US bars Microsoft from sponsoring green cards for H-1B workers over alleged abuse

The United States has barred Microsoft from sponsoring green cards for its H-1B visa workers, alleging that the company abused the immigration programme.

US Vice President JD Vance announced the move during a press conference on Thursday. "We decided to suspend the PERM program for Microsoft, which means they will no longer be able to apply, they'll no longer be able to take those H1Bs and apply for permanent resident status within the United States of America," Vance said.

"Suspension against Microsoft, other companies will last as long as it needs to," Vance added.


Outlining the work of the special task force set up by the Trump administration in March, Vance said that while the H-1B programme was created to allow US companies to hire highly skilled workers for positions that American employers struggle to fill, the programme has allegedly become vulnerable to fraud. He claimed companies were advertising jobs that attract no applicants and then using the lack of response to replace US workers with foreign employees.

“These are not people who are coming to the United States with full support from American citizens and being treated fairly by their employers,” Vance said, alleging that some foreign workers were paid less than the wages offered to US workers.

Under the system, companies can first sponsor workers for H-1B visas and later apply for permanent labour certification, or PERM, which can allow the workers to seek green cards and remain in the US.

Vance said no US company had allegedly abused the system more than Microsoft.

“Let me give you a couple of examples. Microsoft last year had about 6,000 [applications], and at the same time almost 3,000 Microsoft workers were laid off. After we stopped the investigation, we decided to suspend the programme for Microsoft, which means the company will no longer be able to apply for permanent status for its foreign workers within the United States,”Vance said.

According to the findings of the task force, some companies paid foreign workers around $20,000 less than the wages offered for comparable positions held by US workers.

Cognizant PERM filings suspended in September

The latest action comes a month after tech major Cognizant faced similar setback from the US government.

The US Department of Labour on September 9 suspended Cognizant’s filings under the Permanent Labour Certification (PERM) programme, as federal authorities investigated alleged fraud and possible harm to American workers.

“Cognizant's PERM filings are suspended,” Labour Department Inspector General Anthony D’Esposito said in a social media post. He said his office was working with Labour Department officials and the White House anti-fraud task force, but did not disclose the specific allegations, the number of applications affected or how long the suspension would remain in place.

The action concerned PERM filings, a key step for employers seeking employment-based green cards for foreign workers. Under the programme, the Labour Department must certify that qualified US workers are not available for a position and that hiring a foreign worker would not adversely affect the wages and working conditions of similarly employed American workers.

D’Esposito also announced the suspension of PERM filings by Cloudera. The material released by his office did not identify criminal charges against either company or include responses from the companies.

India's love for H-1B

Indians have by far been the biggest beneficiaries of the H-1B visa route. USCIS approved 406,348 H-1B petitions in fiscal year 2025. Of these, 283,772 beneficiaries, or nearly 70%, were born in India, making it the largest source country.

China was the second-largest source, with 49,161 beneficiaries, accounting for about 12% of the approvals. In FY2024, India accounted for 283,397 approvals, or 71% of the total 399,395 approvals. These figures refer to approved H-1B petitions and beneficiaries’ country of birth, and may not represent unique individuals.