Three Immigration Enforcement Actions Reshaping Hiring: PERM Freeze, Visa Pause, and H-2A Wage Ruling

NewsData.io · United States · Sep 16, 2026

The DOL has frozen all new PERM applications from several major IT and tech companies amid a joint investigation with the White House Fraud Task Force into alleged wage suppression and systemic H-1B misuse. Simultaneously, the State Department has paused all immigrant visa applications from outside the U.S. and is preparing to revoke up to 200,000 business and tourism visas held by asylum seekers, while DHS is proposing a $103,265 additional H-1B filing fee. Agricultural employers face separate uncertainty after a federal court struck down the DOL's H-2A Adverse Effect Wage Rate methodology, requiring recalculation and potentially exposing employers to back pay liability.