By Dan Gooding
Publication Date: 2026-10-15 17:30:00
The Trump administration‘s reasoning for the suspension of the Microsoft’s access to green cards for its H-1B visa holders was “off base,” the company’s president said on Wednesday.
Speaking to Politico in Ireland, Brad Smith denied Vice President JD Vance‘s accusations last week that Microsoft was engaging in widespread fraud through the so-called PERM (program electronic review management) process, because the company laid off thousands of workers while also applying for green cards.
“What was presented, as Microsoft replacing 6,000 people who lost their jobs with 9,000 foreigners, was, frankly, completely off base,” Smith said. “The vast majority of both the visa applications and green card applications were not for new employees but for people who had already been working at Microsoft.”
Smith said many of those seeking green cards had been with Microsoft for many years, but the backlog at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) was so long that it…
