Are H-1B Visas Banned at Microsoft, TCS and Infosys? What DOL's PERM Suspension of 8 Employers Actually Does

H-1B is not banned at Microsoft, TCS or Infosys. DOL froze their green-card labor certifications, and the real risk sits in your year-six extension.

Part of our guide to PERM labor certification.

If you work at Microsoft, TCS, Infosys or Cognizant, or you are holding an offer from one of them, the week of October 8, 2026 probably felt like a cliff. Headlines said the US had "barred" these companies from a visa program, and WhatsApp groups turned that into "H-1B visa banned."

Here is the plain answer. H-1B visas are not banned at any of these companies. On 2026-10-08 the Department of Labor (DOL) said it will not accept new, or process pending, PERM labor certifications involving eight employers. PERM is the first step of an employer-sponsored green card. Your current H-1B status, and these employers' H-1B petitions, are not touched by that action. The real exposure is narrower: H-1B extensions past year six that depend on a PERM.

Status as of October 2026 (checked 2026-10-13):

• In effect (announced 2026-10-08): DOL PERM suspension for Microsoft, Adobe, Cognizant, Infosys, TCS, Wipro, HCL and Capgemini. No end date, no stated legal basis, and no written DOL notice had been found on DOL's FLAG system.
• Reported, not confirmed: the probable legal basis is 20 CFR 656.31(b).
• Not affected by this action: H-1B status, H-1B petitions, H-1B transfers and extensions in general.

Is the H-1B visa banned at Microsoft, Infosys, TCS or Cognizant?

No. The confusion comes from two different programs that both get called "sponsorship":

• H-1B is a temporary work status. The employer files an LCA with DOL and an I-129 petition with USCIS. You can hold it for six years, longer in some cases.
• PERM is the labor certification an employer gets from DOL's Office of Foreign Labor Certification before it files an I-140 immigrant petition for your EB-2 or EB-3 green card.

The October 8 action hits only the second. Our step-by-step guide to the green card on H-1B covers how PERM, the I-140 and the I-485 fit together if you want the full sequence.

India's Ministry of External Affairs said the same thing from the other side. The action does not by itself affect existing H-1B visas or status.

What DOL actually announced

The probable legal basis, and why it matters

Immigration firms report that DOL is most likely acting under 20 CFR 656.31(b). That provision lets DOL suspend PERM processing for an employer during a fraud investigation, with an initial suspension of up to 180 days. This is reported, not confirmed by DOL.

There is reported precedent too. Cognizant was reportedly suspended in early September 2026, before the wider announcement, and Cloudera reportedly received a 180-day suspension in May 2026. If you searched "h1b visa cognizant" because your PERM stopped moving in September, that earlier reported suspension may be why. Confirm it with your employer's counsel, not a forum thread.

If 656.31(b) is the basis, the suspension has a built-in review point at 180 days, although the regulation also lets DOL extend it until an investigation ends. That still does not tell you when your case will move, and nobody outside DOL knows yet.

Who is exposed, and who mostly is not

The suspension matters to you through one mechanism: the six-year H-1B limit and the AC21 exceptions that let you stay past it. The detail behind those exceptions is in our guide to extending H-1B after six years with an I-140. Here is how the suspension lands on each situation, based on practitioner analysis of the announcement:

AC21 s.106(a) versus s.104(c), in one paragraph

Two different AC21 sections let you stay on H-1B past six years. Section 106(a) gives one-year extensions when a PERM or I-140 was filed at least 365 days before. Section 104(c) gives three-year extensions when you have an approved I-140 and your priority date is not current because of per-country limits, which is the usual situation for Indian and Chinese nationals in EB-2 and EB-3. The suspension freezes PERM, so it hits the people who still need a PERM to reach either exception. Someone with an approved I-140 is relying on a document the suspension does not, by itself, revoke.

Old assumption versus what is true now

Questions to bring to your employer's immigration team

You cannot fix this yourself, and you should not try to file anything without counsel. What you can do is ask precise questions. In order:

1. Is my PERM filed, and on what date? The 365-day line for s.106(a) runs from that filing date.
2. Is my I-140 approved, pending or not filed? Ask for a copy of the I-797 approval notice if there is one.
3. When does my six-year H-1B maximum end? Ask counsel to count it with recapture of time spent outside the US, not a rough guess.
4. If my PERM stays frozen past my year-six date, what is the plan? You are asking about strategy, not asking for a promise.
5. Does the company expect to refile once the suspension lifts, and will my recruitment need redoing? PERM recruitment and prevailing wage determinations go stale, which is a timing question for counsel.
6. Who is my contact if this changes? Get a name, not a generic inbox.

If you are on F-1 OPT or STEM OPT, two of these questions belong elsewhere. Anything about OPT reporting, unemployment days or your I-983 goes to your DSO. Anything about green-card timing goes to an immigration attorney. They are not interchangeable.

For workers at TCS, Infosys and other IT-services firms, PERM questions often overlap with bench time, client-site moves and amendment rules. Our guide to TCS, Infosys and Cognizant H-1B extensions, bench time and travel covers that side.

