The suspension of Microsoft from a federal program for processing permanent residency does not cancel the H-1B visas of its employees, but it does freeze the path to a green card for many of them. On Thursday, October 8, the Department of Labor excluded Microsoft, Adobe, and six technology service firms from the PERM program amid investigations for possible fraud, according to The Center Square and immigration attorneys who followed the announcement.
Why it matters: hundreds of thousands of professionals live and work in the United States with an H-1B visa, and many wait years for a green card. A pause in PERM can delay this process and complicate the renewal of their stay permit.
In a press conference at the White House, Vice President JD Vance accused Microsoft of fraud. According to The Center Square, Vance said that the company laid off about 6,000 U.S. workers last year while benefiting from 6,300 H-1B visas and nearly 3,000 green cards. «For every worker that Microsoft laid off, it replaced them with one and a half foreign workers,» he stated.
Vance also claimed that an H-1B visa holder earns, on average, $20,000 less than a citizen in the same position, and $48,000 less if hired by a subcontracting firm. Attorney General Todd Blanche said that criminal charges could be filed, according to the Ellis immigration law firm.
Ellis, citing the Department of Labor, indicated that the eight companies have received more than 230,000 H-1B visa approvals and at least 100,000 permanent labor certifications. Cognizant was already suspended from PERM earlier in September.
In a statement, Microsoft said that the vast majority of its employees in the United States are Americans. According to the company, of the approximately 6,000 H-1B visa applications it submitted last fiscal year, 80% were to extend or change the status of people already working there, «not to hire new people.»
Microsoft added that applications for new employees were for people who already lived legally in the country and account for only 1% of its U.S. workforce. The company also assured that it pays its H-1B employees the same as other employees doing comparable work.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) approved 328,185 H-1B petitions in fiscal year 2025, compared to 399,402 in 2024 and 442,043 in 2022, according to its annual report to Congress. The same person can have multiple petitions, so the figure does not equal the number of workers. In 2025, 70% of approvals were for people born in India.
In the case of Microsoft, USCIS's complete annual data show 7,210 approved petitions in fiscal year 2022, most of which (6,202) were to continue the employment of people already working with that visa.
Sources: The Center Square; Ellis; eCFR, 20 CFR 656.31; eCFR, 8 CFR 214.1; USCIS, H-1B petitions report FY 2025; USCIS, H-1B Employer Data Hub; USCIS, options after employment termination. Data consulted on October 9, 2026.
