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Lawmakers seek explanations from top US companies

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Letter asks why they are hiring foreign workers

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Big tech companies have announced job cuts this year

(Rewrites throughout with details and background)

Sept 25 (Reuters) - U.S. lawmakers have asked major U.S.

companies, including Apple ( AAPL ), Amazon ( AMZN ) and

JPMorgan ( JPM ), to explain why they are hiring thousands of

foreign workers on H-1B visas while cutting other jobs, the Wall

Street Journal reported on Wednesday.

The report comes after the Trump administration said last

week it would ask companies to pay $100,000 per year for H-1B

visas, which allow businesses to employ foreign workers in

specialty occupations. The U.S. has also released a proposal

that would rework the H-1B visa selection process to favor

higher-skilled and better-paid workers.

Republican Senator Chuck Grassley and Senator Dick Durbin, a

Democrat, have written to companies asking for detailed

information on the number of H-1B workers they employ, the wages

they are paid, and whether American workers have been displaced

in the process, the Journal report said.

"With all of the homegrown American talent relegated to the

sidelines, we find it hard to believe that Amazon ( AMZN ) cannot find

qualified American tech workers to fill these positions," the

senators wrote to Amazon ( AMZN ) CEO Andy Jassy.

Big Tech companies, including Meta, Amazon ( AMZN ) and Microsoft ( MSFT ),

which are investing heavily in artificial intelligence, have all

announced job cuts this year.

Deloitte, Alphabet's Google, Meta, Microsoft ( MSFT ), Walmart ( WMT ),

Cognizant Technology Solutions ( CTSH ) and Tata Consultancy Services

were the other companies that received the letter, according to

the report.

India was the largest beneficiary of H-1B visas last year,

accounting for 71% of approved beneficiaries, while China was a

distant second at 11.7%, according to government data.

In the first half of 2025, Amazon ( AMZN ) and its cloud-computing

unit, AWS, received approval for more than 12,000 H-1B visas,

while Microsoft ( MSFT ) and Meta had over 5,000 H-1B visa approvals

each.

Walmart ( WMT ), Amazon ( AMZN ), Apple ( AAPL ), Alphabet, Meta, Microsoft ( MSFT ) and

Cognizant did not immediately respond to a Reuters' request for

comment. Senators Grassley and Durbin also did not respond to a

Reuters request for comment on the report.