Trump administration suspends visa program for Microsoft, others
REUTERS/EVAN VUCCI Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella attends the “A New Golden Age” summit at the U.S. Institute of Peace — renamed the Donald J. Trump Institute of Peace by the...
REUTERS/EVAN VUCCI Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella attends the “A New Golden Age” summit at the U.S. Institute of Peace — renamed the Donald J. Trump Institute of Peace by the Trump administration — in Washington, D.C., on Thursday.
The Trump administration said it would suspend an immigration program for multiple tech firms, including Microsoft Corp., alleging widespread abuse of a worker visa system. “There has been no company in the United States, unfortunately, that has abused this system more than Microsoft,” Vice President JD Vance said Thursday during a briefing in Washington.
Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling said other companies that would be suspended from the Permanent Labor Certification Program included Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp., Infosys Ltd., Tata, Wipro Ltd., HCL Technologies Ltd., and Capgemini SE. He said there were multiple active federal investigations ongoing into the matter.
Vance said the suspensions would be indefinite, indicating they would be in place until the administration believed its concerns were addressed. The firms named by Vance and Sonderling didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment, nor did the vice president’s office and Labor Department.
Shares of Cognizant were down nearly 1.4% in New York trading Thursday, while Microsoft pared earlier gains. American depositary receipts of Infosys and Wipro each fell more than 3.5%. Silicon Valley’s reliance on foreign workers has become a major flashpoint in the debate over immigration, with the administration and allies pressing tech giants to do more to train and hire U.S. workers.
President Donald Trump has also moved to make it harder for companies to use H-1B visas to attract foreign talent, targeting a key pipeline for the industry. Don't miss out on what's happening! Stay in touch with breaking news, as it happens, conveniently in your email inbox.
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“The fraud is that they’re making representations when applying for this program that are fundamentally illegitimate and therefore ultimately illegal,” Vance said. The suspensions marked the latest move by the Trump administration to crack down on both legal and undocumented pathways to migration.
The program at issue allows U.S. employers to help sponsor foreign workers for permanent residency. In a nearly simultaneous announcement Thursday, the administration also said it had opened investigations into foreign exchange visa holders at nine top colleges including Harvard University, Stanford University and MIT.
The Labor Department’s inspector general said the inquiries will focus on J-1 visa holders, which at universities are often international PhD candidates or visiting scholars. Vance urged the companies to shift their policies to employ more U.S. workers, singling out Microsoft as well as Adobe Inc.
“Stop defrauding the American worker. Stop importing an indentured servant to do a job that an American worker would happily do,” the vice president said. Vance’s comments assailing Microsoft came just hours before Trump is set to honor the company’s chief executive officer, Satya Nadella, with a National Medal of Science award at a summit in Washington intended to spotlight U.S. technology and innovation.
It also comes a week after Nadella joined other tech and AI executives at a White House luncheon to discuss safeguards for artificial intelligence. The permanent labor certification is a major retention tool for Microsoft, which has a reputation for helping employees with guest worker visas seek permanent legal status.
The Redmond, Washington-based firm has long bolstered its U.S.-based workforce with employees in the country on H-1B visas, as well as visas for intracompany transfers and recent university graduates. While the tech industry has embraced Trump in his second term due to policies that have sought to ease their tax and regulatory burden and draw investments to build out AI infrastructure, the administration’s immigration crackdown has been a sore spot.
Business groups have warned that the crackdown threatens their labor supply and could impact growth. “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.” With assistance from Matt Day, Sarah Frier and Liam Knox.
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