US PERM pause and the decisions technology leaders must make

On 8 October 2026, US officials announced they were suspending processing of new and pending permanent labour certification (PERM) applications connected to Microsoft, Adobe, Cognizant, Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services, Wipro, HCL Technologies and Capgemini, alleging the programme had been misused. The allegations and any confirmed findings should be treated as separate things.

The action concerns the PERM process: the stage in which the Department of Labor certifies that labour-market requirements are met before an employer seeks immigration approval from US Citizenship and Immigration Services. It is one stage of certification, not the green card itself. Reported details confirm neither a blanket ban on foreign hiring nor an H-1B ban, and no decision date has been announced.

Microsoft says 80 per cent of the roughly 6,000 H-1B petitions it filed in its last financial year were extensions or status changes for people already employed, and that it pays equal wages for comparable work. These are the company's explanations, not an independent audit's findings.

For someone waiting for permanent residence, the uncertainty can affect decisions about home, family or career. Employers should arrange access to qualified immigration counsel and clear, individual updates. Managers must not promise outcomes, and no one's immigration status should be guessed from a name or nationality. Each case needs its own review; a general announcement cannot answer every employee's personal questions.

Give one executive responsibility for coordinating HR, immigration counsel, finance and technology leadership. Review affected petitions, statutory deadlines and business dependencies, preserve evidence, and decide corrective steps with counsel - do not alter old records to create a convenient explanation. Budget for employee support, stress-test service commitments, and ask providers for evidence of continuity. Identify single-person dependencies in critical services and cut them through documented procedures and cross-training.

Application counts measure administrative activity; the capacity to get work done depends on people, skills and availability. Moving work elsewhere raises questions of data access, customer consent, tax and employment law, and should be a studied business decision, not an automatic reaction to a headline. Leadership's immediate duty is to protect people, verify facts and keep services running.