Outrage as Microsoft cuts 1,600 Xbox jobs, imports 2,273 on H-1B
Jul 10, 2026, 6:00 AM
Microsoft’s Redmond headquarters, where the company that just cut 1,600 Xbox jobs remains one of the nation’s largest users of the H-1B foreign worker visa program. (Photo: Sean Gallup
(Photo: Sean Gallup
BYSEATTLE RED STAFF
Seattle Red
Microsoft cut 1,600 workers from its Xbox division this month, the same year the Redmond company won federal approval to bring in 2,273 foreign workers on H-1B visas, and Washington families are asking why American jobs keep vanishing while the visa pipeline stays wide open
The Xbox cuts were part of 4,800 layoffs Microsoft announced worldwide, including roughly 600 jobs in Washington. At the same time, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services data shows the company has been approved for 2,273 H-1B visas this year, with more applications still pending. Microsoft ranks as the sixth-largest beneficiary of the program, which is overwhelmingly filled by workers from India
The pairing set off a wave of anger online, where critics accused big tech of trading American workers for cheaper foreign labor. One immigration group and at least one member of Congress want the program shut down for good
‘Long past time to end the H-1B scam’
Rep. Riley Moore (R-W.Va.) called the arrangement indefensible
“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,” Moore said on X. “No more. It’s long past time to end the H-1B scam.”
The advocacy account Project for Immigration Reform went further
“Every single employer is exploiting the H-1B visa program,” the group posted
The complaints echo a familiar Washington story, one this state has been living through across more than a year of tech layoffs. Critics say the visa program lets companies cut payroll costs while leaving laid-off Americans to fend for themselves
A company that says it is not healthy
Xbox CEO Asha Sharma pinned the layoffs on the division’s finances rather than immigration
“Our business today is not healthy,” Sharma wrote in a memo reported by the Associated Press. “We are operating at margins that are 3-10x lower than comparable platform and publishing businesses.”
Sharma said she intends to reset the gaming business
President Donald Trump had tried to curb the program with a $100,000 fee on new H-1B applications, but a federal judge struck it down, ruling it amounted to a tax only Congress can impose. In Washington, Microsoft’s cuts hit a state that keeps losing the high-wage jobs Olympia counts on to fund its budget, even as the company keeps its foreign hiring lanes open
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