In a major enforcement escalation targeting corporate visa practices, the Trump administration on Thursday announced the suspension of tech giant Microsoft from the federal PERM program, effectively blocking the company from applying for permanent residency (green cards) on behalf of its H-1B visa holders.
The action was formally unveiled during a White House press briefing led by US Vice President JD Vance, who accused the Redmond-based technology firm of systemically abusing the US immigration process.
”Replaced American Workers with Foreign Labor”
Justifying the harsh regulatory crackdown, Vice President Vance alleged that Microsoft engaged in fraudulent practices by conducting domestic workforce layoffs while simultaneously filing foreign labor certifications.
Speaking to reporters, Vance delivered a sharp rebuke of the corporate employment model:
”If you do the math, for every worker that Microsoft laid off, they replaced that worker with one and a half foreign indentured servants. There is no company in the United States that has abused this system more than Microsoft.”
The suspension targets the Department of Labor’s PERM (Program for Electronic Review Management) labor certification pathway, a mandatory preliminary step employers must complete before sponsoring an H-1B visa holder for an employment-based green card.
Broader Industry Impact
The crackdown on Microsoft comes alongside wider enforcement measures targeting major tech conglomerates and academic institutions. Administration officials signalled that companies attempting to leverage foreign visa frameworks to reduce labor costs amid domestic downsizing will face immediate exclusion from immigration sponsorship programs.
Technology firms represent the single largest user base of the H-1B visa category, with foreign professionals from India receiving nearly three-quarters of all annual approvals. The freeze on PERM filings poses significant operational and career uncertainty for thousands of foreign engineers and IT professionals currently employed under Microsoft’s corporate umbrella.
