Vice President JD Vance slammed Microsoft on Thursday, saying the company's practice of laying off thousands of American workers while simultaneously applying for vast numbers of H-1B visas has created ethical and economic problems, Breitbart reported.
"What the president has said, he said very clearly: We want the very best and the brightest to make America their home. We want them to build great companies and so forth," Vance said at a bipartisan event co-hosted by the Hill and Valley Forum.
"But I don't want companies to fire 9,000 American workers and then to go and say, We can't find workers here in America. That's a [expletive] story."
The H-1B visa program allows U.S. companies to employ foreign workers in specialty occupations that require specific technical expertise. While tech giants have claimed the program is necessary fill gaps in the American workforce, Vance said companies like Microsoft are simply replacing Americans with cheaper foreign labor.
Microsoft announced a wave of layoffs totaling nearly 16,000 over the past several months, yet at the same time filed 9,941 H-1B visa applications, all of which were approved.
"You see some Big Tech companies where they'll lay off 9,000 workers, and then they'll apply for a bunch of overseas visas," Vance said. "And I sort of wonder; that doesn't totally make sense to me. That displacement, and that math worries me a bit."
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services notified the federal Office of Management and Budget last week of a proposed rule involving a "weighted selection process" for H-1B visas. The announcement did not elaborate on how the process might change if the rule is adopted.
James Morley III ✉
James Morley III is a writer with more than two decades of experience in entertainment, travel, technology, and science and nature.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.