WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. lawmakers asked major U.S. companies including Apple, Amazon and JPMorgan on Thursday to explain why they are hiring thousands of foreign workers on H-1B visas while cutting other jobs. The letter comes after the Trump administration announced last week that it would ask companies to pay $100,000 per year for H-1B visas, […]
Politics
Lawmakers seek answers from major US firms over H-1B visa use amid layoffs
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. lawmakers asked major U.S. companies including Apple, Amazon and JPMorgan on Thursday to explain why they are hiring thousands of foreign workers on H-1B visas while cutting other jobs.
The letter comes after the Trump administration announced last week that it would ask companies to pay $100,000 per year for H-1B visas, which allow businesses to employ foreign workers in specialty occupations. The U.S. has also released a proposal that would rework the H-1B visa selection process to favor higher-skilled and better-paid workers.
Republican Senator Chuck Grassley and Senator Dick Durbin, a Democrat, asked 10 major employers for detailed information on the number of H-1B workers they employ, the wages they are paid, and whether American workers have been displaced in the process.
“With all of the homegrown American talent relegated to the sidelines, we find it hard to believe that Amazon cannot find qualified American tech workers to fill these positions,” the senators wrote to Amazon CEO Andy Jassy.
The Wall Street Journal first reported the letter.
Big Tech companies, including Meta, Amazon and Microsoft, which are investing heavily in artificial intelligence, have all announced job cuts this year.
Deloitte, Alphabet’s Google, Meta, Microsoft, Walmart, Cognizant Technology Solutions and Tata Consultancy Services also received the letter.
India was the largest beneficiary of H-1B visas last year, accounting for 71% of approved beneficiaries, while China was a distant second at 11.7%, according to government data.
In the first half of 2025, Amazon and its cloud-computing unit, AWS, received approval for more than 12,000 H-1B visas, while Microsoft and Meta had more than 5,000 H-1B visa approvals each.
Microsoft declined to comment while Walmart, Amazon, Apple, Alphabet, Meta and Cognizant did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
(Reporting by Doina Chiacu in Washington and Devika Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Bernadette Baum, Philippa Fletcher and Mark Porter)