Microsoft on Thursday defended its hiring practices after the US government suspended the company from its employment-based green card programme, saying most of its American workforce is US citizens and that the majority of its recent applications were for existing employees.
“The vast majority of Microsoft employees in the United States are Americans,” the company said in a statement on Thursday, responding to Vice President JD Vance’s allegations that it had replaced American workers with foreign employees.
“Of the approximately 6,000 H-1B visa applications we submitted in the last fiscal year, 80% percent were to extend or change the status of existing Microsoft employees,” Microsoft said.
The company also said its H-1B petitions were filed for workers “who meet the rigorous standards of this visa category”. The company added that its wages for H-1B workers were among the highest of all H-1B filings.
Shares of Microsoft fell more than 1.3% in New York trading Thursday, while Cognizant reversed earlier losses and was up more than 5%. American depositary receipts of Infosys turned positive after sharp initial declines, rising more than 1%, while Wipro was down less than 1%.
Why were Microsoft and Adobe suspended from PREM?
The US Department of Labor announced the suspension of Microsoft and Adobe from its Permanent Labour Certification (PERM) programme on Thursday. Labour Secretary Keith Sonderling said the department would not accept or process new applications under the programme for the affected companies, including major Indian IT services firms such as Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services, Wipro, HCL Technologies, Cognizant and Capgemini.
Sonderling said Microsoft and Adobe were suspended “due to multiple active federal investigations”.
“Since 2009, just these companies alone have requested almost 3 million foreign workers. They’ve received over 230,000 H-1B visas approvals and over 100,000 permanent labor certifications. That’s hundreds of thousands of jobs that were taken from American workers,” he said.
Vance criticised Microsoft over its 6,000 layoffs in 2025, claiming the company had “replaced” those workers with H-1B visa holders.
“Microsoft is a great American company, and we have a great relationship with them, they do a lot of important things,” Vance said. “Our message to Microsoft is not that we want to harm your company. It’s that we want your company to thrive, but we want it to thrive by employing and empowering your fellow Americans.”
How could it impact Indian techies?
The suspension could create uncertainty for Indian professionals whose employers are sponsoring their green-card applications. PERM is a key step in the employment-based immigration process, requiring employers to demonstrate that hiring a foreign worker will not adversely affect US workers.
Silicon Valley hiring in focus
The suspension comes as President Donald Trump’s administration steps up scrutiny of foreign-worker hiring programmes ahead of November’s midterm elections.
Silicon Valley’s reliance on foreign workers has long been a flashpoint in the debate over immigration. Since Trump’s return to office last year, the administration has seized on those concerns and pressed tech giants to do more to train and hire US workers.
As part of that effort, Trump has moved to make it harder for companies to use H-1B visas to attract foreign talent, targeting a major source of workers for the industry. The changes have included proposals for $100,000 filing fees for most candidates and tightening the rules of how the H-1B visas are awarded in an annual lottery, giving priority to companies offering the highest salaries.