The US Department of Labour has suspended Cognizant, Infosys, Tata, Wipro, HCL, Capgemini, Microsoft and Adobe from the Permanent Labour Certification Programme, preventing the companies from filing new applications or advancing pending cases under the programme.

The programme is used by employers seeking permanent labour certification for foreign workers, including those on H-1B visas, as part of the employment-based green card process.

US Labour Secretary Keith Sonderling announced the decision on Thursday alongside Vice President JD Vance and the head of the US Anti-Fraud Task Force.

The Labour Department said it would not accept new permanent labour certification applications involving the companies or process applications that are already pending.

Sonderling pointed to the companies' immigration records as part of the justification for the action.

According to the Labour Secretary, the firms collectively requested nearly three million foreign workers since 2009. He said they had received more than 230,000 H-1B visa approvals and over 100,000 permanent labour certifications during that period.

Sonderling said the numbers represented jobs that could otherwise have gone to American workers.

"That's hundreds of thousands of jobs that were taken from American workers," he said.

The decision places restrictions on the ability of the eight companies to pursue new and pending permanent labour certification applications in the US, potentially affecting their immigration processes for foreign employees.

With PTI inputs