Administration halts PERM processing for 8 companies, subpoenas 9 universities

Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling said the department would stop both new filings and pending cases: “We will not accept any new or process any pending permanent labor certification applications involving these companies,” Sonderling said, according to TIME. Vance accused the firms of using ineffective job advertisements to justify hiring foreign workers and singled out Microsoft. He said the suspension would last as long as needed, The Associated Press reported.

Sonderling cited ongoing federal investigations. The administration said the eight companies had sought to hire nearly 3 million foreign workers since 2009, received more than 230,000 H-1B approvals and obtained more than 100,000 permanent labor certifications, figures reported by TIME. Those are the administration’s figures, not findings that the companies committed fraud or violated the law.

The pause blocks a route toward permanent residency for affected employees, but it does not end the H-1B program. Immigration lawyer Lidice Samper told TIME that workers nearing the typical six-year H-1B limit without an earlier green-card filing may face particular difficulty if their employer cannot proceed with PERM.

Microsoft disputed the administration’s account of its visa use. The company said it submitted about 6,000 H-1B applications last fiscal year, with 80% seeking extensions or status changes for current employees. It said the people in its new-employee filings were already in the United States, and those filings represented 1% of its U.S. workforce. Microsoft also said H-1B employees doing comparable work receive the same pay as other employees, in a company statement.

At a White House news conference, Vance defended the focus on hiring U.S. workers, according to PBS News: “Our message to Microsoft is: You’re a great American company, but you’ve got to hire great American workers.” But former U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services adviser Doug Rand argued that blocking a green-card route could extend workers’ dependence on employers, since permanent residency gives them more ability to change jobs and negotiate pay, AP reported.

Tata Consultancy Services, another company covered by the pause, told Reuters it did not expect the action to affect its workforce plans or client work, TIME reported. The company said it had filed a single-digit number of PERM applications in the previous two years.

The suspension applies to a substantial nationwide process: the Labor Department recorded 117,849 PERM applications received and 138,093 certifications in fiscal year 2025. Applications received fell 22.4% from the prior fiscal year, the department’s annual statistics show.

What are officials investigating at universities?

The J-1 exchange visitor program allows temporary visits for study, teaching, research and other exchange activities. The university subpoenas are part of an investigation into possible misuse of the program, not a suspension of J-1 visas. Labor Department Inspector General Anthony D’Esposito said investigators would examine whether foreign influence, improper financial relationships or visa abuse were compromising research funded by the federal government.

Federal data cited by TIME counted 2,218 new J-1 visitors sponsored by Harvard in 2024, 1,436 by Stanford, 1,169 by Yale and 1,087 by MIT. Those counts describe sponsorships, not findings of misconduct.

Harvard, Brown, the University of Pittsburgh and MIT confirmed they had received subpoenas, TIME reported. Stanford and UC Davis said they would cooperate. Arizona State said its hiring follows federal policy, while Yale planned to examine the documents once they arrived.

The administration’s stated rationales are protecting U.S. jobs and examining whether research funding is being compromised. The company action stops a specific green-card labor-certification step; the university action is an investigation into J-1 use. Neither announcement suspends H-1B visas or changes J-1 eligibility.