Earlier this week, thousands of Oracle employees woke up to an email notifying them that they were losing their jobs, with many unaware that the technology company had submitted numerous applications to hire foreign workers. According to federal data from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), Oracle submitted approximately 3,126 applications to hire H-1B workers in fiscal years 2025 and 2026, including 436 applications in 2026 alone.The H-1B visa program allows employers to hire foreigners in specialized occupations such as technology and defense. Companies must submit petitions to the U.S. government to demonstrate that they cannot find local candidates with equivalent skills.Details of the visa application caused controversy. On Blind, a forum for verified professionals, one user described Oracle’s H-1B petition as “a slap in the face.” The post added: “If this doesn’t make you angry, maybe you need to read some of the heartfelt posts on LinkedIn from Oracle employees who are U.S. citizens and were fired after working at Oracle for many years.” “Look at all the big tech companies, they do massive layoffs and then rehire at lower wages,” another commenter said.Oracle communicated the massive layoffs to employees in an email on Tuesday: “After careful consideration of Oracle’s current business needs, we have decided to eliminate your role as part of broader organizational changes. Therefore, today is your last day of work.” Affected workers were told they would be “eligible for severance pay subject to the terms and conditions of the severance plan.”The controversy surrounding H-1B petitions comes amid similar actions by other large tech companies. Amazon announced in January that it would lay off 16,000 corporate employees and filed approximately 2,675 H-1B applications in the same two years.MAGA bigwigs and “America First” proponents say companies that employ large numbers of H-1B workers are bad for American workers. As artificial intelligence (AI) reshapes the employment model, more than 52,000 layoffs were recorded in the first three months of 2026, a significant increase compared with the same period last year.
