WASHINGTON, United States – US President Donald Trump’s administration has suspended Microsoft, Adobe and several technology outsourcing companies from a programme that allows employers to sponsor foreign workers for permanent residency, escalating its push to prioritise American workers.
Vice President JD Vance announced the move on Thursday, October 8, saying the decision was intended to protect US workers from what the administration considers abuse of employment-based immigration programmes.
The suspension affects the Permanent Labour Certification (PERM) programme, a key step employers must complete when seeking to sponsor certain foreign workers for green cards.
Labour Secretary Keith Sonderling said the Department of Labour would stop accepting new applications and processing pending cases involving the affected companies.
The firms named include Microsoft, Adobe, Cognizant, Infosys, Tata, Wipro, HCL and Capgemini.
Vance Accuses Microsoft Of Replacing American Workers
Vance singled out Microsoft, accusing the technology giant of laying off thousands of American employees while continuing to benefit from programmes that allow foreign workers to enter and remain in the United States.
He said Microsoft laid off 6,000 American workers last year while benefiting from 6,300 H-1B visas and nearly 3,000 green cards.
“The H-1B visa is how the people get into the United States in the first place, and then a PERM programme is how those employees stay,” Vance said.
“There has been no company in the US, unfortunately, that has abused the system more than Microsoft,” he added.
Vance also alleged that the company had replaced American employees with foreign workers.
“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.
He acknowledged Microsoft’s position as a major American company but insisted that it should prioritise domestic employment.
“Our message to Microsoft is, you’re a great American company, but you’ve got to hire great American workers,” Vance said.
“You cannot lay off American workers and then replace them with foreign indentured servants.”
Microsoft Disputes Administration’s Claims
Microsoft rejected the criticism, saying the administration’s figures did not reflect the nature of its H-1B visa applications.
The company said about 80 per cent of the roughly 6,000 H-1B applications it submitted in the last financial year were for existing employees seeking visa extensions or changes to their immigration status.
It also said most of its US workforce comprises American citizens and that it pays competitive wages.
The company’s response challenges the suggestion that its visa applications primarily represent new foreign hires replacing American employees.
What The Suspension Means For Foreign Workers
The PERM programme allows employers to take a required step towards sponsoring eligible foreign workers for employment-based permanent residency.
The process generally involves demonstrating that there are not sufficient qualified, available and willing US workers for the relevant position and that hiring a foreign worker will not adversely affect the wages and working conditions of similarly employed American workers.
The programme is separate from the H-1B visa system, which allows US employers to hire eligible foreign workers in certain speciality occupations. Some workers may use H-1B status while pursuing permanent residency through an employer.
Under the announced suspension, affected companies face a halt to new PERM applications and the processing of pending cases, potentially disrupting green card plans for workers whose applications depend on those employers.
The immediate implications for individual workers will depend on their existing immigration status and the stage of their permanent residency applications.
H-1B Programme Remains A Political Flashpoint
The H-1B programme has long been criticised by some Trump supporters, who argue that employers use it to reduce labour costs and displace American workers.
Supporters of the programme argue that it enables technology companies and other employers to recruit highly skilled professionals for positions that may be difficult to fill domestically.
The latest suspension signals a further tightening of the administration’s scrutiny of employment-based immigration, particularly in the technology sector.
While the administration says the action is intended to protect American jobs, Microsoft’s response highlights a dispute over whether visa applications represent new foreign recruitment or the retention of workers already employed in the United States.
