Tech Giants Suspended From Green-Card Program As Vance Targets

Vice President JD Vance and the Department of Labor announced a crackdown Thursday on alleged foreign-worker visa abuse, suspending eight companies, including Microsoft and Adobe, from a key green-card program and launching investigations into nine major universities over their use of J-1 visas.

The actions are part of the White House Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, which Vance leads, and target companies and universities suspected of abusing programs that allow them to employ foreign workers.

“Our message to Microsoft is: You’re a great American company, but you’ve got to hire great American workers,” Vance said Thursday. The Labor Department suspended Microsoft, Adobe, Cognizant, Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services, Wipro, HCL Technologies, and Capgemini from the Permanent Labor Certification, or PERM, program. The department said it will not accept new applications or process pending ones involving the companies while the suspensions remain in place.

PERM is a key step for employers seeking to sponsor foreign workers for employment-based permanent residency. Under the program, employers generally must demonstrate that not enough qualified American workers are available for the position and that hiring the foreign worker will not adversely affect the wages and working conditions of similarly employed Americans.

The administration is investigating Microsoft for alleged H-1B program violations and discrimination based on citizenship and national origin. Vance pointed to Microsoft’s 2025 layoffs, when it eliminated roughly 6,000 jobs, while also obtaining thousands of H-1B visas and green cards.

“For every worker that Microsoft laid off, they replaced that worker with one and a half foreign indentured servants,” Vance said. Microsoft disputed that characterization. A company spokesperson told Politico that approximately 6,000 H-1B applications were submitted during the last fiscal year, but that 80% were for extensions or changes of status involving existing Microsoft employees rather than new hires. The company also said it files H-1B petitions only for workers who meet the program’s requirements and that H-1B employees performing comparable work receive comparable pay.

Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling said the companies targeted by Thursday’s action had collectively requested nearly 3 million foreign workers since 2009, receiving more than 230,000 H-1B approvals and more than 100,000 permanent labor certifications.

The Labor Department’s inspector general also announced investigations into Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Brown, the University of Pittsburgh, the University of California, Davis, Caltech, Arizona State University, and MIT over potential J-1 visa fraud. Subpoenas have already been issued.

The J-1 program allows foreign nationals to enter the United States temporarily for educational and cultural exchange programs. Vance said J-1 workers account for roughly 61% of those conducting federally funded research at the nine universities, compared with a national average of 38%. “Something weird is going on at these universities,” Vance said, arguing that the schools were using the program to undercut American graduate students and researchers.

Vance also said American researchers can cost universities roughly $20,000 more annually than comparable J-1 workers. The administration is investigating whether universities have used J-1 or H-1B workers to fill positions previously help by Americans who were laid off.

The administration says the Labor Department and Justice Department have uncovered billions of dollars in fraud since the task force was launched and secured more than 200 convictions, including in cases involving pandemic-era unemployment insurance fraud.

Vance has repeatedly argued that the H-1B system should be reserved for highly skilled workers who fill positions that employers cannot fill with American workers. The administration has also pursued other restrictions on employment-based immigration, including a proposed six-figure fee for H-1B applications.

Adobe did not respond to The Daily Wire’s request for comment before publication.

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