“One and a Half Foreign Workers for Every American Laid Off”: Vance Takes On Microsoft

Microsoft says 80% of its H-1B filings were for existing staff. Vance says it replaced Americans. See both sides of the PERM suspension row

PGurus Newsdesk

October 9, 2026

Microsoft Fires Back After US Suspends It From PERM Over H-1B Claims

The suspension hits H-1B workers who rely on PERM to apply for permanent US residency

US Vice President JD Vance has accused Microsoft of misusing the Permanent Labour Certification Programme, known as PERM, to push out American employees and bring in foreign workers instead. The government has now suspended the company from the programme.

PERM is the route through which employers apply for green cards, or permanent residency, on behalf of H-1B visa holders. On Thursday, the US government suspended eight companies from it: Capgemini, Microsoft and Adobe, along with five Indian IT firms, Cognizant, Infosys, Tata, Wipro and HCL. The move hits H-1B workers who are hoping to settle permanently in the US.

Speaking at a press conference on fighting visa fraud, Vance explained how the two systems work together. The H-1B gets people into the country, he said, and PERM is what lets them stay. In his words, no US company has abused the system more than Microsoft.

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 within the United States of America. Now our message to Microsoft and to any other foreign or domestic corporation is quite simple. We obviously want you to thrive in the United States of America. We want people to invest in the United States of America, particularly the American technology sector. We’re the biggest boosters of your industry. We want you to continue to grow and to employ a lot of people, but we want you to employ American workers. And so our message to Microsoft is, you’re great American company, but you’ve got to hire great American workers. You cannot lay off American workers and then replace them with foreign indentured servants.”
— Vice President JD Vance (@VP) October 8, 2026

He backed this up with figures. Over the past year, Vance said, Microsoft laid off 6,000 American workers, while also benefiting from 6,300 H-1B visas and nearly 3,000 green cards. By his math, that works out to one and a half foreign “indentured servants” for every American let go. He called it a “scandalous system” and said it is now being shut down.

Vance also had a message for Microsoft and the other suspended companies. The administration wants them to invest and grow in the US, he said, and sees itself as a strong supporter of the American tech sector. But growth has to come through hiring American workers. Microsoft, he said, is a great American company, but it cannot lay off Americans and then replace them with foreign workers.

Vice President JD Vance breaks down the data:
“If you are working as an H-1B visa in the United States of America, you’re earning $20,000 less than an American citizen hired in the same position. If you were brought in by one of these foreign outsourcing firms, you’re making $48,000 less than an American citizen in a similar position. So I’m sure that everybody here understands the game that is being played. You bring in indentured servants from outside the country, you lay off American workers and, if you’re a corporation, you make a ton of money by under cutting the wages of American workers, replacing them with people who frankly shouldn’t be in the United States of America to begin with.”
— Vice President JD Vance (@VP) October 8, 2026

The wage gap argument

Vance also described what he called a “game” played by companies that bring in H-1B workers. According to him, an H-1B holder in the US earns about $20,000 less than an American hired for the same job. For workers brought in by foreign outsourcing firms, the gap grows to $48,000. Companies, he said, lay off Americans, bring in cheaper workers and profit by undercutting wages.

Labour Secretary calls out “visa mills”

Labour Secretary Keith Sonderling said his department is taking “historic action” to shut down what he called a pipeline of systemic fraud. He accused some universities and companies of operating as “visa mills” that help foreign workers who lied about their qualifications take jobs from Americans. He thanked President Donald Trump and Vance for going after the root of the problem.

Sonderling also shared figures on the eight suspended firms. Since 2009, he said, they have requested almost 3 million foreign workers. They have received over 230,000 H-1B approvals and more than 100,000 permanent labour certifications. In his view, that amounts to hundreds of thousands of jobs lost to American workers.

Microsoft’s response

Microsoft pushed back in a statement on Thursday. It said 80 per cent of the roughly 6,000 H-1B applications it filed in the last fiscal year were to extend or change the status of people who already work there, not to hire new staff.

The company said it believes in the strength and talent of the American workforce. It added that it pays some of the highest salaries in the tech sector, that its wages are among the highest of all H-1B filings, and that H-1B employees are paid the same as anyone else doing comparable work.

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