Is H-1B suspended? The October 8 PERM action

Is H-1B suspended?

No. The October 8 announcement concerned employer-specific PERM restrictions; it did not announce a blanket suspension of H-1B visas. Outlets disagree on whether H-1B petitions for the eight named companies are also affected, and no official notice had been published by October 9, 2026.

The reports agree that the companies are suspended from the permanent residency pathway, which runs through PERM. They differ on H-1B. Washington Technology reported that the government will not process new or pending H-1B or PERM applications, in an article about the eight companies. TechCrunch described a suspension from a permanent residency program and reported Keith Sonderling speaking only of permanent labor certification applications. Business Today reported a PERM suspension and quoted an analyst who said existing H-1B employment is not suspended.

WaitDelta could not find a Department of Labor release or a Federal Register notice for the action as of October 9, 2026, so there is no official text to settle the difference. WaitDelta proceeds on the narrower reading, PERM only, and will update this page when an official document resolves the question.

No H-1B visa has been revoked, and the reporting does not describe existing H-1B employment ending. This is a conclusion about what was announced, not a guarantee about any person's case. Your employer's notice, your immigration record and any message from a consulate are the records that apply to you.

For a booked or pending interview, read Does the PERM suspension affect H-1B interviews in India?. For the booking steps, read H-1B stamping in India: Booking and interview rules.

What did the Department of Labor suspend on October 8, 2026?

On October 8, 2026 the Department of Labor suspended eight companies from PERM, the labor certification process that begins most employer-sponsored green card cases. The reports describe a suspension of the companies, not of individual employees, and give no effective date, duration or appeal route.

Vice President JD Vance announced the action at a White House news conference on Thursday, October 8. Keith Sonderling, who leads the Labor Department, also spoke. TechCrunch reported that Sonderling said the department would not accept any new or pending permanent labor certification applications involving the eight companies. Al Jazeera reported that the Department of Labor said it had uncovered $22 billion in visa fraud. That figure is the department's own claim, and WaitDelta has not seen the data behind it. Washington Technology quoted Sonderling saying, "We are cutting off the head of the snake."

PERM, short for Program Electronic Review Management, is the Department of Labor's labor certification process. In most EB-2 and EB-3 green card cases an employer must use it to show, through a recruitment process, that there are not enough able, willing and qualified US workers for the role. EB-1 petitions, including EB-1C for multinational managers, and EB-2 national interest waiver cases do not use PERM. PERM is the first of three steps:

PERM labor certification, run by the Department of Labor. This is the step suspended for the eight companies.
Form I-140 immigrant petition, filed with USCIS.
Adjustment of status or consular processing, once the worker's priority date is current.

PERM is a different process from the LCA that supports a temporary H-1B petition. PERM vs LCA vs H-1B: Which process does what? explains how the two differ and how they connect to the petition and the visa appointment.

WaitDelta found no Department of Labor news release or Federal Register notice for the October 8 action as of October 9, so the details above come from reporting of the announcement, which Reuters and the Associated Press also covered.

Which companies are suspended from PERM?

Microsoft, Adobe, Cognizant, Capgemini, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Infosys, Wipro and HCL Technologies were suspended from PERM in the action announced on October 8, 2026. TechCrunch and Washington Technology list all eight. Exact subsidiaries and employer notices were not available.

Companies named in the October 8 PERM action and the statements reported
Company	Headquarters	Statement reported
Microsoft	United States	Said about 80 percent of its H-1B filings last fiscal year were to extend or change the status of existing employees, and that filings for new employees equal about 1 percent of its US workforce (TechCrunch, Al Jazeera).
Adobe	United States	Did not immediately respond to requests for comment from TechCrunch or Al Jazeera.
Cognizant	United States, with a large workforce in India	No statement found in the reports reviewed. A separate Cognizant PERM suspension was reported on September 8.
Capgemini	France	No statement found in the reports reviewed.
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS)	India	Said it plans to hire about 15,000 more people in the United States over five years, that its PERM applications were in single digits over the past two years, and that it does not expect the suspension to affect its workforce strategy or customer engagements (Business Today).
Infosys	India	No statement found in the reports reviewed.
Wipro	India	No statement found in the reports reviewed.
HCL Technologies	India	No statement found in the reports reviewed.

