Vice President JD Vance announced Thursday that the Labor Department is indefinitely suspending [1] Microsoft from the PERM program, cutting off the company’s ability to use that process to sponsor H-1B workers for green cards. The announcement came during a press conference on visa fraud connected to the fraud task force Vance chairs.
According to Vance, an ongoing investigation found that Microsoft laid off about 6,000 American workers last year. During that same period, the company received about 6,300 H-1B visas and nearly 3,000 green card certifications.
PERM, formally known as Program Electronic Review Management, is the Labor Department’s labor certification step for most green cards based on employment. Employers must show that they tried and failed to hire a qualified and willing American worker at the required wage.
The H-1B program provides temporary visas for skilled foreign workers, while PERM is the usual path for those workers to obtain permanent residency. Suspending Microsoft from PERM blocks both new and pending certifications for the company.
Vance described the connection between the two programs directly. “If the H-1B visa is how people come into the country, the PERM program is how they stay in the United States to begin with,” Vance shared.
He then singled out Microsoft for especially harsh criticism over its use of the system. “Now, there has been no company in the United States, unfortunately, that has abused this system more than Microsoft.”
Vance pointed to the contrast between Microsoft’s American layoffs and its use of foreign worker programs. “At the same time, the company benefited from 6,300 H-1B visas and almost 3,000 green cards. In other words, if you do the math, for every worker that Microsoft laid off, they replaced that worker with 1.5 foreign indentured servants.”
The vice president called the arrangement unacceptable and said it had persisted for too long. “Now, that is a scandalous system that we’ve allowed in this country for far too long.”
Vance credited the task force’s work and the authority provided by the president for the decision. He said the ongoing investigation led officials to suspend Microsoft from the program, preventing the company from pursuing permanent resident status through PERM for its H-1B workers.
“But thanks to the work of this task force and thanks to the empowerment of the President of the United States, we’re going to stop it. Because thanks to an ongoing investigation, we have decided to suspend the PERM program for Microsoft, which means they will no longer be able to apply their— they’ll no longer be able to take those H-1Bs and apply for permanent resident status within the United States of America .”
BREAKING: VP JD Vance takes aim at Microsoft, accusing the tech giant of laying off thousands of American workers while bringing in foreign workers to replace them through the H-1B visa system.
“There has been no company in the United States, unfortunately, that has abused the system more than Microsoft.”
Vance points to 6,000 layoffs alongside what he says were 6,300 H-1B visas and nearly 3,000 green cards, arguing that the numbers raise serious questions about how American workers are being treated.
Download the FOX News app for the latest details: https://t.co/ISpW9Fc0R3
— Fox News (@FoxNews) October 8, 2026 [2]
The action does not block Microsoft from operating, investing, or growing in the United States. Vance said the administration wants companies, particularly those in the American technology sector, to prosper while employing American workers.
He also extended that message beyond Microsoft to other foreign and domestic corporations. Vance said companies are welcome to invest and thrive in the United States, but made clear that the administration expects their growth to include jobs for Americans.
“And so 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.”
Under the indefinite suspension, Microsoft can no longer use PERM to obtain new or pending green card certifications for its H-1B workers. The announcement makes the company’s hiring and sponsorship practices a central target of the visa fraud task force led by Vance.