Vance announces Microsoft's suspension from H-1B visa program due to alleged fraud

Vice President JD Vance announced Thursday that Microsoft will be suspended from a key visa program as part of a campaign against fraud spearheaded by President Donald Trump's administration.

During a press conference at the White House, Vance accused the tech giant of abusing the H-1B visa program, which is intended for highly skilled foreign workers.

"Our message to Microsoft is: they’re a great American company, but they’ve got to hire great American workers," Vance said.

The vice president claimed that Microsoft had laid off 6,000 American workers and replaced them with 6,300 H-1B visa holders. According to Vance, the software company Adobe will also be suspended from the program.

The announcement came hours before Trump presented Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella with the United States' most prestigious technology award during a ceremony held in Washington.

Nine universities under investigation

Vance also announced investigations into nine elite U.S. universities regarding a separate visa program for academic exchanges. Among the institutions mentioned are Harvard, Yale, Stanford and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

"Something weird is going on at these universities, they’re abusing these visas," said the vice president, who accused the institutions of using them to hire cheaper foreign researchers.

Major U.S. universities, including Harvard, have long been in the crosshairs of the Trump administration due to their alleged left-wing biases.

The administration has launched a campaign against several major universities over left-wing bias and antisemitism, and has even frozen billions of dollars in federal funding intended for Harvard.