The latest U.S. immigration actions affecting tech talent target different stages of a worker’s career: H-1B processing and entry, and employer-sponsored green-card processing through PERM. A September 2026 executive order directs agencies to consider certain employer layoffs in H-1B cases; a separate proclamation extends a payment condition for some H-1B entries; and an October 8 announcement suspends eight companies from PERM processing. None of those measures means every H-1B worker loses permission to work in the United States.
What changed, and which immigration stage does each measure affect?
H-1B is temporary nonimmigrant status for specialty-occupation work. PERM—Permanent Labor Certification—is a Department of Labor process commonly used as an early step in some employer-sponsored employment-based green-card cases. A worker may pursue both at different points, but one process is not a substitute for the other.
| Measure | Stage and trigger | Who may be affected | Timing reported |
|---|---|---|---|
| H-1B layoff review | Agency consideration of a sponsor’s recent or planned layoffs affecting similarly situated U.S. workers | Employers sponsoring H-1B workers and workers whose cases are reviewed | Executive order dated September 18, 2026; Labor was directed to begin reviewing prior labor-condition-application data within 30 days |
| $100,000 payment condition | Payment requirement or an exception for certain H-1B visa issuance and entry situations | Certain H-1B applicants seeking visas or entry based on petitions filed after the specified cutoff | Proclamation issued September 18 and published September 23, 2026; restriction extended until 12:00 a.m. EDT on September 21, 2027 |
| PERM suspensions | Suspension from a labor-certification process used in some employer-sponsored green-card cases | Employees with PERM cases tied to the eight named companies | Announced October 8, 2026; legal and administrative status is time-sensitive |
| Expanded online-presence screening | Visa screening, separate from the payment and PERM actions | TN and TD visa applicants, among other listed categories | State Department announcement dated September 18; expansion effective October 1, 2026 |
The table describes distinct actions, not a single blanket suspension of technology-worker immigration. The administration’s executive order and announcements direct or describe government action; they do not by themselves determine the outcome of every individual application.
How does the new H-1B layoff review work?
The September 18 executive order directs the Secretaries of State, Labor, and Homeland Security to consider whether an H-1B sponsor “directly or indirectly engaged in layoffs within the previous year or plans future layoffs” that negatively affect similarly situated U.S. workers. The order calls for those departments to coordinate with Commerce, Education, and the Small Business Administration in administering H-1B petitions, labor condition applications, visas, and entries.
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This is an instruction to agencies to take the specified factor into account. It does not state that any layoff automatically disqualifies an employer from all H-1B sponsorship, nor does it predetermine an individual petition or visa decision. The order also directs Labor to start reviewing earlier labor-condition-application data within 30 days.
The White House described the order as part of a broader program-integrity effort. Its fact sheet reported a nearly 40% drop in FY 2027 registrations after a wage-weighted selection process replaced random selection. That is an administration-reported change, not independent evidence that the selection change alone caused the decline or that it measures the policy’s effect on tech hiring.
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Who faces the $100,000 H-1B payment condition?
Proclamation 11069, issued September 18, 2026 and published in the Federal Register on September 23, extends the earlier restriction for 12 months, through 12:00 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time on September 21, 2027. The measure concerns entry of certain H-1B nonimmigrants and retains a $100,000 payment condition, subject to limited exceptions.
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The State Department also says no visas have been revoked pursuant to the 2025 proclamation. That statement should not be stretched into a guarantee about every person’s status or a claim that no other immigration action can affect an individual. The proclamation reported that more than 700 petitions had made the payment since the original measure took effect.
Which companies were suspended from PERM processing?
On October 8, 2026, Vice President JD Vance announced PERM suspensions for Microsoft, Adobe, Cognizant, Infosys, Tata, Wipro, HCL, and Capgemini, according to Associated Press and Axios reports. The action concerns the permanent-residency sponsorship process, not the H-1B category as a whole.
The administration alleged abuse and cited layoffs. Those are administration claims, not findings that a court or agency has finally established wrongdoing by any named company. The Associated Press reported that the companies had not immediately responded to requests for comment at the time of its report.
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Axios reported that the announcement did not cancel existing H-1B visas or revoke green cards that had already been issued. A PERM suspension can matter to an employee whose employer-sponsored green-card case depends on that process, but it does not, by itself, end the employee’s separate H-1B work authorization. The reports describe a newly announced action; its current legal or administrative status may change.
Does a PERM suspension mean a tech worker can no longer work in the U.S.?
Not automatically. PERM is connected to a permanent-residency pathway, while H-1B status is temporary work authorization. A worker’s ability to keep working depends on their actual status and circumstances, not simply on whether an employer’s PERM processing is suspended. Likewise, a green card already issued is different from a pending employer-sponsored case; Axios reported that already-issued green cards were not revoked by this announcement.
For a worker with a pending or planned case, the practical questions include which employer is sponsoring it, where the case sits in the process, and whether a separate valid work-authorized status is in place. The announcements and reports do not resolve every individual case.
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What does the online-presence screening change?
In a separate September 18 announcement, the State Department said online-presence review would expand to TN and TD applicants effective October 1, 2026. It instructed TN and TD visa applicants—including USMCA professionals and their dependents—to set social-media profiles to public or open. The announcement listed H-1B and several other classifications as already subject to online-presence review.
This screening change is not the $100,000 payment condition and is not a PERM suspension. It concerns visa screening and applies according to the classifications and instructions in the State Department announcement.
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What do the administration’s registration figures show?
The White House and Federal Register reported a 92% decrease in combined H-1B registrations filed by the largest IT staffing and outsourcing firms, from 24,946 to 2,055. They also reported a nearly 97% decrease in consular-processing requests between the FY 2025 and FY 2027 cap seasons. These are official administration figures. They describe reported changes, but do not establish what caused them or what they mean for overall technology hiring.
Those figures should be read alongside the different policy mechanisms: selection rules, employer review, entry conditions, and permanent-residency processing are not interchangeable measures. A change in one statistic does not establish that all workers or employers face the same restriction.
What should workers and employers check before making a decision?
- Identify the process involved. Establish whether the immediate question concerns an H-1B petition, visa issuance or entry, current nonimmigrant status, or an employer-sponsored PERM case.
- Check the relevant dates. For the payment condition, the petition filing cutoff is September 21, 2025, at 12:01 a.m. EDT; the extended restriction is stated to run until September 21, 2027, at 12:00 a.m. EDT. Layoff review and PERM suspensions involve separate agency actions.
- Separate an announcement from an individual decision. The executive order directs agency consideration; it does not decide every petition. The PERM suspensions were announced in October, and their status is particularly time-sensitive.
- Use current official guidance for the specific case. Check the relevant Department of State, Department of Labor, or USCIS instructions, and consult qualified U.S. immigration counsel before making a filing, travel, or employment decision.
Associated Press quoted Howard University political science professor Ron Hira criticizing enforcement of existing worker protections: “That’s never been enforced.” This is Hira’s assessment, not a judicial finding. The administration, by contrast, framed the September order as necessary to “protect and prioritize the American workforce.” These statements represent the administration’s rationale and a critic’s view, respectively; neither decides how a particular case will be handled.
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