Microsoft president: green card restrictions harm American tech sector

Full text

Brad Smith hits back at Trump administration's decision to target Microsoft

Five out of six tech/science medal holders were born outside of the US

"We should all be worried," Smith says

Microsoft President Brad Smith has warned that new restrictions under the Trump administration could severely damage America's technology industry by limiting its access to skilled migrants.

Speaking with Politico , Smith criticized the administration's decision to restrict Microsoft's ability to sponsor skilled foreign employees for permanent US residency under the green card scheme.

By discouraging workers from moving to America, Smith worries that they could be incentivized to move to other countries, both losing America access to skilled professionals while simultaneously boosting other countries' access.

Smith hits back at Trump administration to limit green card

Microsoft's President's comments come in a response to US Vice President JD Vance's October 8 2026 memo declaring that Microsoft and seven other companies would be suspended from sponsoring foreign workers for permanent residency.

"Our message to Microsoft is, you’re a great American company, but you’ve got to hire great American workers," Vance said (via The Guardian ). "You cannot lay off American workers and then replace them with foreign indentured servants."

Adobe, Cognizant, Infosys, Capgemini, Tata, Wipro and HCL are also impacted by the changes.

"I think we should all be worried about sending – intentionally or inadvertently or otherwise – signals that send the most talented next wave of AI [or] SI software engineers to other countries, rather than the United States," Smith said.

Smith also criticized the Trump administration for failing to get the numbers right about its green card applications, calling Vance's comments "completely off base" and slating the government because "the green card backlog is so long."

"We should consider the fact that when the president honored six Americans with these technology and science medals, five of the six had come to the United States as immigrants," he added.

The next steps continue to play out, but legal challenges and international worker uncertainty could both be on the cards.