PERM Suspended for Eight Major Employers: Why EB-5 Is Now Worth a Look for Affected Workers

On October 8, 2026, the Department of Labor suspended eight large employers from the PERM labor certification program: Microsoft, Adobe, Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys, Wipro, Cognizant, HCL Technologies, and Capgemini. The action halts both new PERM filings and applications already pending, and because PERM certification is the required first step toward an employer-sponsored EB-2 or EB-3 green card, it effectively freezes that pathway for affected employees. For the many workers at these companies, a large share of them Indian nationals who have waited years in the green card queue, the suspension raises an urgent question about how to keep moving toward permanent residence. EB-5, which requires no employer and no labor certification at all, is one of the clearest answers, and this piece explains why, along with what the suspension does and does not actually do.

What the Department of Labor Did

The suspension has two distinct effects. The Department of Labor will no longer accept new PERM applications from any of the eight companies, and it has frozen the applications that were already filed and awaiting a decision. A PERM that was pending on October 8 now sits in the system untouched: no audit notice, no request for documentation, no certification, and no denial while the suspension holds.

The stated reasons differ by company. The two U.S. technology firms, Microsoft and Adobe, were described as being under active federal investigation, while the suspensions of the six outsourcing and consulting firms were framed around fraud allegations tied to the labor certification process. It is important to be precise here: as of now, none of the eight companies has been found liable for wrongdoing or debarred from the program. These are suspensions during active investigations, not findings of guilt. The initial suspension period runs up to 180 days, which points to an early-April 2027 expiration if the Department does not extend it, but extensions are permitted for as long as the underlying investigations remain open, and investigations of this scale can take years.

What the Suspension Does Not Touch

Before anyone at these companies concludes the worst, it is worth being equally clear about what the suspension leaves intact, because the mechanics are widely misunderstood.

H-1B status is not affected. The suspension applies to green card sponsorship through PERM, not to current work visas, so an employee’s H-1B status and work authorization remain in place, and these employers can still file H-1B petitions and extensions. Approved I-140 petitions are also not revoked. A worker whose PERM was already certified and used to obtain an approved I-140 before October 8 keeps that approval and, critically, keeps the priority date locked in with it. Even for workers whose PERM is now frozen, the priority date established when the Department received the application is preserved. What the freeze halts is the step between a pending PERM and the I-140 filing that follows it, not the gains already secured.

This matters because two misreadings are circulating. One is that an approved I-140 is somehow at risk; it is not, absent a separate debarment finding reaching back to prior certifications. The other is that a worker with a frozen PERM should immediately change employers to protect their case. That generally gets the mechanics backward, since a pending PERM belongs to the employer that filed it and cannot be transferred, and switching employers would mean starting the PERM process over at a new priority date. The right first step is not a hasty move but a clear understanding of exactly where one’s own case stands.

Why EB-5 Fits This Situation

Against that backdrop, the appeal of EB-5 for affected workers is structural rather than incidental. The entire difficulty created by the suspension flows from dependence on an employer and on labor certification. EB-5 removes both. It offers a path to permanent residence through a qualifying investment that creates at least ten U.S. jobs, with no employer, no PERM, and no job offer required, covering the investor along with a spouse and unmarried children under 21.

Two features make it especially well-suited to someone caught in this freeze. The first is the EB-5 set-aside categories. Under the Reform and Integrity Act of 2022, Congress reserved a portion of EB-5 visas each year for rural, high-unemployment-area, and infrastructure projects, and in the current Visa Bulletin those reserved categories are current for every country, including India and China. For an Indian national who may otherwise face a decades-long EB-2 wait, that distinction is significant, because it means an EB-5 case in a reserved category is not subject to the same backlog that makes the employer-sponsored route so slow.

The second is concurrent filing. Because affected workers are already in the United States on H-1B status, many may be able to file the EB-5 petition and the adjustment of status application at the same time, which can bring eligibility for an employment authorization document and advance parole while the case is pending. The resulting work permit is not tied to any employer, an obvious advantage for someone whose current employer’s sponsorship route has just been suspended.

One important point of balance: EB-5 does not require abandoning an existing employer-sponsored case. A worker can pursue EB-5 while keeping an EB-2 or EB-3 case active, preserving the priority date already earned, and use whichever path reaches the finish line first. EB-5 is best understood here as an additional, independent route rather than a replacement for what a worker has already built.

The Timing Considerations

For anyone weighing EB-5 in response to the suspension, two approaching dates affect the cost of acting, independent of the PERM situation itself.

The first is confirmed. On November 30, 2026, the filing fees for EB-5 petitions rise under the finalized USCIS fee rule, with the regional center investor petition fee increasing substantially and the integrity fund fee rising as well. Filing before that date means filing at the current, lower fees. The second is the scheduled inflation adjustment to the minimum investment amounts on January 1, 2027. The exact new figures have not yet been published by USCIS, so any specific projection should be treated as an estimate rather than a settled number, but the current $800,000 threshold for targeted-employment-area projects and $1.05 million standard threshold are set to rise. Filing before the adjustment takes effect preserves today’s amounts.

None of these deadlines should drive a rushed or poorly prepared filing, but for a worker who has decided EB-5 is the right move, they are good reasons to begin the process deliberately rather than wait.

Final Thoughts

The PERM suspension is a serious development for employees at the eight affected companies, but it calls for a clear head rather than alarm. H-1B status, approved I-140s, and established priority dates all remain intact; what is frozen is the labor certification step for those still in the PERM pipeline, and even that may resume if the investigations resolve. For workers who want to keep advancing toward permanent residence without depending on an employer that can no longer sponsor them through PERM, EB-5 offers a genuine and independent alternative, one that does not require a job offer, allows a case to proceed alongside an existing employer-sponsored petition, and, through its current reserved categories, sidesteps much of the backlog that makes the employer-sponsored route so slow for Indian and Chinese nationals. As with any significant immigration decision, the right next step is to understand exactly where one’s own case stands and to review the options with qualified, independent immigration counsel.

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