Project Firewall Turning Into Project Farewell? Trump administration’s new nuke
By Avani Agarwal · · 594 words
Topics: AI, $100000 H-1B Fee, Adobe, AI and Technology Industry, American Economy, American Jobs, Brown University, Capgemini
Project Firewall is the Wage and Hour Division’s (WHD) enforcement initiative focused on safeguarding the rights, wages, and job opportunities of highly skilled U.S. workers and maximizing compliance with the H-1B visa program. Launched on September 19, 2025, it strengthens the Labor Department’s efforts to hold employers accountable when they misuse the H-1B visa program and ensures qualified American workers are not unfairly displaced. Through Project Firewall, WHD enforces H-1B visa program requirements, prioritizing investigations where there are signs of displacement, inadequate recruitment of U.S. workers, or other abuses. This initiative helps ensure employers consider qualified U.S. workers first and follow the law when seeking to hire highly skilled foreign workers.
Under the motive of protecting American jobs and filtering fraud, the US government has launched a probe into top IT firms and nine universities. Leading firms have been blocked from sponsoring new green cards, effectively reducing immigrant skilled labour. The move doesn’t come unexpectedly, as the Trump-led government has been working to reduce foreign-born residents and workforce ever since it was elected to power. Last year it also imposed a one-time $100,000 fee on new H-1B petitions.
The move is coupled with the brutal scrutinizing of H-1B visas. Earlier, visa extensions were not treated as fresh cases, but under a rule proposed on October 14, 2026, they would be. This means each visa would be “analyzed” again to check if the employee is qualified enough and if the job meets the H-1B requirement. This also means more documentation and more RFEs. (RFE stands for Request for Evidence, which is an official written notice issued by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).) The proposal is open to public comment till November 13, 2026.
PERM (Permanent Labor Certification):
Overseen by the Department of Labor, it ensures that for the given job, enough qualified US workers aren’t available and that hiring foreign workers will not affect local wages and the job market. It is the first step for most employment-based green cards.
On October 8, 2026, the US suspended new PERM applications and paused pending ones from 8 companies: six IT outsourcing firms (Cognizant, Wipro, HCL Technologies, Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and Capgemini), along with Microsoft and Adobe, which are under active federal investigations. H-1B status itself has not been suspended.
“We will not accept any new or process any pending permanent labor certification applications involving these companies,” Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling said.
The crackdown extends to universities as well. Nine universities, including Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Brown and MIT, are being investigated over alleged misuse of J-1 exchange visas. This could be a large blow to the American economy, as international students contributed $42.9 billion to the US economy in 2024-25, according to NAFSA. Not only does this restrict the skill pool for education and work, it also changes the dynamics of the US economy. Indian IT companies are now relying less on H-1B visas and have reduced PERM applications.
Another proposal could place additional pressure on universities that recruit international students. The Department of Homeland Security published a proposed rule that would require institutions to pay $70,000 for an initial OPT recommendation for an F-1 student and $30,000 for each subsequent recommendation, including a STEM OPT extension. It is open to public comment till November 9, 2026. OPT lets students work in their field during or after their studies, and is commonly the bridge between graduation and an H-1B visa.
All of these factors, coupled with increasing scrutiny on residency applications, might signal a permanent farewell of international workers and students from the US.