The Trump administration is cutting off Microsoft's access to a key worker visa program, saying the company abused it. Vice President JD Vance announced the suspension at a press conference, arguing the permanent labor certification program has become riddled with fraud over the past several years. Vance said no company has taken greater advantage of the system than Microsoft, and delivered a direct message: the company is a great American firm, but it needs to hire great American workers.
The program is meant to be used only when there are not sufficient US workers available to fill a job. Beyond Microsoft, the administration is also suspending Adobe, Cognizant and Infosys from the program. Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling said Microsoft and Adobe together requested almost 3 million foreign workers, received over 230,000 H-1B visa approvals, and obtained over 100,000 permanent labor certifications.
Vance also pointed to Microsoft's workforce moves, saying the company laid off 6,000 American workers last year while benefiting from 6,300 H-1B visas and almost 3,000 green cards. Microsoft did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the suspensions. The company has not publicly addressed the claims.
The suspensions are the latest step in a broader immigration crackdown by the Trump administration. That effort includes a recently announced price hike on H-1B visas, a category that is widely used by large technology companies. The moves affect a visa system that Big Tech has long relied on to bring in foreign engineers and other skilled workers.
For the US technology industry, the action against Microsoft and the other companies signals tighter scrutiny of the labor certification process and the H-1B program. The administration's claims center on the volume of foreign workers these companies sought and the number of visas and green cards they received. The suspensions leave the affected companies without access to a program that has been part of their hiring pipelines.
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