Trump’s Justice Department Takes Charge of OpenAI’s Green Card Sponsorships for Employees
On Wednesday, the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department announced a settlement between OpenAI and its former subsidiary, Statsig, which will entail three years of oversight concerning the hiring practices of the AI company.
The Justice Department claimed that OpenAI and Statsig employed various strategies to discourage U.S. citizens from applying for positions occupied by immigrant workers for whom they were sponsoring permanent residency. While the companies did not admit to any violations, they agreed to pay a total of $3.2 million, which includes a $1.2 million fine, alongside $2 million earmarked for compensation to eligible U.S. applicants who may have been impacted.
The allegations indicate that the companies violated the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) by failing to genuinely seek out qualified U.S. candidates for these positions prior to initiating permanent residence applications. Specific shortcomings included not advertising roles on public job boards, promoting job postings during late-night radio broadcasts, and insisting on paper applications rather than digital ones.
Although fewer than ten positions were implicated, the settlement mandates that OpenAI and Statsig pay the stipulated fine and comply with ongoing supervision by the Justice Department regarding their hiring for PERM positions. This oversight entails developing and obtaining approval for their hiring policies related to PERM roles and submitting semiannual reports, which will detail the number of applications pursued for foreign employees, how many U.S. citizens were interviewed, and other relevant data.
OpenAI acquired Statsig, an AI A/B testing company, in September 2025 but later sold off a portion of the business in May 2026. The Justice Department began its investigation into both firms in August 2025, prior to the acquisition, examining five cases related to OpenAI and one concerning Statsig from 2023 through 2025.
This settlement reflects the Justice Department’s intensified focus on enforcing compliance among companies regarding hiring practices. The INA, established in 1952, has previously been enforced by various administrations against notable tech firms. For instance, under the Biden administration, both Facebook and Apple reached similar settlements, with the DOJ alleging that their infractions were extensive and systematic.
