{
  "id": 12947146,
  "title": "White House blocks Microsoft from foreign worker hiring program",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/08/white-house-blocks-microsoft-from-foreign-worker-hiring-program-12947146",
  "topic": "business",
  "section": "Business",
  "published": "2026-10-08T19:57:04.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "BBC Business",
    "slug": "bbc-business",
    "url": "https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ck5yngl2y4gpo?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=rss"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "The White House has prohibited Microsoft and several other technology companies from employing skilled overseas workers permanently under a widely utilized visa program, according to recent reports. Vice President J.D. Vance accused Microsoft, along with other corporations, of fraud by exploiting the H1b visa program and a related process for foreign workers to become permanent US residents. Vance alleged that Microsoft, a highly valuable US company, has been replacing American workers with foreign labor. Microsoft stated that most of the H1b visas filed in the previous fiscal year were for existing employees who are paid the same as local staff. However, Vance maintained that no company in the US has abused the system more than Microsoft. The US government will not process any new or pending Permanent Labor Certification Program (PERM) applications from Microsoft or seven other companies. The Secretary of Labor, Keith Sonderling, described these companies as visa mills that are flooding the US with foreign workers. The total number of H1b visas is capped at 85,000 annually. Microsoft, which employs over 200,000 people globally, maintains that the majority of its US employees are Americans and that the international workers it hires through the H1b visa program are compensated at the same level as US workers.",
  "summary": "An international visa program has for years allowed US tech companies to hire highly skilled workers from abroad.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 7,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "Hacker News",
        "title": "Trump administration is suspending Microsoft from a green card program",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/08/trump-administration-is-suspending-microsoft-from-a-green-card-program",
        "published": "2026-10-08T15:15:00.000Z"
      },
      {
        "outlet": "The Verge",
        "title": "Trump administration says Microsoft ‘abused’ worker visa program and is cutting off access",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/08/trump-administration-says-microsoft-abused-worker-visa-program-and-is",
        "published": "2026-10-08T16:57:27.000Z"
      },
      {
        "outlet": "Tom's Hardware",
        "title": "U.S. suspends green card path for H-1B workers at Microsoft and Adobe — labor certification program blocked due to alleged fraud",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/08/u-s-suspends-green-card-path-for-h-1b-workers-at-microsoft-and-adobe",
        "published": "2026-10-08T17:26:07.000Z"
      },
      {
        "outlet": "BBC Technology",
        "title": "White House blocks Microsoft from foreign worker hiring program",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/08/white-house-blocks-microsoft-from-foreign-worker-hiring-program",
        "published": "2026-10-08T18:56:46.000Z"
      },
      {
        "outlet": "Wired",
        "title": "Trump Administration Cuts Off Access to a Major Immigration Program for Workers at Microsoft and Adobe",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/08/trump-administration-cuts-off-access-to-a-major-immigration-program",
        "published": "2026-10-08T19:11:45.000Z"
      },
      {
        "outlet": "The Hill",
        "title": "Vance takes aim at Microsoft over foreign workers",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/08/vance-takes-aim-at-microsoft-over-foreign-workers",
        "published": "2026-10-08T20:52:53.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}