The reporting does not extend the action to any other employer. NASSCOM, the Indian technology industry body, said Indian technology firms have consistently shown their commitment to complying with local laws (Business Today). Vance claimed that Microsoft laid off 6,000 American workers while obtaining 6,300 H-1B visas and almost 3,000 green cards (Al Jazeera). Every figure in this section is a claim by a party to the dispute, not an established fact.

Does the suspension cover new and pending PERM applications?

Reports say it does. TechCrunch reported Labor Department leader Keith Sonderling saying the department would not accept any new or pending permanent labor certification applications involving the eight companies. No official notice defines what counts as pending, and the reports give no effective date or duration.

20 CFR 656.31(b) lets the department suspend processing of an employer's PERM applications while a fraud investigation is pending. A suspension "may last initially for up to 180 days." After that the department may resume processing or extend the suspension until the investigation and any court proceedings conclude. The department has not said whether the October 8 action was taken under that provision, and no restart date has been announced.

The regulation describes a pause, not an automatic denial. If processing resumes, each pending application is decided on its merits, and it may be denied if fraud is found.

What does the PERM suspension not do?

As reported, it does not revoke any individual's visa, cancel any scheduled visa interview, end existing H-1B employment (according to an analyst quoted by Business Today), or name employers beyond the eight. Under 20 CFR 656.31, a suspension pauses processing of an employer's applications rather than denying them.

It does not revoke any individual's visa. No report reviewed says it does.
It does not cancel any scheduled visa interview. The action concerns Department of Labor processing. Consular interviews are scheduled by the Department of State, and no report mentions appointments.
It does not end existing H-1B employment, according to an analyst quoted by Business Today. That is one analyst's reading, not an official statement.
It does not name employers beyond the eight. As reported, it covers these companies only.
It does not promise a restart date, unchanged extension eligibility or unchanged employment. The reports are silent on all three, and each depends on the employer's own notices and the individual's case.

Is an employer pausing PERM the same as a government suspension?

No. An employer pausing PERM is a company decision about its own sponsorship, while a government suspension is an agency restriction on processing. A case held at recruitment and an operational interruption are two further situations. Each affects a different stage and needs different evidence that it has ended.

Four situations that are often described as a PERM pause
Situation	What it is	Stage affected	Evidence it has ended
Employer sponsorship decision	The company chooses not to start or file PERM cases.	Before filing	A dated employer communication that filing has resumed.
Case held at recruitment	A case waits on the employer's recruitment steps.	Recruitment	The employer's notice that recruitment closed and the case was filed.
Agency processing restriction	The Department of Labor stops processing an employer's applications, as in the October 8 action.	Department of Labor review	An official notice, or the employer's applications being processed.
Operational interruption	A system or staffing disruption slows processing for many employers.	Any stage	Normal processing times returning.

The October 8 action is the third situation. Employer PERM pause vs government suspension: What differs? sets out dated reports of earlier company pauses and what they do and do not show. Questions to ask your employer's immigration team: which legal entity filed the case, which stage it is at, whether it counts as new or pending, and which dated communication supports the answer.

Does the PERM suspension change H-1B visa interviews in India?

No effect on appointment availability has been reported. The action concerns Department of Labor processing of employer green card filings, while the Department of State schedules visa interviews. Whether your own booking is affected depends on the notices you hold from your employer and the consulate.

None of the reports reviewed describes a way for a Department of Labor action on employer sponsorship to change how the Department of State schedules appointments, and none mentions consular appointments at all. That is a statement about the reports, not about your booking. Does the PERM suspension affect H-1B interviews in India? sets out what to check if you have a booking, need one or are planning travel.

WaitDelta is withholding its H-1B wait figures while it verifies the source mapping behind them, so this page quotes no H-1B interview estimate. How WaitDelta measures visa interview wait estimates explains the check, and US visa wait times in India lists the figures that are published.

What should you check if you work for one of the eight companies?

Check three records rather than the news: any written notice from your employer's immigration team, your own petition and case records, and the appointment details in your official booking account. Ask the employer which legal entity filed your case, which stage it is at and whether it counts as new or pending.

