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Tech News
The US government has excluded Microsoft, Adobe and several other major IT companies from a green card program, according to a report cited by TechCrunch. Microsoft responded with a statement defending its hiring practices, saying most of its US employees are Americans and that 80% of its roughly 6,000 H-1B filings last fiscal year were extensions or status changes for existing staff rather than new hires.
The Trump administration has barred Microsoft, Adobe, Cognizant, Infosys and Tata from the PERM program, which lets H-1B visa holders pursue permanent residency by certifying no qualified American workers are available. Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling said the agency is investigating whether the companies committed fraud by undercutting American workers through foreign hiring. Vice President JD Vance specifically accused Microsoft of abusing the visa system, a claim Microsoft disputes, saying it hires according to visa standards while also building American talent.
Vice President JD Vance announced the US government will stop processing Permanent Labor Certification Program applications from Microsoft, Adobe, Cognizant, Infosys, Tata, Wipro, HCL and Capgemini, accusing them of fraud in using H1b visas and the PERM pathway to permanent residency. Labor Secretary Kieth Sonderling called the companies and some US universities 'visa mills' flooding the country with foreign workers. Microsoft responded that most of its US employees are American and that 80% of its recent H1b filings involved existing staff rather than new hires.
The Labor Department has halted processing of new and pending permanent labor certification applications tied to H-1B visa holders at Microsoft, Adobe, Cognizant, Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services, Wipro, HCL Technologies and Capgemini. Vice President JD Vance said the companies had abused the green-card system by under-advertising US jobs to justify hiring foreign workers instead, singling out Microsoft as the heaviest user of the process. Microsoft responded that most of its H-1B filings were extensions for existing staff rather than new hires, and that new-hire visas represent only 1 percent of its US workforce.
The Trump administration accused Microsoft of abusing the H-1B visa program and said it is cutting off the company's access to it. Microsoft responded that 80% of its roughly 6,000 H-1B applications last fiscal year were to extend or change status for existing employees rather than hire new workers, and that new-employee filings equaled just 1% of its U.S. workforce. The company said all H-1B employees are paid comparably to other staff in similar roles.
A San Diego pizzeria has filed a proposed class action against Visa, Mastercard, Bank of America, Capital One, Chase, Citibank and Wells Fargo, alleging a long-running conspiracy to fix interchange fees charged to merchants on credit card transactions. The 134-page complaint claims the companies impose rules forcing merchants to accept all cards of a given network regardless of cost and bars steering customers toward cheaper payment options, calling the fees 'monopoly rents.' The suit comes despite a prior class action settlement exceeding $5 billion over similar allegations.
The European Network for Payments (ENP) has been established by major European payment providers, including Bizum, Bancomat, Wero, SIBS-MB WAY, and Vipps MobilePay, to create a unified infrastructure. Covering 70% of Europe's population, ENP aims to connect existing networks for seamless cross-border and in-person transactions, with plans to expand into online payments. The initiative seeks to reduce Europe's dependence on US-based payment giants like Visa and Mastercard.
Apple Pay has become available in India after more than a decade of delay, but only for Visa and Mastercard credit cards issued by Axis Bank. Cards from other major banks like SBI and HDFC, as well as India's RuPay network, aren't yet supported, and the service only works at terminals enabled for it. Apple says millions of merchants including Zomato, Croma and its own stores will accept it at launch.
Apple has begun rolling out Apple Pay in India, roughly twelve years after the service debuted, with Axis Bank serving as its initial banking partner for Visa and Mastercard credit cards. Apple confirmed the launch, and backend changes spotted on its servers indicate the rollout is now live, bringing the total number of supported countries and regions to 101.
Technology industry associations are pressing the Trump administration to withdraw a proposed Department of Homeland Security rule that would impose a $103,265 fee on H-1B visa applications. The proposal has revived long-running tensions between the administration and tech companies over the future of skilled-worker immigration policy.
Waymo introduced a transit rewards program in the San Francisco Bay Area that gives riders Waymo Cash when they link a Visa card and combine Waymo rides with public transit trips. The program starts with employees before a public rollout in coming weeks, and covers all 27 Bay Area transit agencies that accept contactless Visa tap-to-pay.
Waymo has launched a new incentive program with Visa that credits riders $2.85 toward future robotaxi trips when they use a Visa card to pay for both a Waymo ride and public transit within a two-hour window. The pilot starts in the San Francisco-Bay Area and builds on earlier standalone tests Waymo ran in San Francisco and Los Angeles, but this version relies on Visa's payment data to verify qualifying trips automatically.