JD Vance slams Microsoft, says it swapped 6,000 laid-off Americans for ‘foreign indentured servants.’ Microsoft responds

Microsoft and others are accused of misusing programs like PERM and H-1B visas to replace U.S. workers with lower-paid foreign employees. Vance said Microsoft laid off 6,000 American workers last year but still applied for 6,300 H-1B visas and nearly 3,000 green cards.

“Microsoft, you’re a great American company, but you’ve got to hire great American workers,” Vance said. “You cannot lay off American workers and then replace them with foreign indentured servants.”

According to Vance, companies like Microsoft post insufficient job ads in places like small-town newspapers, then claim no one is applying, the Associated Press reported. Then, they use H-1B visas to bring in favored foreign workers for less and eventually help them get a permanent resident green card.

The Trump administration and its supporters have long argued that the H-1B visa program undercuts American workers and prevents them from getting jobs. Last year, the administration tried to raise the H-1B fee to $100,000, but a federal judge struck it down. Supporters of the program argue that it lets the U.S. attract top talent and fill gaps.

Besides Microsoft, the government is also suspending Adobe and the IT outsourcing firms Cognizant, Infosys, Tata, Wipro, HCL and Capgemini from PERM.

Microsoft responds to fraud claims

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services data shows Microsoft ranks fifth among U.S. employers for approved H-1B visa applications in 2026. Amazon is No. 1.

In a short blog post, Microsoft said 80% of the 6,000 H-1B applications it filed last year were to extend or change the status of employees already at the company.

“They were not to hire new people,” it said.

The other 20%, for new employees, covered people already legally in the country and equaled 1% of Microsoft’s U.S. workforce.

Microsoft also said foreign employees it brings on are paid competitive rates compared to U.S. workers, pushing back on claims from the administration and Vance that they are paid far less and thus are more affordable to hire than Americans.