Vance bars Microsoft from green card program, alleging visa fraud
The Trump administration on Thursday barred Microsoft, Adobe and six tech outsourcing firms from a program that helps foreign workers get green cards. Vice President JD Vance said Microsoft laid off Americans and hired cheaper visa workers, which the company denies. New and pending requests from the eight firms are now frozen, with no end date.
The Trump administration has barred Microsoft from a federal program that lets companies sponsor foreign workers for green cards. Vice President JD Vance announced the move Thursday at the White House.
The program is called PERM. Before a company can sponsor a worker for permanent residency, it must show that no qualified American is available for the job. Vance said Microsoft gamed that test.
"There has been no company in the United States, unfortunately, that has abused the system more than Microsoft," Vance said. He said the company laid off 6,000 American workers last year while getting 6,300 H-1B visas and almost 3,000 green cards. He called the foreign hires "indentured servants."
Microsoft pushed back. It said 80% of its roughly 6,000 H-1B applications last year were to extend or change the status of people it already employed. The rest were for people already living legally in the U.S. "We pay our H-1B employees the same as any other employees doing comparable work," the company said.
The Labor Department also suspended Adobe and six outsourcing firms: Cognizant, Infosys, Tata, Wipro, HCL and Capgemini. Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling said none of their new or pending applications will be processed. Workers who already hold visas or green cards keep them. The bans have no end date, and Vance did not say how the firms could get back in.
Attorney General Todd Blanche warned that criminal cases could follow, Fox Business reported.
Vance also named nine universities, including Harvard, Yale, Stanford, MIT and Caltech, for a fraud probe tied to J-1 visas for foreign students and researchers. Subpoenas have been served, the Labor Department's inspector general said.
The timing raised questions, CNN reported. The same day, President Donald Trump was set to give Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella the National Medal of Technology and Innovation.
H-1B visas are meant for skilled jobs that are hard to fill. Trump's supporters have long said the program undercuts American workers.
What we know: Eight companies can no longer start or finish green card sponsorships through the program.
What we don't: What Microsoft must do to be let back in.
Where outlets agree CNN and Fox Business both report Vance said Microsoft laid off 6,000 American workers last year while using 6,300 H-1B visas.
Where they differ The outlets cited here report the same key facts so far.