White House Bars Microsoft From Foreign Worker Green Card Path

The U.S. Department of Labor will not process any new or pending Permanent Labor Certification Program (PERM) applications from Microsoft or seven other major technology firms, Secretary of Labor Keith Sonderling said Thursday.

Vice President JD Vance, speaking at the same conference, accused Microsoft of abusing the H-1B visa programme. "No company in the US has abused this system more than Microsoft," Vance said.

Vance pointed to roughly 6,000 Microsoft layoffs paired with 6,800 H-1B visa applications filed over the same period. He framed the filings as evidence that Microsoft was "replacing American workers with foreign indentured servants" and "undercutting" their wages.

Why is the White House targeting Microsoft now?

The announcement landed hours after Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella stood in the White House to receive a technology innovation medal from President Donald Trump. Trump called the award "so well-deserved" while introducing Nadella alongside other recipients Elon Musk, Jensen Huang, Lisa Su, Sergey Brin, and Michael Dell.

Yet Microsoft absorbed the sharpest criticism of the day. "Our message to Microsoft is quite simple: You're a great American company, you've got to hire great American workers," Vance said. "You cannot lay off American workers and then replace them with foreign indentured servants."

What did Microsoft say in response?

A Microsoft spokeswoman told the BBC that "the vast majority of Microsoft employees in the United States are Americans." She added that 80% of the H-1B filings Microsoft submitted last fiscal year covered existing employees, not new hires, and that foreign workers receive the same compensation as domestic staff.

"We look forward to providing the Administration with additional information," the spokeswoman said.

Microsoft employs more than 200,000 people worldwide. Salary data firm Ellis pegs the median H-1B salary at Microsoft at $155,000.

Which other companies face the same block?

Adobe, Cognizant, Infosys, Tata, Wipro, HCL, and Capgemini also drew fire from Vance. Sonderling said universities and large employers had turned into "visa mills" flooding the U.S. with foreign labor.

Notably absent from Vance's list: Amazon, Google, Meta, Apple, and Nvidia, all heavy users of the H-1B pipeline for decades. Every major U.S. tech firm hires through the programme, which targets highly skilled or specialized workers a sponsor cannot find domestically.

How does the visa pipeline work?

The H-1B programme caps annual visas at 85,000. PERM certification, the next step toward a green card, lets skilled foreign workers become permanent U.S. residents. The Labor Department certified more than 130,000 PERM applications across ten business categories last fiscal year.

Last month, the administration proposed eliminating the 60-day grace period H-1B holders receive after losing their sponsoring job. Vance argued that workers forced out "have to leave" the country, the condition he labeled indentured servitude.

What's at stake for Microsoft?

The block freezes Microsoft's most reliable route to permanent residency for its sponsored workers, a benefit the company has used to recruit and retain specialized engineering talent. Sonderling's order covers only new and pending applications, leaving existing PERM cases on hold rather than revoked.

Microsoft has not said whether it will challenge the action through litigation or administrative appeal. The BBC has contacted all eight named companies for comment.

The clash lands at a delicate moment for Nadella personally. Hours after Trump called his medal "so well-deserved," his company became the public face of an immigration crackdown, leaving Microsoft to decide whether to fight Sonderling's order in court or negotiate behind closed doors.