If you are thinking about leaving

Some readers will wonder whether moving to an employer not on the list fixes the problem. That is a legitimate question for an attorney, and it has real trade-offs. An H-1B transfer usually does not need a new lottery if you were already counted against the cap. The new employer would start its own PERM from scratch. Whether you can keep an earlier priority date depends mainly on whether your I-140 was approved and stays approved, which is a question for counsel. Our explainer on what a PERM denial means for your H-1B and priority date covers the related worst case. Our explainer on AC21 portability and changing jobs during a green card sets out the mechanics. Do not resign on the strength of a news story. Get a written read of your own dates first.

The politics, kept separate from your case

The announcement came with public claims about Microsoft. Vice President Vance's figures about Microsoft's layoffs and visa use are allegations, and Microsoft disputes them (reported by CNBC on 2026-10-10). Nothing in that public argument changes the legal effect described above. Treat it as context, not as a signal about your own petition.

It also helps to keep this separate from other October 2026 actions people are mixing together:

• EO 14431 (layoffs as an H-1B factor) is in effect as a directive, with no implementing guidance and no automatic denial (EO 14431 explained).
• The $100,000 H-1B fee was extended on paper by Proclamation 11069 to 2027-09-21, but it is blocked by two court orders and is not being collected (fee update).
• The proposal to end the 60-day worker grace period is proposed only. Comments close 2026-11-10, and today's grace period still applies.

None of these is the PERM suspension, and none turns it into an H-1B ban.

Common mistakes

• Reading "PERM suspension" as "H-1B ban." It is a green-card labor certification freeze. Your H-1B status is governed by your I-797 and I-94.
• Panicking over an approved I-140. Practitioner analysis says it is not automatically revoked by this action. Confirm with counsel rather than assuming the worst.
• Ignoring the 365-day line. If your PERM was filed less than a year ago and your year-six date is close, that gap is the issue to raise now, not in month 70.
• Turning down an OPT offer because of a headline. The suspension does not stop these employers from filing your H-1B. Weigh the green-card uncertainty with real information instead.
• Quitting before you have your dates in writing. A transfer has its own timeline and its own green-card restart.
• Treating forum posts as legal analysis. Every claim about end dates or "back-processing" is speculation until DOL publishes something.
• Asking your DSO about PERM, or your attorney about OPT unemployment days. Route each question to the person whose job it is.

Frequently asked questions

Are H-1B visas banned at Microsoft, TCS, Infosys or Cognizant?

No. The action DOL announced on October 8, 2026 covers PERM labor certifications, the first step of an employer-sponsored green card. It does not end anyone's H-1B status and does not stop these employers from filing H-1B petitions, extensions or transfers.

Will my approved I-140 be revoked because my employer is on the list?

Practitioner analysis of the announcement says approved I-140s are not automatically revoked by it, and an approved I-140 still supports three-year H-1B extensions under AC21 section 104(c). That is legal analysis, not an agency statement, so confirm your own case with your employer's immigration attorney.

Can I extend my H-1B past six years if my PERM is stuck in the suspension?

It depends on how long the PERM has been pending. Practitioners say a PERM already pending 365 days or more may still support one-year extensions under AC21 section 106(a) while it is suspended rather than denied. A PERM pending less than 365 days, or one not yet filed, is where the real exposure sits. An immigration attorney has to apply this to your dates.

How long will the DOL PERM suspension last?

DOL stated no end date and no legal basis. Immigration firms report the likely basis is 20 CFR 656.31(b), which allows an initial suspension of up to 180 days during a fraud investigation, but that is reported, not confirmed. Watch DOL's own pages and your employer's counsel for updates.

Should I accept an OPT or STEM OPT offer from one of the eight employers?

Nobody outside your situation can make that call, but the facts are narrower than the headlines. Their ability to sponsor your H-1B is not touched by this action, while the timing of a future green card through them is uncertain. Ask the employer how they plan to handle PERM, take OPT reporting questions to your DSO, and take green-card planning questions to an immigration attorney.

Sources

• DOL Office of Foreign Labor Certification, the program that runs PERM: https://www.dol.gov/agencies/eta/foreign-labor
• DOL FLAG processing times, which is where any change to PERM queues will show up: https://flag.dol.gov/processingtimes
• USCIS, H-1B specialty occupations: https://www.uscis.gov/working-in-the-united-states/h-1b-specialty-occupations
• USCIS, Form I-140 immigrant petition: https://www.uscis.gov/i-140
• 20 CFR Part 656 (PERM regulations, including 656.31): https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-20/chapter-V/part-656
• TechCrunch, report of the 2026-10-08 announcement: https://techcrunch.com/2026/10/08/us-bars-microsoft-adobe-and-major-it-firms-from-green-card-program-for-skilled-foreign-workers/
• CNBC, Microsoft's response to the Vance figures (2026-10-10): https://www.cnbc.com/2026/10/10/vance-microsoft-h1b-layoffs-visa-data.html

This post explains how the process works as of 2026-10-13. It is not legal advice, and your own notices govern over anything published here.

If you are weighing an offer, or a job move, against a green-card plan that just got more uncertain, it helps to have options from employers whose sponsorship you understand. F1Jobs works with international candidates on sponsorship-focused job searches. Talk to us when you are ready.