US bars Microsoft, Adobe, and major IT firms from green card program for skilled foreign workers

The Trump administration is suspending Microsoft, Adobe, and several other technology companies from a program that helps skilled foreign workers obtain permanent residency in the United States, accusing the companies of fraud.

“Our ​message to Microsoft is: You’re a great American company, ​but you’ve got to hire great American workers,” U.S. ⁠Vice President JD Vance said in a news conference on Thursday, Reuters reported.

The other firms being suspended from the program include Capgemini, Cognizant, HCL, Infosys, Tata, and Wipro. Secretary of Labor Keith Sonderling said the government would not accept any new or pending permanent ​labor certification applications involving these companies.

H-1B visas are designed for highly skilled positions that employers may struggle to fill with qualified U.S. workers. Tech companies are among the largest users of the program, with nearly three-quarters of approved visas going to workers from India, according to The Associated Press .

“We believe in the strength and talent of the American workforce,” a Microsoft spokesperson said in an email to TechCrunch. “That is why the vast majority of Microsoft employees in the United States are Americans. We look forward to providing the Administration with additional information. For example, of the approximately 6,000 H-1B visa applications we submitted in the last fiscal year, 80% percent were to extend or change the status of existing Microsoft employees.”

The statement continues, “These were not to hire new people. The remaining filings for new employees were for individuals already legally in the United States who decided to come work for us, and they equal only 1% of our U.S. workforce. They are not new arrivals to our country.”

The company went on to note that it only files H-1B petitions for those who meet the “rigorous standards” of the visa category, and that pays its H-1B employees the same as any “other employees doing comparable work.”

Vance also said during the news conference that the administration would investigate nine universities, including Harvard, Yale, and Stanford, over allegations they’re abusing a program that allows international students to come to the U.S. and were using the program to undermine wages for American workers.