The White House has blocked Microsoft and seven other companies from having new or pending permanent residency applications processed, accusing them of abusing programmes used to employ skilled foreign workers.
Microsoft and several other major technology companies have been barred from having new or pending applications for permanent US residency processed, as the Trump administration escalates its criticism of the use of foreign workers.
US Vice President JD Vance accused Microsoft and other firms of abusing the H-1B visa programme and the Permanent Labor Certification Program (PERM), which can provide a route for skilled international workers to eventually obtain permanent residency.
Vance said on Thursday (08.10.26): “No company in the US has abused this system more than Microsoft.”
He accused the company of replacing American employees with “foreign indentured servants” and cited Microsoft’s layoffs alongside applications for H-1B visas as evidence.
US Secretary of Labor Keith Sonderling said the government would stop processing new and pending PERM applications from Microsoft, Adobe, Cognizant, Infosys, Tata, Wipro, HCL and Capgemini.
Sonderling also accused technology companies and universities of becoming “visa mills” that were “flooding” the US with foreign workers.
Microsoft rejected the allegations, saying most of its H-1B applications were connected to employees who already worked for the company.
A Microsoft spokeswoman told the BBC that 80 per cent of the company’s H-1B filings during its most recent financial year were for existing employees rather than new hires.
She also said international workers hired through the programme were paid at the same level as US workers.
She said: “The vast majority of Microsoft employees in the United States are Americans.”
The H-1B programme is capped at 85,000 visas a year and is intended for highly skilled or specialised workers.
The PERM programme is separate and provides a route towards permanent residency, often leading to a Green Card.
The administration’s action against Microsoft is particularly notable because its chief executive, Satya Nadella, was at the White House on Thursday to receive a technology innovation medal from President Donald Trump.
Trump praised Nadella during the ceremony, calling the award “so well-deserved”.
Other technology executives, including Nvidia’s Jensen Huang, AMD’s Lisa Su, Dell’s Michael Dell and Google’s Sergey Brin, also received medals.
Major US technology companies, including Amazon, Apple, Google, Meta and Nvidia, routinely employ international workers through the H-1B system, although none were named in Vance’s announcement.
The Labor Department certified more than 130,000 PERM applications across 10 business categories during the last financial year.
The latest move represents a significant escalation in the administration’s scrutiny of programmes that have helped US technology companies recruit specialist workers from overseas.
White House blocks Microsoft and other tech firms from hiring skilled international workers
