The Trump administration has consistently positioned itself as a defender of American jobs, tightening H-1B visa rules in the name of protecting local workers. Yet, the country’s largest corporations appear to be charting a different course. In 2025, tech giants like Amazon, Microsoft, Apple, and Meta, along with financial heavyweights such as JP Morgan, have quietly ramped up their H-1B sponsorships.
According to figures shared by Amanda Goodall on X, the scale of H-1B approvals in 2025 reveals how aggressively top employers are leaning on foreign talent. Amazon Web Services alone secured 10,044 approvals, an increase of 787 from last year, while Microsoft and Meta recorded 5,189 and 5,123 approvals, up by 464 and 279 respectively. Apple followed with 4,202 approvals, gaining 329, and JP Morgan Chase rose sharply to 2,440, adding 721. Cisco’s tally reached 1,570 (+238), Tata Consultancy Services stood at 5,509 (+229), and Visa Tech climbed to 466 (+131). Amazon’s cloud arms also saw jumps, with AWS at 2,347 (+131) and Amazon Data Services at 543 (+102).
Even outside the tech sector, General Motors registered 574 approvals, marking an increase of 106. Together, these numbers highlight how the push for skilled global workers continues to accelerate, even as political narratives stress restriction.
At the policy level, the U.S. is now preparing to move away from the long-standing lottery system for H-1B visas and replace it with a wage-based model. On paper, this shift is designed to prioritize higher-paid positions, but in practice, it could tilt the scales even more in favor of Big Tech. Companies like Amazon, Microsoft, Apple, Meta, and JP Morgan are among the few employers capable of offering the kind of premium salaries that secure approvals under the new rules.
Smaller firms and startups, meanwhile, could find themselves squeezed out of the competition for top international talent. Yet, experts point out that even if the H-1B program were gradually phased out, the tech giants would hardly be left stranded. With deep resources and global reach, they can simply shift more operations overseas, tapping into talent pools abroad to maintain the same pace of innovation. In other words, while the rules may change, America’s biggest companies are still positioned to keep winning the talent game.
This direction runs straight into contradiction with Trump’s repeated warnings to Big Tech. He has often accused companies like Amazon, Microsoft, Apple, and Meta of exploiting the H-1B system to undercut American workers, promising to clamp down on what he framed as “outsourcing visas.”
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With waves of layoffs across the tech sector have left many American workers bitter, and that resentment is increasingly being directed at H-1B employees. Social media is flooded with angry posts blaming foreign workers for job losses. Also, posts have surfaced where users have asked to stop H1-B visa. Many argue the visas give firms an excuse to rely on cheaper labor instead of hiring American talent. President Donald Trump’s “America First” stance and his repeated vows to crack down on the H-1B program have only added fuel to the fire. During his administration, officials went as far as calling the visa system a “scam,” arguing it was widely misused to push aside U.S. workers.
But all of this data makes one thing clear that Big Tech is doubling down on the H-1B program, even as Washington debates reshaping it. By aggressively boosting sponsorships in 2025, companies like Amazon, Microsoft, Apple, Meta, and JP Morgan are signaling that they see skilled foreign workers as central to their future, regardless of political headwinds.