Status as of October 22, 2026. Instacart has agreed to a $5 million settlement with the Justice Department and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission over allegations that it disadvantaged U.S. workers while recruiting for jobs linked to employment-based green cards. The agreement changes the company's hiring procedures; it does not announce a ban on Instacart sponsoring foreign workers or automatically cancel anyone's immigration case.
Applying for a job at Instacart could depend on which hiring process the company used. For ordinary openings, applicants could submit applications electronically. But for some jobs advertised through the federal green card sponsorship process, U.S. workers had to send their applications by physical mail, federal investigators said. That extra hurdle is at the center of a $5 million settlement announced October 20.
The Justice Department (DOJ) and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) said the practices favored workers holding temporary employment visas and prevented many U.S. applicants from receiving timely consideration. Instacart, operated by Maplebear Inc., agreed to settle the allegations; according to Reuters, the company maintained that its practices complied with the law.
Why did green card recruitment matter?
The dispute concerns Permanent Labor Certification, commonly called PERM. Before sponsoring many foreign employees for employment-based permanent residence, an employer generally must test the labor market and establish that qualified, willing and available U.S. workers are not available for the position under the program's requirements. PERM recruitment must be a genuine opportunity for eligible U.S. applicants, not a process designed to make it harder for them to compete.
According to DOJ and EEOC, Instacart required applications for certain PERM-advertised jobs to arrive through the mail, even though its normal recruitment allowed electronic submissions. The agencies alleged discrimination based on citizenship status and national origin under the Immigration and Nationality Act and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act.
Where will the $5 million go?
Under the published settlement summary, Instacart will establish a $4 million compensation fund for eligible people who applied, or were deterred from applying, for affected PERM positions between December 2023 and February 2026. A claims administrator will assess eligibility. The company will also pay $1 million in civil penalties to the U.S. government.
DOJ and EEOC say people who believe they were affected can contact Instacart@eeoc.gov while the claims process is being established. Contacting the agencies does not guarantee compensation.
Instacart must also advertise PERM positions on its public careers website, accept electronic applications from U.S. workers, revise its policies, train relevant staff and submit to monitoring and reporting requirements.
What does this mean for foreign workers?
The settlement is a warning to employers that green card sponsorship cannot be used to shut qualified U.S. applicants out of recruitment. It does not, by itself, establish that every Instacart-sponsored PERM application is invalid, that employees have lost their visas, or that Instacart has been barred from the PERM program.
That distinction matters because a separate recent enforcement action had different consequences: Cloudera agreed to a two-year PERM exclusion. The published Instacart settlement instead specifies compensation, penalties and recruiting reforms, without announcing an equivalent exclusion.
For employees with pending employer-sponsored green card cases, the practical question is whether their particular employer or application is affected by an agency action. The Instacart announcement does not provide a blanket answer about individual immigration filings.