In a post about the Outlook outage, Labor Department Inspector General Anthony P. D’Esposito used Microsoft’s H-1B filing figure as the punchline while the company worked to restore Microsoft 365 services.
D’Esposito wrote on X: “Outlook is back. @Microsoft can process 6,000 H-1B applications, but processing your inbox is apparently a tougher assignment.” NDTV Profit reported that he posted it Nov. 13. The post preceded Microsoft’s Nov. 14 announcement that service had been restored for the remaining affected customers and regions.
Microsoft said in an Oct. 8 statement that it submitted about 6,000 H-1B applications in the previous fiscal year. The company said 80% concerned current employees whose H-1B status was extended or changed.
The Associated Press reported that outage problems began after midday ET on Nov. 12 and that Downdetector received reports from users in more than 70 countries and territories. Outlook, Teams, Copilot and other Microsoft 365 services were affected.
Downdetector recorded nearly 130,000 Outlook reports shortly after 1 p.m. ET, the Associated Press reported. Reuters separately reported 138,058 reports around 1 p.m. ET. The figures count user reports to the tracker, not confirmed numbers of affected people.
Microsoft traced the disruption to a network change that exposed a problem from an earlier network-capacity upgrade. The company said the incident was unrelated to cyber activity or AI agents. Microsoft said it would provide a fuller account after completing its review.
Separately, the Labor Department’s Office of Inspector General announced a nationwide investigation in July into alleged fraud and human trafficking involving H-1B and permanent labor certification programs. The office said such practices can displace U.S. workers and exploit foreign workers. The announcement did not name Microsoft.
