Microsoft Loses Access to the PERM Program
Vice President JD Vance announced Thursday that the Labor Department is indefinitely suspending Microsoft from the PERM program. He made the announcement at a press conference about visa fraud tied to the anti-fraud task force he chairs. The suspension means Microsoft can no longer use PERM to sponsor H-1B workers for green cards and blocks new and pending certifications. In practical terms, Microsoft is being cut off from the Labor Department certification step used to move H-1B workers toward permanent residency.
The Numbers Behind the Decision
Vance said an ongoing investigation found that Microsoft laid off about 6,000 American workers last year while receiving about 6,300 H-1B visas and nearly 3,000 green-card certifications. Those figures were central to his criticism of the company’s use of the system. Vance argued that Microsoft was replacing American workers with foreign workers and called the system “scandalous.” He also referred to those workers as “foreign indentured servants.”
What PERM Means for H-1B Workers
PERM may sound like bureaucratic alphabet soup, but its role is important. The Program Electronic Review Management process is the Labor Department’s labor-certification step for most employment-based green cards. An employer generally must show that it tried to hire a qualified and willing U.S. worker at the required wage and could not do so. H-1B, by contrast, is a temporary skilled-worker visa. PERM is the usual path from that temporary status to permanent residency. Suspending PERM therefore stops Microsoft from moving new or pending cases through that route.
Vance’s Message to Microsoft
Vance said the message to Microsoft, and to any other foreign or domestic corporation, is simple. The administration wants the company to thrive, wants investment in the American technology sector, and wants companies to keep growing and employing people. But it also wants those companies to hire Americans.
Vance called Microsoft a great American company before delivering the sharper part of his message: It cannot lay off American workers and then replace them with what he called “foreign indentured servants.” In his remarks, Vance presented the suspension as an enforcement action tied to the investigation and as a warning that companies must hire American workers.
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Vice President JD Vance announces the suspension of the PERM Program for Microsoft:
"Thanks to an ongoing investigation, we have decided to suspend the PERM program for Microsoft, which means they will no longer be able to take those H-1Bs and apply for permanent resident status… pic.twitter.com/xMSgLgcqTI
— Vice President JD Vance (@VP) October 8, 2026
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