Vice President JD Vance announced on Oct. 8 that the Trump administration is suspending Microsoft and Adobe from a federal program that allows employers to sponsor foreign workers for permanent residency green cards, citing alleged fraud in the immigration system.
The suspension applies to the Permanent Labor Certification Program, known as PERM, which is the step most employers must clear before sponsoring a foreign worker for an employment-based green card. The action effectively blocks Microsoft and Adobe from sponsoring H-1B visa holders for permanent residency, ABC News reported [1].
Vance also announced that the administration is opening an investigation into nine universities over alleged J-1 visa fraud and said additional technology and outsourcing firms would face similar suspensions.
Vance Cites Microsoft Layoffs and Visa Use
Vance singled out Microsoft during the press conference, stating that the company had abused the visa system more than any other U.S. company. "There has been no company in the United States, unfortunately, that has abused this system more than Microsoft," Vance said, according to the Epoch Times [2]. He stated that Microsoft laid off 6,000 American workers last year while simultaneously benefiting from 6,300 H-1B visas and nearly 3,000 green cards [3].
The vice president argued that foreign worker visa programs were intended to supply high-level talent where domestic supply was short, but that companies are abusing the system to undercut American workers with lower-paid foreign employees. "There's this pernicious idea that Americans are not good enough for the jobs in their own country," Vance said.
According to Tom's Hardware, Vance stated that Microsoft filed 3,682 PERM applications, nearly 1,000 of which were for positions that overlapped with those of laid-off workers [4].
Additional IT Firms Suspended; Labor Department Cites Fraud
Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling said that Department of Labor (DOL) investigations uncovered $22 billion in fraud and secured more than 200 convictions over the past five months, according to the Epoch Times. The scale of the visa usage described by officials has drawn scrutiny from labor advocates who have long argued that the H-1B program functions less as a tool for filling genuine talent shortages and more as a mechanism for replacing American workers with lower-cost foreign labor.
The authors also pointed to Government Accountability Office findings that undermined industry claims of unfilled technology jobs, noting that "ITAA's estimate of the number of unfilled IT jobs is based on reported vacancies, and adequate information about those vacancies is not provided, such as how long positions have been vacant, whether wages offered are sufficient to attract qualified applicants, and whether companies consider jobs filled by contractors as vacancies" [5].
Nine Universities Investigated Over J-1 Visa Fraud
The universities identified as part of the J-1 visa investigation are Pitt, Yale, Harvard, Stanford, Brown, UC Davis, Caltech, Arizona State and MIT, according to the announcement [2]. The institutions were identified as allegedly abusing J-1 visas used by foreign students for work- and study-based programs.
DOL Inspector General Anthony D'Esposito said subpoenas were already served and that investigators are seeking more details of fraudulent activities, according to the Epoch Times. D'Esposito also warned of Chinese Communist Party attempts to influence U.S. education systems and the national security implications of those actions. "Nobody will be getting a free pass because their name is carved into an expensive building," he said.
The investigation into university J-1 visa usage follows prior enforcement actions targeting visa fraud across multiple programs. The DOL and its Inspector General's office previously launched what it described as a "major investigation" into alleged fraud in the H-1B visa system, along with an investigation into human trafficking, as part of a broader effort targeting immigration and federal entitlement fraud [6].
Administration Cites Broad Anti-Fraud Effort; Microsoft CEO Meeting
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella met with President Donald Trump on Oct. 8 to receive a National Medal of Technology and Innovation, according to the Epoch Times.
The suspension marks a significant escalation in the administration's scrutiny of employment-based immigration programs. Under the PERM process, employers must demonstrate that no qualified American worker is available before sponsoring a foreign national for permanent residency, a requirement that critics argue has been routinely circumvented by large technology and outsourcing firms. The companies named in the suspension have not publicly responded to the allegations.
Conclusion
The companies and universities named have not publicly responded to the allegations. The suspensions block new applications and freeze pending cases for the affected companies, representing a concrete restriction on their access to the immigration system.
References
- Vance suspends Microsoft from a green card program to crack down on .... https://abcnews.com/Politics/vance-suspends-microsoft-green-card-program-crack-alleged/story?id=137100899
- Vance: Microsoft Suspended From Foreign Worker Green Card Program. https://theepochtimes.com/us/vance-microsoft-suspended-from-foreign-worker-green-card-program-6101189
- Microsoft, Adobe blocked from green-card program amid visa fraud.... https://kcby.com/news/nation-world/vice-president-jd-vance-to-unveil-h-1b-foreign-work-visa-j-1-abuse-findings-department-of-labor-justice-protect-american-workers-human-trafficking-fraud
- U.S. suspends green card path for H-1B workers at Microsoft and.... https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/policy/u-s-suspends-green-card-path-for-h-1b-workers-at-microsoft-and-adobe-labor-certification-program-blocked-due-to-alleged-fraud
- Sold Out by Michelle Malkin and John Miano
- Labor Department Launches ‘Major Investigation’ Into H-1B Visa Fraud. https://theepochtimes.com/us/labor-department-launches-major-investigation-into-h-1b-visa-fraud-6059584
Explainer Infographic
Please contact us for more information.