Microsoft Green Card Suspension: A New Clash Over Numbers

Microsoft green card suspension is, at heart, a dispute over arithmetic. On Thursday, Vice President JD Vance said Microsoft laid off 6,000 American workers in the past year while benefiting from 6,300 H-1B visas and nearly 3,000 green cards. (New York Times) Microsoft says most of its roughly 6,000 H-1B filings covered people it already employed. (TechCrunch) The two accounts count different things.

The Labor Department said it would stop accepting new permanent labor certification applications involving eight companies, and stop processing pending ones: Microsoft, Adobe, Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services, Wipro, Cognizant, HCL Technologies and Capgemini. (Reuters, via Investing.com) The administration says the action targets fraud and the loss of American jobs.

What the Government Did, and What It Has Shown

Vance told reporters that Microsoft is “a great American company” that needs to hire American workers. (Reuters) The Times reported he said an investigation had found Microsoft misused the program. Reuters reported that the freeze does not appear to directly affect current H-1B holders. It reaches the step before a green card, not the visa a worker already holds.

Under the Labor Department’s regulation, officials may suspend processing for an employer under investigation for possible fraud. (20 CFR § 656.31) One immigration law firm reads the rule as allowing an initial 180 days, extendable. (Wolfsdorf) A suspension is a pause, not a finding of fraud. Vance said this one will run as long as needed. The Times noted that the administration has not always provided evidence to match its fraud claims. We did not see the Labor Department’s written notices or an appeal route, and no specific Microsoft filing has been identified as false.

Why a Green Card Starts With the Employer

For most employer-sponsored green cards, the first step is a labor certification, known as PERM. The employer must show that hiring the foreign worker will not harm the wages, working conditions or job opportunities of U.S. workers. (Reuters) That includes recruiting in the U.S. market first. (20 CFR § 656.17) Critics argue the recruitment can become a formality when the employer already intends to keep its worker. Defenders say the rules require the test and the department can audit it. Thursday’s announcement settles neither.

USCIS reported roughly 52,700 unique employers registering for the fiscal 2025 H-1B cap lottery. (law-firm summary of USCIS data) That counts lottery registrants, not employers who sponsor green cards. Reuters, citing the Permtrack tracker of Labor Department data, called Microsoft the largest PERM filer.

Two Numbers Behind the Microsoft Green Card Suspension

Vance said that in the past year Microsoft laid off 6,000 American workers while benefiting from 6,300 H-1B visas and nearly 3,000 green cards, according to the New York Times, Axios and Quartz. In Quartz’s account, he called the replacements “foreign indentured servants.” The Times adds that he said the visa holders were paid a fraction of American wages.

Microsoft responded that of roughly 6,000 H-1B applications last fiscal year, 80% were to extend or change the status of existing employees. The rest were for people already legally in the U.S., equal to 1% of its U.S. workforce. “They are not new arrivals to our country,” the company said, adding that its pay is among the highest in tech. (TechCrunch)

Vance’s figure combines layoffs, H-1B visas and green cards. Microsoft’s counts H-1B applications. The government’s action concerns a third thing, PERM. Both sides use 6,000, for different things. We could not establish which twelve months Vance’s figures cover or what the layoffs figure counts, and we found no match between specific layoffs and specific hires. Microsoft’s breakdown is the company’s own.

The People in the Middle of the Microsoft Green Card Suspension

Consider a software engineer on an H-1B visa. The employer files PERM and, once it is certified, an immigration petition called an I-140. The worker waits for a visa number, which for many nationalities takes years, then applies for a green card inside the U.S. or through a consulate abroad.

The suspension stops the first step for these eight employers and, by the Labor Secretary’s description, pending applications too. H-1B status is not canceled. But a case that never advances sits at the start of a line that was already long. Under a provision known as AC21, a pending labor certification or I-140 can support H-1B extensions beyond six years. The reporting we reviewed did not address how the suspension affects that, so affected workers should ask an immigration attorney. No reporting suggests the workers themselves are accused of anything.

Where Washington and Microsoft Disagree

The administration’s position, as reported, is that program abuse is widespread and that companies should not dismiss Americans while sponsoring foreign workers. Rep. Pramila Jayapal, a Democrat and former H-1B holder, said you do not fix a broken system by taking a hammer to legal immigration. (Axios) Microsoft disputes the numbers and offers the administration more information.

Economists, the Times notes, have maintained that visa holders boost American productivity and raise wages. The administration counters that companies hire at lower pay than Americans would earn. Microsoft says its pay is among the highest in tech. None of this has been shown for Microsoft’s filings.