Trump's foreign worker crackdown comes for Microsoft, Adobe, IT firms
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VP JD Vance speaks during a campaign rally on October 1, 2026 in Lakeland, Florida. Photo: Kevin Lamarque-Pool/Getty Images.
Vice President JD Vance said Thursday that the Trump administration is suspending Microsoft, Adobe and several other IT firms' ability to hire foreign-born workers for permanent residency in the U.S.
Why it matters: The move will affect hundreds of companies owned by the tech giant, escalating the Trump administration's crackdown on immigrant labor.
What they're saying: "We want people to invest in the United States of America, particularly the American technology sector," Vance said during a Thursday news conference.
- "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 a 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."
Zoom in: The permanent labor certification program, which is administered through the Department of Labor, allows a company to hire foreign workers to live permanently in America.
- It's typically the first step in receiving an employer-sponsored green card. It's also separate from H-1B visas, which allow workers to live and work temporarily in the U.S.
- H-1B visas primarily go to highly skilled workers in specialized occupations. Technology companies are among the program's biggest users.
- The Trump administration has made reducing the number of foreign workers in the country a rallying cry, and accused foreign-born workers of taking jobs that could — and, in its view, should — go to Americans.
Driving the news: Vance specifically singled out Microsoft, slamming them for laying off 6,000 workers last year.
- Vance said Thursday that "[a]t the same time, the company benefited from 6,300 H-1B visas and almost 3,000 green cards. In other words, if you do the math, for every worker that Microsoft laid off, they replaced that worker with one and a half foreign indentured servants. Now that is a scandalous system that we've allowed in this country for far too long."
- Microsoft owns hundreds of companies, including LinkedIn, Skype and gaming studio Activision Blizzard.
- Adobe and IT outsourcing firms Cognizant, Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services, Wipro, HCL, and Capgemini are also suspended from the program.
The other side: "We believe in the strength and talent of the American workforce," Microsoft said in a statement.
- "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. 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."
- Microsoft also said it only files H-1B petitions for people who "meet the rigorous standards of this visa category," and that they pay H-1B workers comparable compensation to other employees."
Worth noting: Trump will award Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella the National Medal of Technology and Innovation at the White House today.
- Microsoft did not respond to Axios' request for comment.
Editor's note: This story has been updated throughout with additional information.
