India, Sept. 28 -- US Vice President JD Vance has signaled tougher scrutiny of companies seeking H-1B workers after laying off American employees, as the Trump administration moves to reshape the visa program through executive action and tighter enforcement.

Vance said the administration is examining ways to prevent companies from claiming they face worker shortages while simultaneously cutting their US workforce. He cited a hypothetical company that says it is "desperate for workers" but has previously laid off thousands of Americans.

"You'll have a company that applies for an H-1B and they'll say, 'Oh, we're desperate for workers. We can't find the workers.' And then you go and look at their history and they've laid off 5,000 people. ...