Microsoft suspended from green card program as Vance alleges fraud

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s administration is suspending tech giant Microsoft from a program to apply for green cards to workers who come to the United States to live and work using H-1B visa because he accuses the company of fraud.

Supporters of the Republican president have long argued that various programs like this Vice President JD Vance has accused Microsoft of essentially abusing the power of American companies to recruit foreign workers for jobs that end up undercutting Americans. In a high-profile announcement Thursday, Vance and other senior administration officials also called out universities over their use of J-1 visas for international students and IT outsourcing companies.

The announcement came hours before Trump awarded the Microsoft CEO the National Medal of Technology and Innovation. Satya Nadellaas part of an event in which he awards some of the country’s most prestigious science and technology awards to his tech billionaire allies.

Vance says American workers are being replaced by ‘foreign indentured servants’

Vance said the program Microsoft is suspending requires companies to post job openings in America before applying to the Department of Labor to demonstrate that they need to grant a green card to a foreign worker due to a lack of American workers.

“They’ll put an ad in a small town paper. They’ll go out there and say, ‘We applied for a position at our company, and no one is responding.’ And they will use that lack of response to then replace American workers with what are effectively foreign indentured servants,” Vance said. “Unfortunately, no company in the United States has used this system more than Microsoft.”

Microsoft, based in Redmond, Washington, near Seattle, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Vance said Microsoft laid off 6,000 U.S. workers last year, but also obtained 6,300 H-1B visas and nearly 3,000 green cards.

“If you do the math, for every worker Microsoft laid off, they replaced them with one and a half foreign contract employees,” Vance said at a White House news conference announcing the decision. “Our message to Microsoft is: You are a great American company, but you need to hire great American workers.”

Vance said H-1B workers are effectively indentured foreign servants because if they lose their jobs, they must leave the country and earn less than Americans in the same position.

The H-1B program has come under scrutiny

The H-1B program has long been a target of Trump supporters, who say the program harms American workers and is riddled with abuse.

H-1B visas are intended for highly skilled jobs that it is difficult to find American workers to fill. Tech companies are the biggest users, with nearly three-quarters of approvals going to Indian workers.

Trump also targeted foreign students

Vance’s announcement comes a day after the Trump administration launched another offensive against international students and their ability to work in the United States.

The Department of Homeland Security proposed Wednesday $70,000 fee for international students looking to work in the United States. The proposed rule would require schools to pay tuition for each student participating in the Optional Practical Training program, known as OPT, which allows students to work in jobs related to their major during or after their studies.

Vance also denounced universities that he said were abusing a program that allowed international students to come to the United States. These temporary visas, called J-1 visas, allow international visitors to temporarily come to the United States for work and study exchange programs. Vance singled out nine universities that he said deserved further investigation for J-1 visa fraud, saying they used the program in greater proportions than their counterparts.