Microsoft President Brad Smith has warned that limiting green card sponsorship for highly skilled foreign workers may damage the US tech sector and drive out highly skilled talent to rival nations. His remarks follow a simmering row between the US government and tech giants over immigration issues and the employment of foreign talent.
The dispute involves the US government freezing the access of Microsoft to a major employment-based immigration scheme. The government has also frozen Adobe and six other tech and IT services companies from filing new petitions or processing some existing ones under what is known as the permanent labour certification scheme (PERM).
IS PERM NECESSARY? As a prerequisite to many employment-based green card applications, PERM is a fairly routine process by which employers aim to prove that an adequately qualified US worker is not available for employment and that employing a foreign worker will not adversely impact the wages or working conditions of other also employed US workers.
The suspension does not reset every work visa or green card already in hand to all existing employees of the companies involved. Rather, it closes off an important pathway by which an employer can sponsor qualified foreign professionals for permanent residence.
The administration has justified the move as protecting jobs for American workers and preventing the abuse of immigration programmes.
Smith denied the claim that Microsoft systematically pays foreign employees more than American workers. “What we do is we pay people under the same system when they’re doing the same type of work, regardless of their immigration status, ” he said.
Microsoft employed over 9,000 U.S. workers in the last year alone, Smith said in a statement provided by a Microsoft spokesman and reported by Reuters. “This contribution has been lost in the midst of the debate over immigration, ” Smith added.
Microsoft has also previously indicated that nearly 80 percent of its H-1B filings during that period were for extensions or change of status applications for current employees instead of applicants for new hires.
The company maintains that its visa filings comply with the relevant legal requirements and that it pays competitive salaries to foreign professionals. The government meanwhile has argued that tighter oversight is necessary to prevent immigration programmes from being used to undercut domestic workers.
White House, Microsoft did not promptly respond to Reuters requests for comment about Smith’s new comment.
The writer’s main point is that limiting the number of permanent residents will damage the US’s ability to attract talented workers. Technology companies rely on AI, cloud computing, cyber security, chip design, software engineering and other specialists.
For some foreign workers, a green card offers a better long term prospects than a temporary work visa. A green card allows for more employment opportunities and generally less instability than employers having to file for visa renewal or the employee to constantly change jobs.
Some talented individuals who view the United States as an uncertain destination may opt instead for countries with more transparent immigration processes. Countries like Canada, the UK and certain European economies have attempted to draw global talent by introducing their own skilled-worker schemes.
