Vice President JD Vance accused Microsoft of replacing the 6,000 workers it laid off in 2025 with H-1B visa holders, a claim that surfaced during a federal investigation into alleged fraud and abuse of the H-1B visa program. The Trump administration suspended eight tech companies from sponsoring foreign workers for green cards, though Microsoft was not among them. Data from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services shows that Amazon and Meta were the top sponsors of H-1B visas, with 19,178 and 6,294 approvals respectively in fiscal 2025, and neither faced suspension.
The investigation extended beyond tech, with the Labor Department's inspector general, Anthony D'Esposito, announcing a probe into alleged J-1 visa fraud involving nine major American universities. Vance criticized Microsoft, stating that for every worker laid off, the company replaced them with one and a half foreign workers on H-1B visas. However, the data reveals that two-thirds of Microsoft's H-1B approvals went to employees already working at the company, suggesting a more nuanced picture than Vance's statement implies.
Among the eight suspended companies, most are IT services and consulting firms, with Adobe being the smallest at No. 45 in H-1B sponsorship rankings. The numbers highlight a complex issue, with tech giants relying heavily on H-1B visas while facing scrutiny over their impact on American workers.