Employer notice. A dated written communication from the immigration team or counsel that names your case.
Case records. The receipt and approval notices (Form I-797) for each petition, and the stage of any green card case: PERM, Form I-140 or adjustment of status.
Booking account. The date, post and status of any consular appointment.
Counsel. For a status, travel or job-change question, a licensed immigration attorney. WaitDelta cannot assess an individual case.

How does this compare with earlier PERM suspensions in 2026?

The October 8 action follows a run of 2026 measures: a Justice Department suit against Cloudera on April 28, a 180-day Labor Department suspension of Cloudera's PERM processing on May 12, a reported Cognizant suspension on September 8, and Executive Order 14431 with Proclamation 11069 on September 18.

April 28. The Justice Department's Civil Rights Division sued Cloudera, alleging a recruitment process that kept qualified US workers from applying while the company certified that none were available (Miller Mayer).
May 12. The Labor Department suspended processing of all PERM applications filed by or on behalf of Cloudera for 180 days, with an extension possible pending the Justice Department investigation (Department of Labor release, as summarized by Miller Mayer).
July 8. The Labor Department's Office of Inspector General announced a major investigation into H-1B and PERM fraud (Mayer Brown).
September 8. Inspector General Anthony D'Esposito announced that Cognizant's PERM filings were suspended (Outlook India, citing PTI).
September 18. Executive Order 14431 and Proclamation 11069, published in the Federal Register on September 23. The order directs the Secretaries of State, Labor and Homeland Security to take into account, in H-1B petitions, labor condition applications and visas, whether the sponsoring employer engaged in layoffs in the previous year, or plans layoffs, that negatively affect similarly situated US workers. The proclamation extends the $100,000 H-1B entry payment restriction to September 21, 2027 (executive order, proclamation).
October 8. The eight-company suspension.

WaitDelta found no published term or legal basis for the October 8 action. The Cloudera suspension carried the 180-day term that the regulation allows initially.

What else was announced on October 8?

Vance also announced investigations of nine universities over the use of the J-1 exchange visitor program, and the Department of Homeland Security published a proposed rule that would add fees for F-1 Optional Practical Training. Neither is part of the PERM action, and the OPT rule is not in effect.

Reporting names the universities as Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Brown, the University of Pittsburgh, UC Davis, Caltech, Arizona State University and MIT (Moneycontrol). Officials alleged the program was being used to undermine wages for American workers (TechCrunch). Vance claimed an American researcher earns $20,000 more than a J-1 worker; the White House did not provide supporting data when Al Jazeera asked.

J-1 is the exchange visitor category, used for visiting scholars, researchers and other exchange participants. It is different from F-1, the category for most degree-seeking international students, and the reporting describes the investigation as concerning J-1. The proposed OPT fee rule was published in the Federal Register on the same day.

What is still unknown?

The reports leave six points open: whether H-1B petitions are covered, which entities and subsidiaries are included, when the suspension takes effect and for how long, whether any appeal route exists, how employees on US government contracts are treated, and how many applications each company files.

Whether H-1B petitions are covered as well as PERM.
Which legal entities and subsidiaries are included, and whether employers have sent notices.
When the suspension takes effect, how long it lasts, and on what legal basis.
Whether an appeal or remediation route exists.
Whether employees assigned to US government contracts are treated differently. Washington Technology reported that this is not yet clear.
How many PERM applications each company files. TCS says its own were in single digits over two years. Business Today, citing unnamed reports, gives per-company counts that conflict with that, and WaitDelta has not republished them. The Labor Department's PERM disclosure data is where counts can be checked.

An official document would settle most of these.

How was this reported, and when will it be updated?

This page rests on reporting and official documents available on October 9, 2026, and every source is listed at the end. WaitDelta updates it when a Department of Labor release or Federal Register notice for the October 8 action is published, and each material change is dated in the log below.

WaitDelta searched the Federal Register on October 9 and found no notice for the October 8 action, and it could not locate a Department of Labor release. When an official document is published, the scope paragraph here and on the interview explainer will be replaced with the settled answer, and the date at the top of the page updated.

WaitDelta is an independent publication and is not affiliated with the U.S. government. This page describes government actions and how the processes involved work. It is not legal advice. For your own case, consult a licensed immigration attorney.

Changes to this page

October 9, 2026. First published. Facts checked against the sources listed below on this date.

Is H-1B suspended? What the October 8 PERM action changed