US suspends Microsoft, major IT firms from green card programme

The US government ⁠is suspending Microsoft, Adobe and ⁠several large IT firms from a programme that allows skilled foreign workers to gain permanent residency, senior US officials have announced, citing alleged fraud, and as part ‌of an effort to push companies to hire more Americans.

“Our message to Microsoft is: You’re a great American company, but you’ve got to hire great American workers,” US Vice-President J.D. Vance said on Thursday.

Vance said the programme required companies to advertise jobs in the US before applying to the Department of Labour to show they needed to give a foreign worker a green card because of a lack of American staff.

“They’ll put an advertisement in a small-town newspaper. They’ll go out there and say that ‘We have advertised for a position with our company, and nobody is responding to it’. And they will use that lack of response to then go and replace American workers with what is effectively foreign indentured servants,” Vance said.

“There has been no company in the United States, unfortunately, that has used this system more than Microsoft.”

Vance said Microsoft last year laid off 6,000 American workers but also obtained 6,300 H-1B visas and almost 3,000 green cards.

Secretary of Labour Keith Sonderling added that some of ⁠the largest IT firms in the world would also be suspended from ‌that programme, including Cognizant, Infosys, Tata, Wipro, HCL and Capgemini.

“We will not accept any new or process any ‌pending permanent labour certification applications involving these companies,” Sonderling said.

Microsoft did ⁠not immediately ⁠respond to a request for comment.

Under the PERM process, employers seek certification from the Department ‌of Labour that there is no qualified, willing or available US worker for a ‌specific job. ‌It is a step required before filing petitions for most employment-based ‌green cards.

Vance also said nine universities, including Harvard, Yale and Stanford, would ⁠be investigated for allegedly bringing in international students to undercut American ⁠wages. Labour Inspector General Anthony D’Esposito said subpoenas had already been served.

“We will investigate whether foreign influence, improper financial relationships, or ‌visa abuse are compromising federally ‌funded research,” D’Esposito said.

“If an American university is breaking the law to save US$1 while exposing American research to a foreign adversary, that is not academic excellence. It’s institutional betrayal.”