On Thursday the Trump administration announced that it is suspending Microsoft Corporation, Adobe and several global staffing firms from participation in the PERM Labor Certification program run by the US Department of Labor for an indefinite period.
A PERM Labor Certification application is the first stage in the majority of employment-based sponsorships for US permanent resident (also known as “Green Card”) status. The PERM process requires that the sponsoring employer conduct a test of the labor market to determine whether there are any US workers who are both interested in the position being sponsored and meet the requirements listed for that position.
The announcement, which was made by Vice President Vance, indicates that this action follows an investigation that was spearheaded by the anti-fraud task force that he chairs. Vance also broadly criticized the H-1B nonimmigrant visa program as providing a way for U.S. employers to divert jobs to underpaid foreign workers. One of the facts noted by Vice President Vance is that last year Microsoft laid off roughly 6,000 American Workers while at the same time employing approximately 6,300 foreign workers in H-1B visa status.
The Vance announcement is rife with misleading and incorrect statements and references data for which no support was provided. The reference in the announcement, however, to layoffs by Microsoft Corporation last year, may connect this action to an Executive Order signed by the President on September 18, 2026, which claims that US companies are laying off highly-paid US workers and then sponsoring lower paid foreign workers in H-1B status to replace them. Without providing any support for these statements, the EO directs various Departments within the administration to coordinate efforts when processing H-1B petitions, corresponding Labor Condition Applications and H-1B visa applications to ensure compliance with applicable law and also to consider whether an employer has engaged in layoffs affecting US workers while simultaneously sponsoring foreign workers for H-1B visas.
In his announcement, Vice President Vance also notes the administration plans to investigate several universities over allegations that they have abused the J-1 visa program, which is used by colleges and universities to sponsor foreign nationals as students, researchers and teachers. Vance stated that officials believe that these schools regularly employ workers from abroad as a way to undercut the salaries that they would otherwise pay to Americans in these positions. The universities under scrutiny include Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Brown, the University of California and MIT.
At this point we do not know anything other than statements made by Vice President Vance yester and the contents of the September 18th Executive Order. We expect that there will be developments in the following weeks both from the administration and the affected companies and institutions. We will provide you with updates on these latest actions taken by the administration as they become available.
