Microsoft-owned gaming brand Xbox is drawing sharp criticism after the tech giant moved forward with major job cuts following approvals for thousands of foreign worker visas.
Microsoft has announced plans to eliminate 4,800 positions across the company, including roughly 1,600 jobs within its Xbox division, the unit behind the company’s gaming consoles, services and related products.
At the same time, Microsoft has received approval this year to employ 2,273 foreign nationals through employer-sponsored, non-immigrant H-1B visas, according to data from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
The timing has fueled anger online, with critics arguing that U.S. workers are being pushed out while companies turn to visa-holding employees, a practice they say can reduce labor costs and leave American employees with fewer opportunities.
“A great way to fix this is to throw anyone doing this in prison,” one user wrote on X. “Fire Americans to replace with thousands of visa workers? Straight to jail, and assets seized. This story has been told countless times. Fire American staff and hire foreigners. Over and over.”
Another social media user blamed federal officials for allowing the visa approvals. “It is the fault of our Government [sic] for approving the H-1Bs,” the user wrote. “Our Government [sic] has sold us out of jobs at home and those being moved to other countries.”
A third commenter characterized the H-1B system as “industrial scale job theft from Americans.”
Microsoft ranks as the sixth-largest recipient of H-1B visas, a program whose workforce is heavily represented by employees from India. Additional H-1B applications from the company remain pending. While Microsoft operates globally, the majority of its workforce is based in the United States.
“These decisions are based on business need, not visa status. H-1B employees were also impacted by job eliminations in the U.S.,” a Microsoft spokesperson told Fox News Digital when reached for comment on the lay offs.
“Every single employer is exploiting the H-1B visa program,” said the Project for Immigration Reform.
A lawmaker even called for a complete end to the non-immigrant visa program.
“This is INSANE. LEGAL immigration is a major problem. These companies, especially big tech, are abusing these immigration programs to replace American workers with foreign workers,” said Rep. Riley Moore, R-W.Va.
“No more. It’s long past time to end the H-1B scam.”
XBOX CEO Asha Sharma cited the company’s financial health for the layoffs.
“Our business today is not healthy,” said a memo from Sharma, according to The Associated Press. “We are operating at margins that are 3-10x lower than comparable platform and publishing businesses.”
Sharma added that her strategy is to “reset” XBOX.
Some online critics, however, claimed Sharma’s Indian heritage played a role in firing the Americans, given the percentage of H-1B workers from India. Sharma was born in Wisconsin.
Vice President JD Vance announced on Tuesday a large-scale investigation into H-1B visa fraud.
“Today, I’m proud to announce that the federal Department of Labor has started dozens of subpoenas and investigations into foreign fraudsters who are trying to take advantage of the H-1B visa program,” he said during a press conference in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
“American jobs ought to go to American workers and not foreign fraudsters and the Department of Labor is fighting back against it.”
Recently, President Donald Trump tried to limit employers’ use of the H-1B program by imposing a $100,000 fee for companies seeking H-1B applications.
A federal judge struck down that order, reasoning that it amounted to a tax that only Congress has the ability to impose.
