Federal visa data suggests most Microsoft H-1B approvals went to existing staff
Two in three of the H-1B visa approvals Microsoft received last year went to people already working at the company, according to an analysis of federal data by CNBC, casting doubt on US Vice President JD Vance's claim that the tech giant replaced laid-off American workers with foreign hires.
The Trump administration announced on 8 October that it had suspended eight technology companies, including Microsoft, from sponsoring foreign workers for green cards through the Labor Department's PERM programme.
At the same news conference, Vance singled out Microsoft, claiming it replaced the 6,000 employees it laid off in 2025 with workers on H-1B visas.
According to CNBC, Vance said that for every worker Microsoft laid off, the company "replaced that worker with one and a half foreign indentured servants". He also described Microsoft as a great American company with which the administration had a good relationship, CNBC reported.
What the data shows
CNBC's analysis of the US Citizenship and Immigration Services' (USCIS) H-1B Employer Data Hub found that Microsoft received 6,258 H-1B approvals in fiscal 2025, in line with the figure Vance cited. However, two-thirds of those approvals went to people who were already Microsoft employees rather than new hires.
The suspension itself does not cover H-1Bs, which are temporary work permits, CNBC noted. The PERM programme concerns green cards, which grant permanent residency.
Amazon and Meta not on the list
The data also showed Microsoft was not the largest H-1B sponsor. Amazon topped the list with 19,178 approvals in fiscal 2025, followed by Meta with 6,294, with Microsoft a close third, according to CNBC. Neither Amazon nor Meta was among the suspended companies.
Microsoft out-sponsored Amazon for years until 2017, when Amazon overtook it, and Amazon now receives about three times as many approvals, CNBC reported. The outlet also found that Amazon brought in nearly four times as many H-1B workers who were new to the company.
All eight suspended companies rank among the top 50 H-1B sponsors in the US, most of them IT services and consulting firms, according to CNBC. Adobe was the smallest sponsor on the list, at No. 45.
Microsoft's response
In a statement responding to the announcement, Microsoft said that of the approximately 6,000 H-1B applications it submitted in the last fiscal year, 80% were to extend or change the status of existing employees. The company also said it pays H-1B employees the same as other employees doing comparable work.
Microsoft's figure relates to applications, while CNBC's analysis covers approvals.
Meanwhile, the crackdown extended beyond the tech sector. At the same news conference, the Labor Department's inspector general, Anthony D'Esposito, announced an investigation into alleged J-1 visa fraud involving nine major US universities, CNBC reported.
Supporters of President Donald Trump have long argued that such visa programmes undercut American workers by encouraging employers to hire from abroad.
