--- title: "Labor Department freezes Microsoft, Adobe and Cognizant out of green cards; Infosys touches a six-year low" description: "The Labor Department swept Microsoft, Adobe and six IT services majors out of the PERM green-card program, the loudest beat in a year of visa repricing. Infosys touched a six-year low, then bounced: the market is still deciding whether the freeze breaks the labor-arbitrage model or just sends the work offshore." publisher: "The Inference" section: "Labor" published: 2026-10-10T01:23:31.411Z modified: 2026-10-10T01:23:31.411Z canonical: https://theinference.org/article/labor-department-freezes-microsoft-adobe-and-cognizant-out-of-green-cards-infosys-touches-a-six-year-low language: en keywords: "Immigration, H 1B, Microsoft, Infosys, IT Services" --- # Labor Department freezes Microsoft, Adobe and Cognizant out of green cards; Infosys touches a six-year low > The Labor Department swept Microsoft, Adobe and six IT services majors out of the PERM green-card program, the loudest beat in a year of visa repricing. Infosys touched a six-year low, then bounced: the market is still deciding whether the freeze breaks the labor-arbitrage model or just sends the work offshore. ## A frozen pipeline and a medal on the same day On October 8, 2026, the Labor Department suspended [Microsoft](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/microsoft), [Adobe](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/adobe), [Cognizant](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/cognizant), Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services, Wipro, HCL and Capgemini [from the permanent labor certification program, the PERM step that turns an H-1B hire into a green-card sponsorship](https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/labor-department-suspends-microsoft-9913230/) [1][2][3]. New applications will not be accepted, pending ones will not be processed, and no end date was named [1][2]. Hours later at the same White House summit, President Trump hung the National Medal of Technology and Innovation on Microsoft chief [Satya Nadella](https://theinference.org/markets/people/satya-nadella) [1][2]. Vance, who chairs the White House fraud task force behind the move [5], said no company has abused the system more than Microsoft and did the math out loud: 6,000 US layoffs last year against 6,300 H-1B visas and nearly 3,000 green cards, "one and a half foreign indentured servants" per laid-off worker [1][2][4]. Microsoft's rebuttal: 80% of its roughly 6,000 H-1B petitions last fiscal year were extensions or status changes for people already on its payroll [2]. *Chart: **Vance's arithmetic: 1.5 visas for every Microsoft layoff** Bar chart comparing Microsoft's US layoffs, H-1B visas obtained and green cards obtained, as stated by Vice President Vance* *Workers, as stated by Vice President JD Vance at the October 8, 2026, press conference; Microsoft says 80% of its H-1B petitions were renewals or status changes, not new hires. [2][4]* ## A year that repriced the visa The freeze is the loudest beat in a twelve-month run that put a price on the visa. The 2026 lottery went wage-based [5]. A $100,000 fee imposed by proclamation in September 2025 was vacated by a federal court in June, extended anyway, and followed on August 25 by [a proposed permanent $103,265 filing fee](https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/dhs-proposes-103-265-additional-fee-for-7527541/) [5][6]. Executive Order 14431 of September 18 directs the Labor, Homeland Security and State departments to weigh an employer's recent or planned US layoffs when adjudicating H-1B petitions [7]. Days before the freeze, DHS proposed a $70,000 charge per international student in the OPT program [2]. Below the headlines, immigration lawyers report extensions and transfers stuck at USCIS, starting at Cognizant and spreading to Infosys and Microsoft [5]. ## The conveyor belt got a price tag Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling sized the cohort under suspension: since 2009 the eight firms have requested almost 3 million foreign workers, [receiving more than 230,000 H-1B approvals and 100,000 labor certifications](https://www.cnbc.com/2026/10/08/microsoft-adobe-green-card-labor-suspension.html) [4][8]. That conveyor, visa first and residency second, is [the cost basis of India-delivered IT services](https://theinference.org/article/token-deflation-eats-the-labour-line-so-india-s-outsourcers-are-selling-the-meter). Every lever this year raised its price, and none of the price setters sits in Bangalore. [Amazon](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/amazon) filed the largest H-1B count of 2026, 35,426 petitions, and is not on the list [8]. *Chart: **Washington put a price on the pipeline: $70,000 to $103,265 per head** Bar chart of per-head federal charges attached to the foreign talent pipeline* *Dollars per head: H-1B petitions and university OPT enrollees. The