Brad Smith, who serves as president of Microsoft, told lawmakers that tighter federal limits on skilled-worker visas and pathways to permanent residency carry a real risk of drawing talented professionals away from the United States toward other technology hubs abroad.
That notification arrived in the wake of a policy move barring Microsoft and seven other companies from putting forward overseas employees for permanent residency sponsorship. During an interview at the International AI Summit in Dublin, Smith contested assertions made by Vice President JD Vance that Microsoft had used the H-1B visa programme to hire workers from abroad at artificially low pay.
Smith raised the prospect that stricter immigration measures could diminish the country's draw for engineers and AI specialists, telling a broadcast outlet that policymakers ought to be attentive to any signals — deliberate or otherwise — that push the next generation of top AI and software engineering talent toward other destinations rather than the United States.
The remarks followed by fewer than seven days a policy move by Vance that barred Microsoft and seven other technology firms from sponsoring green card applications on behalf of skilled workers from abroad. Vance argued that Microsoft relies on the H-1B visa programme to source workers from abroad rather than offering the higher pay that domestic candidates would require.
In a written statement, Smith characterised the allegations as having no factual basis, contending that the Vice President had been provided with inaccurate data concerning Microsoft's hiring practices and immigration documentation. The green card filings in question, he argued, overwhelmingly covered staff who had built careers at Microsoft over a number of years, not workers brought in from abroad through fresh recruitment.
Smith noted that the volume of applications largely traced back to how drawn-out the US permanent residency queue had become, adding that the extended wait times built into the green card system were driving the pattern. Denials also extended to claims that Microsoft paid workers differently based on immigration status, with a company spokesperson asserting that a single, uniform pay structure governed all employees regardless of where they were born.
Pointing to a workforce addition of more than 9,000 domestically born employees over the preceding twelve months, Smith argued that this hiring record had been left out of the administration's calculations when it raised its objections. He called on White House officials to review the relevant employment figures before reaching any further judgements, expressing confidence that the company's own history on the matter would bear scrutiny.
During a public address, Smith drew attention to the ways immigrant communities have contributed to advances in both technological output and the broader national economy. Of the six recipients who received science and technology medals from President Donald Trump, five had moved to the United States from other countries, according to the statement.
Smith noted that those individuals and their firms together accounted for over a quarter of the S&P 500's total market capitalisation, and he argued against placing that position at risk, adding that curbs on skilled immigration had the potential to erode the economic value that immigrant entrepreneurs and technology leaders bring. He raised the concern that professionals in fields such as artificial intelligence may be less inclined to settle permanently in the country if their long-term residency prospects remain undefined.
Friction between the administration's push to tighten rules governing employment-based immigration and the technology sector's demand for workers with specialised skills has brought the two sides into open conflict. Smith voiced support for certain AI-related measures — export restrictions placed on Anthropic's latest models among them — even as he pushed back against the administration's handling of skilled immigration, a stance that points to Microsoft's readiness to align with particular White House technology priorities while taking a different position on immigration policy.
