Microsoft President Challenges Green Card Suspension

Microsoft President Brad Smith said restrictions on employer-sponsored green cards for skilled foreign workers could weaken the U.S. technology industry and make it harder to attract engineers. He challenged Vice President JD Vance’s account of the company’s layoffs and immigration applications, saying most applications involved current employees rather than new hires. The dispute followed an October 8 announcement that Microsoft and seven other companies were suspended from using PERM, the employer-sponsored process for seeking permanent residency. Officials said the action came as the government investigated alleged fraud. The suspension affects access to that green-card sponsorship route; it does not invalidate existing H-1B visas or, according to the reports, prevent the companies from hiring H-1B workers. At the announcement, Vance said Microsoft had laid off 6,000 American workers while receiving 6,300 H-1B visas and nearly 3,000 green cards in the same period. He characterized the figures as evidence that foreign workers were replacing Americans. The administration’s allegations and figures have not been independently verified in the supplied reporting. Smith called...