Vice President JD Vance did something on Thursday that will protect American workers from being locked out of good-paying technology jobs moving forward.
Vance announced a major crackdown on employment-based immigration, suspending Microsoft, Adobe, and six other technology companies from a federal program that allows businesses to sponsor foreign workers for permanent residency.
The VP unveiled the enforcement actions alongside Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling and other senior administration officials, accusing major corporations of exploiting immigration programs to replace American employees with lower-cost foreign workers.
The announcement represents a significant escalation in the administration’s efforts to combat alleged fraud involving H-1B visas and the Permanent Labor Certification Program, commonly known as PERM.
Speaking during a White House news conference, Vance singled out Microsoft, accusing the technology giant of benefiting from thousands of foreign-worker approvals while laying off American employees.
“The H-1B visa is how people get into the country. The PERM program is how they stay in the United States to begin with. Now, there has been no company in the United States, unfortunately, that has abused this system more than Microsoft,” Vance said.
“Microsoft laid off, last year, 6,000 American workers. At the same time, the company benefited from 6,300 H-1B visas and almost 3,000 green cards,” he continued.
“In other words, if you do the math, for every worker that Microsoft laid off, they replaced that worker with one and a half foreign, indentured servants,” he said.
“Now that is a scandalous system that we’ve allowed in this country for far too long. But thanks to the work of this task force, and thanks to the empowerment of the President of the United States, we are going to stop it,” he added.
Vance further characterized the situation as a major failure of federal immigration enforcement and promised that the administration would intervene.
“Our message to Microsoft is: You’re a great American company, but you’ve got to hire great American workers,” Vance said.
Vice President JD Vance announces the suspension of the PERM Program for Microsoft:
“Thanks to an ongoing investigation, we have decided to suspend the PERM program for Microsoft, which means they will no longer be able to take those H-1Bs and apply for permanent resident status within the United States of America. Now our message to Microsoft and to any other foreign or domestic corporation is quite simple. We obviously want you to thrive in the United States of America. We want people to invest in the United States of America, particularly the American technology sector. We’re the biggest boosters of your industry. We want you to continue to grow and to employ a lot of people, but we want you to employ American workers. And so our message to Microsoft is, you’re great American company, but you’ve got to hire great American workers. You cannot lay off American workers and then replace them with foreign indentured servants.”
— Vice President JD Vance (@VP) October 8, 2026
Microsoft disputed the administration’s characterization.
The company said approximately 80% of its H-1B applications during the previous fiscal year involved extending or changing the immigration status of existing employees rather than hiring new workers.
Microsoft also maintained that foreign employees receive compensation comparable to American workers performing similar jobs.
The company said it would provide additional information to federal officials.
Sonderling announced that the government would suspend PERM applications involving eight major technology and outsourcing companies.
The affected businesses are Microsoft, Adobe, Cognizant, Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services, Wipro, HCL Technologies and Capgemini.
“We will not accept any new or process any pending permanent labor certification applications involving these companies,” Sonderling announced.
According to the Labor Department, the companies collectively requested nearly three million foreign workers since 2009 and received more than 230,000 H-1B approvals and 100,000 permanent labor certifications.
Officials said the suspensions are connected to ongoing federal investigations into potential immigration violations.
Vance indicated that the restrictions could remain in place until the administration is satisfied that the companies have changed their hiring practices.
The government has not announced a specific date for restoring their participation.
This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
