Vice President J.D. Vance said Thursday that the companies had “abused” H-1B visa and green card processes in order to “replace American workers with what is effectively foreign indentured servants.” At the same White House press conference, Trump officials announced probes into nine universities, including Harvard, Yale, and Stanford, that the Administration accused of misusing a program meant for temporary educational and cultural exchanges.
The twin moves mark an escalation in the Trump Administration’s scrutiny of skilled worker immigration programs. The Trump Administration has pursued a broad crackdown on immigration fraud, citing the need to protect American workers and accusing major technology companies and universities of using foreign workers to undercut U.S. wages.
Microsoft and software maker Adobe are among eight the companies that the Trump Administration will suspend from applying to sponsor employment-based green cards. The other companies are major information technology outsourcing firms: Cognizant; Infosys; Tata Consultancy Services; Wipro; HCL Technologies; and Capgemini.
Sonderling cited ongoing federal investigations, suggesting that the firms were among the biggest beneficiaries of the H-1B program. The companies had sought to hire almost 3 million foreign workers, received more than 230,000 H-1B visa approvals, and obtained over 100,000 permanent labor certifications since 2009, he said.
According to Labor Department data through June 2026, Microsoft was the largest filer of applications via the PERM program which is the first step in the U.S. permanent labor certification process. The application requires employers to demonstrate that a foreign hire will not hurt U.S. workers’ wages or jobs.
Vance said Microsoft laid off 6,000 American workers last year while obtaining 6,300 H-1B visas and nearly 3,000 green cards. The company announced in July that it would cut 4,800 jobs.
Microsoft said in a statement that 80% of its H-1B applications in the last fiscal year were to extend or change the status of current employees, not hire new workers.
Microsoft said it pays its H-1B employees the same as other workers in comparable roles. It added that it only files H-1B petitions for “those who meet the rigorous standards of this visa category.”
“Maybe 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.
TIME has reached out to the other companies for comment.
Probes over exchange visitor visas
The nine universities were: Harvard; Yale; Stanford; Brown; the University of Pittsburgh; the University of California, Davis; the California Institute of Technology; Arizona State; and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Labor Inspector General Anthony D’Esposito said the “historic investigation into J-1 visa fraud” would focus on whether foreign influence, improper financial relationships, or visa abuse were compromising federally funded research.
Harvard, Brown, Pitt, and MIT acknowledged receipt of the subpoenas. Stanford and UC Davis said they would cooperate with the investigations. Arizona State said it complies with U.S. law. Yale said it would review the investigation documents once it received them.
For employees at the eight companies, immigration lawyers say the PERM pause will delay a common route to obtaining a green card. Workers nearing the typical six-year limit for H-1B visas without an earlier green card filing face the greatest risk, according to immigration lawyer Lidice Samper.
“Our economy, our communities, and our families depend on immigrants in many sectors, including the tech sector, and heavy-handed attacks like this only hurt efforts to build a strong, stable, and diverse base of workers who have legal pathways to come and be in the United States while also protecting U.S. workers from unscrupulous employers,” Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D, Wash.) posted on X.
“If the Trump administration were truly concerned that H-1B workers are ‘indentured servants,’ then the last thing they would do is block companies from helping their own H-1B workers get green cards,” Rand said.
Dinesh Pai, vice president of investments at India’s largest brokerage Zerodha, noted on social media that the suspension would impact Indians seeking high-earning positions in the U.S.—and by extension remittances and angel investments back into India. But he added that if U.S. companies cannot bring talent to the U.S., “they probably will bring the work to India.”
The investigations into the universities have not changed J-1 eligibility, but they add uncertainty for visiting scholars and the universities hosting them. Among the universities subpoenaed, Harvard sponsored 2,218 new J-1 exchange visitors in 2024, Stanford 1,436, Yale 1,169, and MIT 1,087, according to federal data.
Read More: As U.S. Enrolls Fewer International Students, Universities in Asia Are Going the Other Direction
Expanding crackdown
In August, the Trump Administration announced plans for a $103,265 fee. The Administration said the fee would act as a “dedicated revenue mechanism to help recover a portion of the federal government’s costs of administering the lawful immigration system.”
Also in September 2025, the Labor Department launched “Project Firewall,” an enforcement effort aimed at investigating employers suspected of abusing the H-1B program and displacing U.S. workers. The department said it has launched nearly 200 investigations under the initiative.
Meanwhile the probe marks the Administration’s latest attempt to scrutinize American higher education by targeting international students and scholars. In July 2025, DHS subpoenaed Harvard for records concerning international students and immigration compliance. The university said it would comply with the law but called the subpoenas “unfounded retribution.”
The Administration has also tightened immigration rules for international students, including screening visa applicants’ social media, and targeting some Chinese students for heightened scrutiny and visa revocation. The Administration has revoked thousands of student visas.
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