Microsoft has responded to criticism related to its recent wave of layoffs and the hiring of employees on H-1B visas. The company has firmly rejected the idea that visa hiring is behind the job cuts, instead emphasizing that its hiring decisions are based on business needs.
However, some Republican lawmakers have raised concerns that the H-1B program is being exploited to sideline American workers in favor of lower-cost international hires while putting companies like Microsoft at the center of ongoing political battles over immigration and job protection.
Microsoft has confirmed that roughly 9,000 employees were let go in its most recent wave of layoffs, affecting around 4% of its global workforce.
With this being Microsoft’s third round of layoffs in 2025, the total number of jobs slashed has climbed to nearly 16,000. Meanwhile, data reveals the company filed 9,491 H-1B visa petitions during the last fiscal year with maximum being successfully approved, fuels the ongoing tension between domestic job cuts and foreign talent recruitment.
However, in the meantime, a Microsoft spokesperson said, “Our H-1B applications are in no way related to the recent job eliminations, in part because employees on H-1Bs also lost their roles. In the past 12 months, 78 percent of the petitions we filed were extensions for existing employees and not new employees coming to the U.S.”
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While Vice President JD Vance sharply criticized Microsoft’s approach, saying, “You see some Big Tech companies where they’ll lay off 9,000 workers, and then they’ll apply for a bunch of overseas visas. That displacement and that math worries me a bit…I don’t want companies to fire 9,000 American workers and then say, ‘We can’t find workers here in America.’ That’s a story that doesn’t make sense.”
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Industries such as tech, finance, and higher education continue to dominate H-1B visa allocations. In 2024, major players like Amazon, Google, Meta, and Tesla received a significant share of approved applications, securing thousands of visas to bring in skilled international talent.
President Donald Trump’s latest push to tighten the H-1B visa program is likely to add more pressure to the already heated debate over foreign talent in the U.S. workforce. The proposal calls for tougher qualification standards and puts greater emphasis on hiring American workers first. If implemented, the changes could make it harder for companies especially in tech and finance to access skilled international professionals, potentially leading to deeper workforce disruptions or even pushing firms to move roles overseas.