NewzVice President JD Vance said Thursday that the Trump administration is suspending Microsoft, Adobe and several other IT firms' ability to hire foreign-born workers for permanent residency in the U.S.Why it matters: The move will affect hundreds of companies owned by the tech giant, escalating the Trump administration's crackdown on immigrant labor. What they're saying: "We want people to invest in the United States of America, particularly the American technology sector," Vance said during a Thursday news conference. "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 a 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."Zoom in: The permanent labor certification program, which is administered through the Department of Labor, allows a company to hire foreign workers to live permanently in America. It's typically the first step in receiving an employer-sponsored green card.
It's also separate from H-1B visas, which allow workers to live and work temporarily in the U.S. H-1B visas primarily go to highly skilled workers in specialized occupations. Technology companies are among the program's biggest users.The Trump administration has made reducing the number of foreign workers in the country a rallying cry, and accused foreign-born workers of taking jobs that could — and, in its view, should — go to Americans.Driving the news: Vance specifically singled out Microsoft, slamming them for laying off 6,000 workers last year.
Vance said Thursday that "[a]t the same time, the company benefited from 6,300 H-1B visas and almost 3,000 green cards. 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. Now that is a scandalous system that we've allowed in this country for far too long." Microsoft owns hundreds of companies, including LinkedIn, Skype and gaming studio Activision Blizzard.Adobe and IT outsourcing firms Cognizant, Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services, Wipro, HCL, and Capgemini are also suspended from the program.Worth noting: Trump will award Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella the National Medal of Technology and Inno…
The US government is suspending Microsoft, Adobe and several large IT firms from a programme that allows skilled foreign workers to gain permanent residency, senior US officials announced on Thursday, citing alleged fraud and an effort to push companies to hire more Americans. "Our message to Microsoft is: You're a great American company, but you've got to hire great American workers," US Vice President JD Vance said. Secretary of Labor Keith Sonderling added that some of the largest IT firms in the world would also be suspended from the programme, including Cognizant, Infosys, Tata, Wipro, HCL and Capgemini.
"We will not accept any new or process any pending permanent labor certification applications involving these companies," Sonderling said. .@VP: "There has been no company in the United States, unfortunately, that has abused this system more than Microsoft." Microsoft laid off 6,000 American workers in 2025 after certifying that it could not find qualified American employees — yet the company was approved for more… https://t.co/xh4ZYUDobZ pic.twitter.com/HGOY63Xwkf — Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) October 8, 2026 Microsoft did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Under the PERM process, employers seek certification from the Department of Labor that there is no qualified, willing or available US worker for a specific job.
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