White House Suspends Microsoft From Foreign Workers’ Green Card Programme

The Trump administration has suspended Microsoft and several other technology companies from a programme used to sponsor foreign workers for permanent residency in the United States, citing alleged abuse of immigration procedures.

Vice President JD Vance announced the action on Thursday, October 8, saying the administration was seeking to protect American workers from unfair hiring practices. Microsoft disputed the suggestion that its visa applications were primarily intended to recruit new foreign employees. (abc7news.com⁠)

The suspension affects the Permanent Labor Certification programme, known as PERM, which is generally an initial step for employers sponsoring workers for employment-based green cards.

According to the announcement, the affected companies will be unable to submit new PERM applications or have pending applications processed. Adobe, Cognizant, Infosys, Tata, Wipro, HCL and Capgemini were also named. (wpde.com⁠)

Vance accused companies of using recruitment procedures to claim that suitable American candidates were unavailable while replacing domestic employees with foreign workers. These allegations have not been established as findings of wrongdoing in the reports reviewed.

“Our message to Microsoft is: You’re a great American company, but you’ve got to hire great American workers,” he said. (koreatimes.co.kr⁠)

Microsoft said approximately 80 per cent of its roughly 6,000 H-1B applications in the previous fiscal year concerned extensions or changes of status for existing employees.

The company said the remaining applications involved people already legally in the United States and represented about one per cent of its American workforce. It added that it looked forward to providing the administration with further information. (abc7news.com⁠)

Although officials criticised Microsoft’s use of H-1B visas, the announced suspension specifically concerns the PERM green card process. It does not amount to a blanket prohibition on Microsoft employing foreign nationals.

Vance said the restrictions would remain in place for as long as necessary, without announcing a fixed end date. (wpde.com⁠)