US President Donald Trump’s administration has suspended Microsoft and several other technology companies from a US green card programme over allegations of fraud and misuse of foreign worker visas.
US Vice President JD Vance announced the decision on Thursday, accusing Microsoft of using immigration programmes to replace American workers.
The programme allows employers to sponsor foreign workers for permanent residency after demonstrating that suitable American workers are unavailable.
“Our message to Microsoft is: You’re a great American company, but you’ve got to hire great American workers,” Vance said.
He claimed Microsoft laid off 6,000 American employees last year while obtaining thousands of H-1B visas and green cards.
Microsoft disputed the suggestion that these visas represented replacement workers, saying 80 percent of its H-1B applications involved existing employees.
“These were not to hire new people,” the company said.
Other suspended companies include Adobe, Cognizant, Infosys, Tata, Wipro, HCL and Capgemini.
Vance also identified nine universities, including Harvard, Yale, Stanford and MIT, for further investigation over alleged misuse of J-1 exchange visas.
