'Our message to Microsoft is...': JD Vance targets tech giant over fraud, abuse as US says Microsoft, Adobe sought 3 million foreign workers

The Trump administration has suspended Microsoft, Cognizant, Infosys, Capgemini, Tata, Wipro and HCL from seeking permanent residency for foreign workers hired through the H-1B visa program. This means the Trump administration has barred these tech giants from participating in a program that allows foreign workers in the US on a H-1B visa to apply for a green card. US Vice President JD Vance has accused Microsoft of fraud. “If you do the math, for every worker that Microsoft laid off, they replaced that worker with one and a half foreign indentured servants,” Vance told reporters in the latest announcement from his federal fraud task force.

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JD Vance claimed the permanent labor certification program has become “rife” with fraud over the “past several years,” and that no company has “abused” the system more than Microsoft. “Our message to Microsoft is: you’re a great American company, but you’ve got to hire great American workers.” The labor certification program is intended for use when there aren’t “sufficient” US workers available to do a job. Vance also said Microsoft laid off 6,000 American workers last year and “benefited” from 6,300 H-1B visas and “almost 3,000 green cards.”


“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,” said Vance, pointing out that foreign workers are subject to deportation if they lose their job.

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'Microsoft, Adobe requested 3M foreign workers'

The Trump administration has suspended companies including Adobe, Cognizant, and Infosys. Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling claims Microsoft and Adobe “requested almost 3 million foreign workers,” received “over 230,000 H-1B visa approvals,” and “over 100,000 permanent labor certifications.”

Secretary of Labor Keith Sonderling added that some of the largest IT firms in the world — including Cognizant, Infosys, Tata, ‌Wipro, ⁠HCL and Capgemini, as well as Adobe — would also be suspended from the Permanent Labor Certification (PERM) program. “We will not accept any new or process any pending permanent labor certification applications involving these companies,” the newly confirmed secretary said. “Since 2009, just these companies alone have requested almost 3 million foreign workers.” He said that the move is one of a series of actions meant to protect American white-collar workers.

“It begins with universities and companies that have turned into visa mills, promoting foreign workers that have lied about their qualifications to take jobs from our beloved American workers,” he claimed. The move comes ahead of Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella was due to join President Trump later Thursday to receive the National Medal of Technology and Innovation.

The suspensions are part of a broader crackdown on immigration from the Trump administration, including its recently-announced price hike on H-1B visas that are popular with Big Tech companies.