White House blocks Microsoft from foreign worker hiring programme

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 programme.

Vice President JD Vance on Thursday accused Microsoft alongside other firms of committing fraud through the use of the H-1B visa programme and a related process for workers from abroad to become permanent US residents.

Vance claimed that Microsoft, one of the most valuable companies in the US, has been effectively replacing American workers with "foreign indentured servants."