Microsoft President Rebuts Vance on PERM Suspension

What Happened

Microsoft President Brad Smith gave his first extended interview since the Department of Labor suspended Microsoft and seven other employers from the PERM labor certification program on October 8. The interview, given on the sidelines of the International AI Summit in Dublin, was published on October 15 by [Politico's Decoded](https://www.politico.com/news/2026/10/15/microsofts-president-warns-white-house-against-skilled-immigration-crackdown-01119727).

Smith rejected Vice President JD Vance's allegations that Microsoft misused the H-1B program to hire foreign workers at lower salaries, calling them "completely off base." "Someone had failed to inform the vice president accurately about our numbers," Smith said, adding that the "vast majority" of Microsoft's green-card applications are for long-time employees rather than new hires. "Unfortunately, it's just because the green card backlog is so long," he said.

Smith also disputed claims that Microsoft pays foreign-born workers less than Americans: "It doesn't matter whether you came on a visa or you're an American worker, everybody has the same compensation system." He said Microsoft hired more than 9,000 U.S.-born workers last year, a figure he said had been "left out of the narrative," and stated: "We will stand by our record. And I hope that folks at the White House might look again and look at what we think is a more accurate picture."

Looking past Microsoft's own case, Smith warned against "sending — intentionally or inadvertently or otherwise — signals that send the most talented next wave of AI [or] software engineers to other countries, rather than the United States." [Reuters reported](https://www.reuters.com/world/us/microsoft-president-warns-green-card-curbs-could-hurt-us-tech-politico-reports-2026-10-15/) that Smith said blocking permanent residency for skilled immigrants could "cripple" the U.S. tech sector for more than a generation.

Smith noted the timing of the suspension: it was announced the same day President Donald Trump presented Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella — a former H-1B visa holder from India — with the National Medal of Technology and Innovation. Smith observed that five of the six Americans Trump honored with technology and science medals had come to the United States as immigrants, and that together with their companies they account for more than 25% of the total market value of the S&P 500, [according to the interview](https://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/us-news/microsoft-president-brad-smith-warns-trump-s-h-1b-green-card-crackdown-could-drive-tech-talent-out-of-us-101792138115610.html).

Who's Affected

The underlying suspension remains in force. On October 8, Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling announced that DOL will not accept new or process pending PERM applications involving Cognizant, Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services, Wipro, HCL Technologies, Capgemini, Microsoft, and Adobe — the front end of the employer-sponsored EB-2 and EB-3 green card pipeline. Smith's interview does not lift or narrow that freeze.

For beneficiaries of PERM cases at the eight named employers — a workforce heavily weighted toward Indian and Chinese nationals already facing multi-year EB-2 and EB-3 backlogs — the practical situation is unchanged: new filings are blocked and pending applications are frozen while federal investigations proceed.

The public dispute matters beyond Microsoft. The administration's figures and Microsoft's rebuttal are now part of the record surrounding the suspension, and how DOL documents the action will shape both litigation risk and future expansion of the enforcement campaign to other employers.

What Attorneys Should Know

First, the suspension still lacks a published written notice. As of October 13, no written Labor Department notice setting out the scope or length of the suspension had been published, according to immigration lawyers cited in press coverage. Counsel for affected employers and beneficiaries should keep requesting the written basis and scope, and monitor DOL and court filings for the documenting notice.

Second, separate the rhetoric from the regulation. Smith's interview is a public-relations and fact dispute; the operative rule remains 20 C.F.R. § 656.31(b), which allows DOL to suspend PERM processing for up to 180 days during an investigation into fraud or willful misrepresentation, with extensions available while the investigation or a judicial proceeding remains unresolved. None of the eight companies has been charged.

Third, track the competing factual claims. The administration has cited roughly 3,682 Microsoft PERM applications and accused the company of laying off 6,000 American workers while benefiting from 6,300 H-1B visas and nearly 3,000 green cards. Microsoft has said that of about 6,000 H-1B applications it filed in the last fiscal year, 80% were to extend or change the status of existing employees, and that it pays H-1B employees the same as other employees doing comparable work. Neither set of figures has been independently adjudicated.

Fourth, watch for widening. The PERM suspension list grew from Cognizant alone in September to eight companies in October, and Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling tied the Microsoft and Adobe suspensions to multiple active federal investigations. Employers outside the named eight should assess their own PERM and H-1B compliance posture now rather than after a suspension notice arrives.

What Applicants Should Do

• Don't read the interview as a legal development — the freeze stands until DOL formally lifts it, and no resume date has been announced for pending PERM cases at the eight employers.
• If your PERM is pending with one of the named employers, expect no movement while the investigation proceeds; a pending case is on hold, not denied.
• If your PERM was already certified, the I-140 stage at USCIS is not blocked by the suspension — file while your priority date and the visa bulletin allow.
• Ask your attorney about self-petition alternatives that bypass PERM entirely, such as EB-1A or EB-2 NIW, if your record supports them.
• If considering an employer change, evaluate the new sponsor's PERM posture and enforcement exposure before committing — the eight-employer freeze shows how quickly employer-side risk can stall a green card track.
• Document your case timeline and keep records of your compensation and role; in a public dispute over employer practices, individual documentation supports any future filing or response.

The Bigger Picture

The Smith interview is the sharpest public pushback yet in the administration's skilled-immigration enforcement campaign, which has included DOL-OIG's Project Firewall, the Cognizant suspension in September, the eight-employer action in October, and DOJ activity on recruitment practices. It also comes amid separate litigation over the $100,000 H-1B fee proclamation, which a federal judge struck down again on October 1.

For employment-based immigration practice, the signal is that the PERM enforcement wave is now contested on two fronts — in the courts and in public — and that the factual record each side builds will matter if the suspensions are challenged or extended. None of the eight suspended employers has been charged, and no end date for the freeze has been announced.