The Trump administration has announced the suspension of a key employment-based green card process for eight major technology and outsourcing companies, including Indian firms Infosys, TCS, Wipro and HCL. The action also covers Cognizant, Capgemini, Microsoft and Adobe.
US Labour Secretary Keith Sonderling said the suspensions followed ongoing federal investigations into the companies.
The programme, known as PERM, is a key step for employers seeking green cards for foreign workers.
Vice President JD Vance accused the companies of using the system to replace American workers with lower-paid foreign employees. The administration has not released company-specific findings or details of the alleged violations.
The suspension applies to PERM applications and does not, by itself, cancel existing H-1B visas or green cards.
Meanwhile, Microsoft has rejected the allegations, saying 80 per cent of the roughly 6,000 H-1B applications it filed last fiscal year were to extend or change the status of existing employees, rather than hire new workers.
The company said the remaining applications were for people already legally in the US, and that new hires through those applications accounted for about one per cent of its US workforce.