Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Cognizant and eight different main companies have been questioned by U.S. Senators for submitting hundreds of H-1B expert labour visa petitions after conducting “mass layoffs” of American staff.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Grassley and rating member Richard Durbin have additionally questioned Amazon, Apple, Deloitte, Google, JPMorgan Chase, Meta, Microsoft, and Walmart, asking them for particulars on their hiring and recruitment practices in addition to any variation in wage and advantages between H-1B visa holders and American staff.
The Senators mentioned their “inquiry” comes at a time when the unemployment fee in America’s tech sector is “well above” the general jobless fee. According to the Federal Reserve, current American graduates with STEM levels now face increased unemployment charges than the overall inhabitants, they said.
It is pertinent to say that Senator Grassley and Senator Durbin have been vocal critics of the H-1B visa programme and have persistently contended that these visas are being abused by many to interchange U.S. staff with cheaper labour from abroad.
In truth, just some days after their missive to the ten corporations, the Senators mentioned they’re reintroducing bipartisan laws to “reform and close loopholes” within the H-1B and L-1 visa applications.
The H-1B and L-1 Visa Reform Act targets fraud and abuse in U.S. immigration system, gives safety for American staff and visa holders and enhances transparency within the overseas employee recruitment course of, the 2 argued.
“In evaluating the high unemployment rate for American tech workers, we cannot ignore the massive, ongoing layoffs ordered by you and your peers in Big Tech C-suites over the past few years…At the same time you have been laying off your employees, you have been filing H-1B visa petitions for (thousands of) foreign workers,” the Senators wrote in letters to 10 major employers in the U.S. on September 25, 2025.
They added: “With all of the homegrown American expertise relegated to the sidelines, we discover it laborious to imagine that (you) can’t discover certified American tech staff to fill these positions.”
On TCS, the statement noted that the company recently announced plans to lay off over 12,000 employees, including American staff.
“In fiscal yr 2025, TCS utilized for and obtained approval to rent 5,505 overseas H1-1B staff. TCS is presently below investigation by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission for allegedly firing older American staff in favour of newly employed overseas H-1B visa holders,” it said.
It further said Cognizant Technology Solutions laid off thousands of workers, including employees in the US.
“In fiscal yr 2025, Cognizant utilized for and obtained approval to rent 2,493 overseas H-1B staff. In 2024, a federal jury concluded Cognizant favoured South Asian H1-B visa holders over American staff, which warranted punitive damages,(*9*)inline_embed article-block-item”>
The statement by Grassley and Durbin noted that Amazon laid off tens-of-thousands of employees in recent years, blaming the adoption of generative AI tools. In fiscal year 2025, Amazon applied for and received approval to hire 10,044 foreign H-1B employees.
Google, it said, laid off tens-of-thousands of employees in recent years, including hundreds of workers in its platform and device unit, and 35% of its small team managers “regardless of having fun with data earnings”.
In fiscal year 2025, Google applied for and received approval to hire 4,181 foreign H-1B employees, the statement observed.
According to it, Meta laid off a quarter of its workforce between 2022 and 2023 and labelled it a “yr of effectivity”.
“In 2025, Meta laid off 3,600 staff, overshooting its said objective of shedding one other 5 per cent of its workforce. In fiscal yr 2025, Meta utilized for and obtained approval to rent 5,123 overseas H-1B staff,” it said.
Microsoft applied for and received approval to hire 5,189 foreign H-1B employees in fiscal year 2025, as per the statement.
Microsoft laid off 16,000 employees this year alone, despite record revenue and profits, it said adding amid criticism for mass-layoffs, Microsoft characterised its actions as an “enigma of success”.