Vance highlights Microsoft in crackdown on visa abuse

US President Donald Trump’s administration accused Microsoft Corp, Adobe Inc and a half-dozen other companies of abusing a US worker visa program and suspended them indefinitely from a longstanding immigration initiative that has served as a crucial talent pipeline for Silicon Valley and Wall Street.

The suspensions, announced on Thursday by US Vice President J.D. Vance and Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling, also target information technology services giants Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp, Infosys Ltd, Tata, Wipro Ltd, HCL Technologies Ltd and Capgemini SE. Those firms, either based in India or with large operations there, are often called outsourcers for their role offering contract IT work to other businesses.

At a briefing in Washington, Sonderling said there were multiple federal investigations under way into the use of a system that allows US employers to sponsor foreign workers for permanent residency.

US Vice President J.D. Vance speaks during an announcement in the South Court Auditorium of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building at the White House in Washington on Thursday.

Photo: Bloomberg

“We are cutting off the head of the snake — the companies that enabled this abuse for decades,” Sonderling told reporters at Thursday’s briefing.

Vance singled out Microsoft, the world’s third-most valuable company, for what he characterized as exploitation of the program.

“There has been no company in the United States, unfortunately, that has abused this system more than Microsoft,” he said.

In a statement, Microsoft defended its use of visa programs and said that it looked forward to providing the administration with additional information. Adobe and the Indian companies named by Vance and Sonderling did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Vance’s comments assailing Microsoft came hours before Trump honored the company’s chief executive officer, Satya Nadella, with a National Medal of Technology and Innovation at a summit in Washington intended to spotlight US scientific leadership. Just last week, Nadella joined other tech industry leaders at a White House luncheon to discuss safeguards for artificial intelligence.

“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.”

The moves announced by Vance and Sonderling take aim at the Permanent Labor Certification Program, or PERM, which allows companies to sponsor a foreigner who has been working in the US under the H-1B and other visa holders to become a legal permanent resident, the first step to becoming a US citizen.

Silicon Valley’s reliance on foreign workers has long been a flashpoint in the debate over immigration. Since Trump’s return to office last year, the administration has seized on those concerns and pressed tech giants to do more to train and hire US workers.

As part of that effort, Trump has moved to make it harder for companies to use H-1B visas to attract foreign talent, targeting a major source of workers for the industry. The changes have included proposals for $100,000 filing fees for most candidates and tightening the rules of how the H-1B visas are awarded in an annual lottery, giving priority to companies offering the highest salaries.

Vance urged the US-based companies to shift their policies to employ more US workers.

“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.