US Labor Department halts Microsoft’s green-card sponsorship amid fraud probe

At a press conference in Washington, JD Vance and Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling said the Department of Labor will stop accepting new PERM applications from Microsoft and will not process those already pending. The action stems from a fraud task-force investigation that alleges Microsoft abused the green-card system after cutting about 6,000 American jobs and employing thousands of H-1B visa holders. Vance labeled Microsoft the worst offender, claiming the company replaced laid-off workers with “foreign indentured servants.”

Microsoft countered in a blog post, stating roughly 80% of its recent H-1B petitions were to extend or change status for current employees and that foreign hires make up only about 1% of its U.S. staff. Data shows Microsoft is the largest PERM filer, so the freeze impacts a large number of pending green-card cases. The company also announced a 4,800-job reduction earlier this year. No timeline was given for lifting the suspension.