Vance says the US is suspending permanent visa residency program for Microsoft and Adobe

The Trump administration is suspending Microsoft and Adobe from a federal program that companies use to sponsor foreign workers for permanent residency, Vice President JD Vance said Thursday during a press conference.

Vance accused Microsoft of abusing the Permanent Labor Certification Program, or PERM.

The program is an initial step that employers generally must complete before sponsoring a worker for an employment-based green card, requiring them to show that no qualified and available US workers could fill the role. “If you do the math, for every worker that Microsoft laid off, they replaced that worker with one and a half foreign indentured servants,” Vance said.

Business Insider has reached out to Microsoft and Adobe for comment.

The announcement is the latest escalation for the administration against companies that rely on highly skilled foreign workers, particularly through the H-1B visa system.

Microsoft is one of the biggest employers of H-1B workers in the US.

It was not immediately clear how long the suspension would last or what it would mean for Microsoft employees whose permanent-residency cases are already pending.