Microsoft, Adobe Barred From Green Card Program as Vance Alleges Immigration Fraud
The Trump administration is suspending Microsoft from a federal green card program over allegations that the technology giant exploited immigration rules to replace American employees with lower-paid foreign workers.
Vice President JD Vance announced the decision Thursday at a White House news conference, accusing the company of abusing a system intended to help employers recruit foreign workers when qualified domestic candidates are unavailable.
The announcement came just hours before President Donald Trump was scheduled to award Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella the National Medal of Technology and Innovation, one of the country’s most prestigious technological honors. Nadella was among several prominent figures in the technology industry being recognized at the ceremony, including billionaires who have cultivated ties with the president.
Vance claimed Microsoft laid off 6,000 American employees last year while securing 6,300 H-1B visas and nearly 3,000 green cards for foreign workers. He presented those figures as evidence that the company was relying on overseas labor while cutting domestic jobs.
“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 said in a White House news conference announcing the decision. “Our message to Microsoft is: You’re a great American company, but you’ve got to hire great American workers.”
The H-1B program allows American employers to hire foreign professionals for specialized positions, particularly in fields where companies report difficulty finding qualified U.S. applicants. Technology companies are among its largest users, with workers from India accounting for nearly three-quarters of visa approvals.
Microsoft sought H-1B visas for about 3,700 employees in 2026, ranking fifth among companies using the program. Amazon ranked first, submitting more than 9,300 petitions that year.
However, the program has faced years of criticism from Trump supporters, who contend that some businesses use it to suppress wages and hire foreign employees at the expense of American workers.
Vance also argued that H-1B visa holders are particularly vulnerable to exploitation because their legal status is tied to their employment. Losing a sponsoring job can jeopardize a worker’s ability to remain in the country, a dependency Vance said allows companies to pay foreign employees less than Americans performing similar work. He claimed that foreign employees hired through the program earn, on average, $20,000 less than their American counterparts in comparable positions.
Immigration advocacy organizations have also pushed for changes to the H-1B system, though their concerns differ from the administration’s. They argue that workers’ dependence on sponsoring employers can make job changes difficult, even when employees face poor working conditions or have opportunities to earn higher salaries elsewhere.
Some organizations, such as the National Immigration Forum, have also dispute the administration’s broader criticism of foreign labor recruitment.
“The United States has long benefited from its ability to attract talent from around the world, particularly in STEM, higher education, research, and innovation. As countries increasingly compete for highly skilled workers, policies that make the United States less attractive could strengthen global competitors.”
The organization warned that making U.S. employment less accessible to international talent could ultimately benefit competing countries seeking to recruit those same workers.
The allegations against Microsoft specifically concern a labor certification process that employers must complete before sponsoring certain foreign workers for permanent residency.
Companies are required to advertise available positions and demonstrate to the Department of Labor that they have made an effort to recruit qualified American candidates. If they cannot find suitable domestic applicants, they may seek certification to proceed with a foreign worker’s green card application.
According to Vance, some employers circumvent the intent of those requirements by advertising vacancies in obscure publications or locations where prospective employees are unlikely to see them.
“They’ll put an advertisement in a small-town newspaper. They’ll go out there and say that ‘We have advertised for a position with our company, and nobody is responding to it.’ And they will use that lack of response to then go and replace American workers with what is effectively foreign indentured servants. There has been no company in the United States, unfortunately, that has used this system more than Microsoft.”
Microsoft, which is headquartered in Redmond, Washington, near Seattle, did not immediately respond to a request for comment regarding the suspension or Vance’s accusations.
The administration has also suspended Adobe from the same labor certification program, according to Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling. He said federal officials would neither accept additional permanent labor certification applications nor continue reviewing those already submitted on behalf of either company.
Sonderling said Microsoft and Adobe had collectively obtained roughly 230,000 H-1B visa approvals and 100,000 permanent labor certifications since 2009, illustrating the companies’ extensive participation in employment-based immigration programs over the past 17 years.
The administration’s announcement extended beyond the technology company, with officials also raising concerns about information technology outsourcing firms and universities that bring foreign nationals into the United States through temporary visa programs.
Vance singled out nine universities for further investigation over their use of J-1 exchange visitor visas, alleging that the institutions relied on the program at disproportionately high rates compared with their counterparts.
The J-1 program permits international visitors to enter the country temporarily for approved educational, professional and cultural exchanges, including opportunities to study and work at American institutions.
The universities identified were Harvard; Yale; Stanford; Brown; the University of Pittsburgh; the University of California, Davis; the California Institute of Technology, or Caltech; Arizona State; and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Vance suggested the institutions’ participation rates warranted additional scrutiny for possible visa fraud, though the announcement did not establish that the universities violated immigration regulations.
The criticism follows another immigration-related proposal the Department of Homeland Security unveiled Wednesday, which would impose a $70,000 fee on educational institutions for each international student participating in the Optional Practical Training program.
Known as OPT, the program lets eligible international students work in fields related to their studies, either while enrolled at a U.S. institution or after completing their degrees. It gives graduates a chance to gain professional experience in their fields without immediately securing a different employment visa.
Under the proposed rule, schools, not individual students, would pay the fee, potentially creating a substantial financial burden for institutions with large international student populations.
The proposal and Thursday’s allegations reflect the administration’s increasing scrutiny of employment opportunities available to foreign nationals, extending beyond corporate hiring practices to programs administered through American universities.
Moumita Basuroychowdhury is a Contributing Reporter at The National Digest. After earning an economics degree at Cornell University, she moved to NYC to pursue her MFA in creative writing. She enjoys reporting on science, business and culture news. You can reach her at moumita.b@thenationaldigest.com.
