giants from the PERM labour-certification programme. That stalls the green-card path for thousands of sponsored workers, many of them Indian professionals.
On Thursday, Oct 8, the administration froze green-card filings by Microsoft, Adobe and major IT outsourcers and opened probes into nine elite universities.
Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling said the freeze also covers Cognizant, Infosys, TCS, Wipro, HCL and Capgemini. PERM is required for most employment-based green cards. The suspension does not cancel existing H-1B visas. Microsoft rejected the suggestion that its hiring disadvantaged American workers.
The crackdown also reaches academia. The Labor Department’s inspector general, Anthony D’Esposito, announced an investigation into J-1 visa fraud at Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Brown, the University of Pittsburgh, UC Davis, Caltech, Arizona State and MIT, with subpoenas already issued.
The J-1 visa covers exchange visitors such as international researchers, scholars and students. D’Esposito said the probe will examine whether foreign influence, improper financial ties or visa abuse is compromising federally funded research, and officials pointed specifically to concerns about Chinese scholars.
Vance claimed the nine schools use J-1 holders on federal grants at about 61%, against a 38% national average, though the administration has not released evidence about specific universities. It also adds to the administration’s long-running fight with Harvard over foreign students.