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Anirudha Yerunkar
He is working as Chief Sub Editor with India.com and has experience in Digital Media and YouTube. He has covered Budget 2023, 2024, 2025 for reputed channels. Born and brought up in Mumbai, he is an e ... Read More
US Senators have raised concerns over the hiring practices of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Cognizant, and eight other major corporations, questioning their filing of thousands of H-1B skilled worker visa petitions after carrying out “mass layoffs” of American employees.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Grassley and ranking member Richard Durbin have also sought information from Amazon, Apple, Deloitte, Google, JPMorgan Chase, Meta, Microsoft, and Walmart. The queries focus on recruitment policies, as well as any disparities in pay and benefits between H-1B visa holders and US workers.
The senators noted that their inquiry comes amid an unemployment rate in the US tech sector that is “well above” the national average. They pointed to Federal Reserve data showing that recent American graduates with STEM degrees now face higher unemployment than the broader population.
The H-1B and L-1 Visa Reform Act targets fraud and abuse in US immigration system, provides protection for American workers and visa holders and enhances transparency in the foreign worker recruitment process, the two 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 US on September 25, 2025.
They added: “With all of the homegrown American talent relegated to the sidelines, we find it hard to believe that (you) cannot find qualified American tech workers 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 year 2025, TCS applied for and received approval to hire 5,505 foreign H1-1B employees. TCS is currently under investigation by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission for allegedly firing older American employees in favour of newly hired foreign H-1B visa holders,” it said.
It further said Cognizant Technology Solutions laid off thousands of workers, including employees in the US.
“In fiscal year 2025, Cognizant applied for and received approval to hire 2,493 foreign H-1B employees. In 2024, a federal jury concluded Cognizant favoured South Asian H1-B visa holders over American employees, which warranted punitive damages,” it added.
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 per cent of its small team managers “despite enjoying records profits”.
In fiscal year 2025, Google applied for and received approval to hire 4,181 foreign H1-B employees, the statement observed. According to it, Meta laid off a quarter of its workforce between 2022 and 2023 and labelled it a “year of efficiency”.
“In 2025, Meta laid off 3,600 employees, overshooting its stated goal of laying off another five per cent of its workforce. In fiscal year 2025, Meta applied for and received approval to hire 5,123 foreign H-1B employees,” it said.
Microsoft applied for and received approval to hire 5,189 foreign H1-B 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”.
(With Inputs From PTI)
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