White House Suspends Microsoft, Tech Firms From PERM Program

The Trump administration has temporarily suspended Microsoft, Adobe, and a group of IT outsourcing firms from sponsoring foreign workers for permanent US residency, accusing the companies of abusing immigration programs at the expense of American citizens. The measure, announced at a press conference on Thursday, targets the Permanent Labor Certification (PERM) program, which allows US employers to hire foreign workers on a permanent basis, and marks the latest escalation in the administration’s broader immigration crackdown.

Vice-president JD Vance singled out Microsoft, saying “there has been no company in the US, unfortunately, that has abused this system more than Microsoft.” He described over-reliance on visas such as the H-1B, used for highly skilled foreign workers, as “a fundamental insult to the American worker and to the American way of life.” Alongside Microsoft and Adobe, the suspension covers Cognizant, Infosys, Tata, Wipro, HCL, and Capgemini, all major players in the IT outsourcing sector.

At the same event, the administration announced a fraud investigation into the use of J-1 student visas at nine universities: University of Pittsburgh, Yale, Harvard, Stanford, Brown, UC Davis, Caltech, Arizona State, and MIT. “Subpoenas have been served; investigations are under way and nobody will be getting a free pass because their name is carved into an expensive building,” said Department of Labor Inspector General Anthony D’Esposito. Microsoft and Adobe did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The suspensions build on earlier attempts to restrict the H-1B program, which tech companies and specialist industries rely on heavily. Last year, the White House sought to impose a $100,000 fee on new applications, but a federal court blocked the increase. Judge Leo Sorokin ruled in June that the fee amounted to an unauthorized tax and infringed on Congress’s authority to raise funds. The administration has appealed, and the case is pending before a federal appeals court. Before the proposed increase, the government charged $215 to register for the H-1B visa lottery and a $780 base fee for sponsoring employers. More than 400,000 such visas were approved last year.

The timing of the announcement adds a layer of tension. The administration is due to honor Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella with the National Medal of Technology and Innovation at a separate event on Thursday. Vance dismissed any contradiction, saying: “Our message to Microsoft is: ‘You’re a great American company, but you’ve got to hire great American workers.'”

For companies that depend on global talent pipelines, the PERM suspension creates immediate uncertainty around permanent hiring plans. PERM certification is a required step for many employers seeking to transition foreign workers from temporary visas to permanent residency, and a suspension, even temporary, can delay or derail workforce planning. The H-1B program has long been a flashpoint in US immigration policy, with critics arguing it depresses wages and displaces domestic workers, while supporters counter that it is essential for competitiveness in technology and specialized industries. The administration’s dual-track approach, penalizing employers while investigating universities, signals that no institution in the talent supply chain is off-limits.

The legal challenge to the earlier fee increase suggests that the administration’s immigration measures may face continued judicial scrutiny, but the current suspensions appear to rest on administrative authority that could be harder to contest quickly. For the market and policy community, the takeaway is that immigration enforcement is now a front-line issue for corporate strategy. Companies in technology and outsourcing should expect further administrative actions, and the appeals court ruling on the H-1B fee will be closely watched as a bellwether for how far the executive branch can go in reshaping the labor market through immigration policy.