proclamation fee dates to September 2025, was vacated by a federal court in June 2026 and extended by the administration; the DHS fee (proposed August 25, 2026) and the OPT charge are proposals, not enacted. [2][5][6]* ## Two prices for one headline The tape argued with itself. Infosys [traded near a six-year low on the announcement](https://www.barrons.com/articles/infosys-stock-microsoft-h1b-workers-289d4aef); its ADR and Wipro's fell as much as 4% before Infosys closed up 1.1% [9][10]. On Friday the Nifty IT index jumped 3.3% and TCS 5.4%, helped by TCS results that put its AI work above 10% of revenue and an [OpenAI](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/openai) revenue disclosure that cooled the sector's AI-displacement fears [10][11]. TCS said it expects no material impact on its workforce strategy or client engagements [11]. SBI Securities called the suspension neutral to positive long term because it pushes delivery offshore, where margins are fatter, and NASSCOM says visa dependence was already falling [10][11]. ## What the prints have to prove One caveat is on the record: the announcement set no end date, left subsidiaries unresolved, and its allegations are not findings [3]. The dated tests are the suspended cohort's coming quarterly prints, read as cost-model stress tests rather than demand tests, and the next cap season, with the six-figure fee still in court [5][6]. The bear case has a falsifier: if the $100,000 fee dies in court for good and the $103,265 proposal never lands, the per-head cost of the model falls toward zero and the structural-impairment case with it [5][6]. The sector entered the week down 30 to 35% on AI-displacement fears [10]. If wages were the old margin story, visas are the new one. ## Takeaway The PERM freeze caps a year that put a price on the H-1B pipeline; whether the cost shock sticks now turns on the suspended cohort's quarterly prints and on the courts, where the $100,000 fee and the $103,265 proposal still live. ## Sources 1. [Channel Dive, "US authorities crack down on IT outsourcing", 8 October 2026](https://www.channeldive.com/news/trump-administration-crackdown-it-services-outsourcing-microsoft/832546/) 2. [Quartz via Yahoo Finance, "Microsoft suspended from green card program over H-1B visa abuse", 8 October 2026](https://finance.yahoo.com/economy/policy/articles/microsoft-suspended-green-card-program-202128041.html) 3. [JD Supra, Robinson Immigration Law, "Labor Department Suspends Microsoft, Adobe, and Six IT Firms From the PERM Green Card Program", 8 October 2026](https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/labor-department-suspends-microsoft-9913230/) 4. [Moneycontrol, "US suspends Microsoft, Infosys, TCS, Wipro, Cognizant from green card programme over alleged H-1B abuse", 8 October 2026](https://www.moneycontrol.com/world/us-suspends-microsoft-infosys-tcs-wipro-cognizant-from-green-card-programme-over-alleged-h-1b-abuse-article-14048005.html) 5. [The Times of India, "Are H-1Bs in trouble? Immigration experts on why Cognizant, Infosys, Microsoft are not getting timely approvals on job visas", October 2026](https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/are-h-1bs-in-trouble-immigration-experts-on-why-cognizant-infosys-microsoft-are-not-getting-timely-approvals-on-job-visas/articleshow/134774150.cms) 6. [JD Supra, Dinsmore & Shohl, "DHS Proposes $103,265 Additional Fee for H-1B Cap-Subject Petitions", 30 September 2026](https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/dhs-proposes-103-265-additional-fee-for-7527541/) 7. [JD Supra, Littler, "Executive Order Directs Agencies to Consider Layoffs in H-1B Adjudication", 29 September 2026](https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/executive-order-directs-agencies-to-7987670/) 8. [CNBC, "U.S. suspends Microsoft, Adobe from green-card labor program in foreign worker crackdown", 8 October 2026](https://www.cnbc.com/2026/10/08/microsoft-adobe-green-card-labor-suspension.html) 9. [Barron's, "Why Microsoft's H-1B Issues Are Sending Infosys Stock to Near a Six-Year Low", 8 October 2026](https://www.barrons.com/articles/infosys-stock-microsoft-h1b-workers-289d4aef) 10. [CNBC-TV18, "TCS, Infosys, Wipro, HCLTech shares gain up to 6% reacting to multiple developments, details here", 9 October 2026](https://www.cnbctv18.com/market/infosys-wipro-hcltech-other-it-shares-in-focus-owing-to-multiple-factors-today-details-here-20008080.htm) 11. [Reuters, "IT leads rebound in Indian shares; TCS jumps on quarterly results", 9 October 2026](https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/it-leads-rebound-in-indian-shares-tcs-jumps-on-quarterly-results/ar-AA2dRZjz) --- Labor Department freezes Microsoft, Adobe and Cognizant out of green cards; Infosys touches a six-year low — The Inference. Canonical: https://theinference.org/article/labor-department-freezes-microsoft-adobe-and-cognizant-out-of-green-cards-infosys-touches-a-six-year-low