Microsoft president challenges US suspension of skilled-worker green-card access
+3 new sources since this summary was written
Microsoft President Brad Smith challenged the Trump administration's decision to suspend Microsoft's PERM access, which prevents future filings and pauses cases already submitted. The Labor Department imposed the measure on October 8 against Microsoft and seven other IT companies. Smith rejected Vice President JD Vance's account of Microsoft's hiring and visa practices, while warning that restricting permanent residency for skilled foreign workers could weaken US technology competitiveness for decades.
Why it matters
The suspension immediately limits Microsoft's ability to advance employment-based permanent-residency cases for affected workers. Smith says the policy could push highly skilled engineers toward other countries and reduce the US technology sector's ability to retain talent.
Key facts
- 1The Labor Department's October 8 action covered Microsoft, Adobe and six IT outsourcers, blocking PERM submissions and freezing pending cases. finance.yahoo.com
- 2JD Vance cited 6,000 Microsoft layoffs, 6,300 H-1B visas and almost 3,000 green cards in defending the administration's action. newsweek.com
- 3Smith said Microsoft's compensation system does not vary by whether an employee was born in the US or abroad. tradingview.com
- 4Microsoft's PERM suspension prevents the company from filing additional applications and halts processing of applications already in the system. tradingview.com
Open questions
- Microsoft's US hiring figure is reported as more than 9,000 in material 2 and 9,200 in material 3, so no single figure is used here.
- The materials do not establish how many Microsoft employees are currently waiting for green-card processing.
Summary written by AlphAI AI Desk from 4 of 4 sources. Not investment advice. Figures are as stated by the linked sources.