The Trump administration froze on Thursday some Green Card filings by eight firms including India’s Tata Consultancy Services and Infosys and opened probes into nine elite universities, widening a visa crackdown it says targets fraud and American job losses.
“I’m sure that everyone here understands the game that is being played. Indian IT firms such as Infosys, TCS, Wipro and HCL, along with Cognizant, have long been among the biggest users of H-1B visas. The nine universities also include Brown and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The crackdown comes as part of a broader effort to disincentivise American employers from using the H-1B visa programme.
Amazon.com was the largest employer of approved H-1B beneficiaries in fiscal 2026, followed by Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys, Apple and Microsoft, according to USCIS data. Vance accused them of using J-1 exchange-visitor visas to bring in international students and undercut American wages. In September 2025, President Donald Trump announced a $100,000 fee on new H-1B visa petitions, which was subsequently blocked by a US court in June this year. In August 2026, the Trump administration proposed a fresh $103,265 H-1B visa fee, which would apply to all H-1B petitions subject to the annual cap of 85,000.
Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling said the suspension would cover Cognizant, Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services, Wipro, HCL Technologies, Microsoft, Adobe and Capgemini. “We will not accept any new or process any pending permanent labour certification applications involving these companies,” Sonderling said. Bring in indentured servants from outside the country, you lay off American workers and if you’re a corporation, you make a ton of money by undercutting the wages of American workers, replacing them with people who probably should not be in the United States of America to begin with,” Vice President JD Vance said. Vance also said nine universities, including Harvard, Yale and Stanford, would be investigated for what the administration called the misuse of exchange-visitor visas to undercut American wages. Microsoft is also the largest filer of PERM applications, according to Permtrack.app, which compiles Labour Department disclosure data. Labour Inspector General Anthony D’Esposito said subpoenas had already been served.
