Vice President JD Vance announced today that the Trump administration has suspended Microsoft from the PERM program, which permits companies to obtain permanent residency for foreign employees.
Vance accused Microsoft of firing more than 6,000 American workers and hiring lower-wage foreigners to replace them. He described these workers as “indentured servants,” stating that Microsoft used pink-slipping to bring in additional foreign labor.
The administration is also investigating universities for misusing J-1 student visas, according to Vance.
The PERM program allows companies to import H-1B visa holders and then secure permanent residency. Vance argued this practice displaces American workers and enables foreign nationals to establish a foothold in the country, potentially leading to U.S.-citizen children through the process.
“The program is ‘rife with fraud,’” Vance said. He detailed how companies advertise positions in small-town newspapers and claim no one responded, using that lack of response to replace American workers with foreign “indentured servants.”
Microsoft, Vance stated, is the worst offender: it laid off 6,000 U.S. employees last year while securing 6,300 H-1B visas and nearly 3,000 green cards. In his calculations, for every American worker laid off by Microsoft, one and a half foreign workers replaced them.
“This is a scandalous system that we’ve allowed in this country for far too long,” Vance said.
The administration has suspended Microsoft from PERM, preventing the company from taking H-1B visa holders to apply for permanent residency. Vance emphasized that H-1B workers are “mistreated” and at the employer’s mercy, often being deported if they lose their jobs.
He further noted that the fraud is “pernicious,” with companies paying foreign workers up to $50,000 less annually than American workers in similar roles. Specifically, H-1B employees earn as much as $20,000 less than U.S. citizens for comparable positions, and foreign outsourcing firms may pay them as much as $48,000 less.
“You bring in indentured servants from outside the country,” Vance said, “you lay off American workers, and if you’re a corporation, you make a ton of money by undercutting wages.”
Vance characterized the system as “terribly pernicious” and “gone on for too long.” He stated that while Congress must address the issue, the administration has regulatory authority to act immediately.
Federal data shows the government approved approximately 3,700 H-1B workers through June 30 of fiscal year 2026, with over 53,000 petitions approved in the past decade. Vance noted that suspending Microsoft from PERM will make it “a less lucrative destination for workers seeking permanent residency.”
Vance also condemned the belief that Americans are inadequate for domestic jobs. He argued that claims about Americans not working on farms or in certain “dirty jobs” reflect a desire to keep wages low and avoid responsibility. Similarly, assertions that foreign accountants are needed because there aren’t enough American accountants indicate a belief that Americans lack basic math skills.
Specifically, Vance highlighted nine universities—including Yale, Brown, Harvard, and Stanford—for misusing J-1 visas to undercut the salaries of American graduate students and researchers, who earn $20,000 more than J-1 visa holders.
“They’re using these visas way too much,” Vance said. “They’re using them to undercut the wages of American grad students and American researchers, and it simply has to stop.”