The US government has barred Microsoft from sponsoring foreign workers for US residency, a move that comes alongside a broader fee increase for H-1B visas. Previously, the government charged $215 to register for the H-1B visa lottery and a $780 base fee for employers sponsoring visa applicants. More than 400,000 such visas were approved last year.
Indians have been the biggest recipients of H-1B visas, and the new restrictions target many of the largest outsourcing groups. However, the impact is likely to be small, as the route from H-1B to permanent residency has been out of reach for most Indians because of a decades-long backlog. Nearly 1 million people from India were waiting for employment-based permanent residency as of December last year, according to an August study by the National Foundation for American Policy. Nasscom, the Indian IT services lobbying group, said the number of employees transitioning to permanent residency was "relatively limited" because Indian tech companies had "significantly reduced their dependence on H-1B visas."
Vance said the visas were helping companies undercut US workers, claiming some H-1B holders earned between $20,000 and $48,000 less than US citizens hired for similar positions. Amazon, the biggest user of H-1B visas, was not mentioned at the press conference. Vance singled out Microsoft, saying it "laid off last year 6,000 American workers at the same time the company benefited from 6,300 H-1B visas and almost 3,000 green cards."
Microsoft, whose shares fell more than 1 percent after the announcement, said the visa applications cited were largely "to extend or change the status" of existing employees. "Microsoft only files H-1B petitions for those who meet the rigorous standards of this visa category," the company said. "We pay our employees some of the highest compensation in the tech sector, and our wages are among the highest of all H-1B filings." On the same day, the administration honored Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella with the National Medal of Technology and Innovation. Vance said there was no contradiction between the two announcements: "Our message to Microsoft is: 'You're a great American company, but you've got to hire great American workers.'"
Source: Ars Technica · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing