Even so, Microsoft filed 1,262 new hire H-1B applications in the nine months before July, up from 661 in the same period three years earlier, as its Xbox gaming division cut 1,868 of a planned 3,200 jobs after saying the eliminated roles were not replaced by AI. Vice President JD Vance has cited 6,000 US layoffs at Microsoft in 2025 alongside more than 6,000 H-1B approvals and 3,682 applications under the Permanent Labor Certification program, or PERM, including nearly 1,000 for the same positions held by laid off American workers.
The Labor Department suspended Microsoft, Adobe, Cognizant, Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services, Wipro, HCL and Capgemini from the PERM program due to active federal investigations, leaving their H-1B workers subject to a six year cap without extensions or an employment based green card pathway. Representative Pramila Jayapal, the top Democrat on the House Immigration Subcommittee, said targeting Microsoft and the PERM program "undermines legal immigration and weakens America's ability to innovate."