Microsoft president Brad Smith says the US crackdown on work-based immigration risks sending future AI engineers overseas. He also offers figures that complicate the administration’s case against the company’s visa filings, though they are Microsoft’s own account, not independently audited numbers.
Microsoft AI Watch analysis
What happened
In an interview with Politico, Smith called the suspension of Microsoft’s green-card filings, alongside those of seven other technology companies, a threat to the US tech sector. He said about 80% of Microsoft’s roughly 6,000 H-1B filings in the previous fiscal year were to extend or change the status of existing employees. The remaining filings, he said, were for people already legally in the US and represented 1% of Microsoft’s US workforce.
Smith also said Microsoft hired 9,000 US-born workers last year. The Times of India reported his remarks and quoted him warning that restrictions could push the next generation of AI and software engineers to other countries. These are figures and arguments from Microsoft’s president, not an independent breakdown of the company’s workforce.
Why it matters
Immigration rules are also a question about where AI companies can recruit and build. Smith’s account suggests that many of Microsoft’s filings concern workers already on its payroll, rather than a sudden wave of new arrivals. If accurate, that matters to a debate often framed as a choice between overseas recruitment and domestic jobs.
The figures do not settle that debate: they come from the company facing the restrictions. But they make the policy’s practical stakes clearer, including whether the US can keep attracting the people who build its technology.
Our read
This is a useful, specific counterargument to a broad crackdown: Microsoft says most of its filings are about retaining existing staff, and that its new hires on these filings were already in the country. Treat that as the company’s case, not the final word. Immigration policy and AI talent are now sharing a very crowded table.
What to watch
- Whether the administration responds to Microsoft’s breakdown of its filings.
- Whether the suspension is lifted, extended or applied to more technology employers.
- Whether affected companies report hiring or retention changes tied to the restrictions.
Discussion spark: If most of Microsoft’s cited visa filings were for existing employees, should that change how the US restricts work-based immigration at technology firms?
Sources and evidence
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