White House blocks Microsoft from foreign worker hiring program

Microsoft and several other technology firms have been barred by the White House from hiring skilled international workers on a permanent basis through a widely used visa program.

Vice President JD Vance on Thursday accused Microsoft, along with Adobe, Cognizant, Infosys, Tata, Wipro, HCL and Capgemini, of committing fraud through the use of the H1b visa program and a related process for workers from abroad to become permanent US residents.

"No company in the US has abused this system more than Microsoft," Vance said.

He went on to claim that the company, one of the most valuable in the US, has been effectively replacing American workers with "foreign indentured servants."

The US government will not process any new or pending Permanent Labor Certification Program (PERM) applications from Microsoft or the seven other companies, Secretary of Labor Kieth Sonderling said during the same conference.