- Microsoft said eighty percent sought extensions or status changes among about six thousand H-1B applications filed last fiscal year.
- The company said new employees were already legally in the United States and represented one percent of its U.S. workforce.
- The administration suspended Microsoft and other technology companies from the PERM green-card process amid active federal investigations.
Microsoft said 80% of approximately 6,000 H-1B applications it filed in the last fiscal year sought to extend or change the status of current workers, not bring in new hires. The company released the figure on October 8, 2026, amid a federal action against its use of immigration programs.
The remaining filings, Microsoft said, involved people already legally in the United States who chose to join the company. It said those new employees amounted to 1% of its U.S. workforce. “They are not new arrivals to our country.”
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Microsoft said the figures addressed recent questions from the administration. “These were not to hire new people,” the company said of the filings involving existing staff.
The statement began with the company’s view of its domestic workforce: “We believe in the strength and talent of the American workforce. That is why the vast majority of Microsoft employees in the United States are Americans.”
Microsoft also said it would provide the administration with more information. It said it files petitions only for people who meet the category’s “rigorous standards.”
“We pay our employees some of the highest compensation in the tech sector, and our wages are among the highest of all H-1B filings. We pay our H-1B employees the same as any other employees doing comparable work.”
The company’s response came as the administration moved against its participation in a different immigration process: the Permanent Labor Certification Program, commonly called PERM.
The suspension stops a separate route to employment-based green cards
Vice President JD Vance and Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling announced on October 8, 2026, that Microsoft and other technology companies were suspended from the program. PERM generally lets employers show the U.S. Department of Labor they cannot find qualified American workers before sponsoring foreign employees for employment-based green cards.
Sonderling said the department would stop accepting new applications and halt processing pending permanent-labor-certification applications involving the targeted companies. Adobe was also suspended.
The administration tied the action to what Sonderling described as “multiple active federal investigations.” The suspension concerns labor certifications for permanent residence, while Microsoft’s headline figure covers H-1B applications. The company’s stated breakdown is about those applications, not the PERM filings.
Vance accused Microsoft of laying off 6,000 American workers in the previous year while obtaining 6,300 H-1B visas and nearly 3,000 green cards. He argued that H-1B workers could be vulnerable to losing their status if they lose their jobs, and characterized them as “foreign indentured servants.”
“Our message to Microsoft is: You’re a great American company, but you’ve got to hire great American workers.”
Microsoft announced in July 2026 that it would cut 4,800 jobs, about 2.1% of its global workforce. That announcement is a separate company figure from Vance’s claim about 6,000 American workers laid off in the previous year.
Filing totals differ by visa category and reporting period
Department of Labor data cited in the research showed Microsoft had filed approximately 1,680 petitions for permanent status through the third quarter of fiscal year 2026, which ended September 30, 2026. Those filings concern permanent status, not the approximately 6,000 H-1B applications in the company’s statement.
A separate listing showed Microsoft with 21,706 H-1B petitions for 2026 and a median base salary of $180,710. The fiscal-year application total in Microsoft’s statement and that separate annual listing are reported figures with different descriptions and time frames.
Microsoft was among the largest employers of approved H-1B beneficiaries for fiscal year 2026, alongside Amazon, Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys and Apple. It has also said its pay for H-1B employees matches that of other employees doing comparable work.
The administration’s action extended beyond Microsoft and Adobe. It also covered major information-technology companies including Cognizant, Infosys, Tata, Wipro, HCL and Capgemini.
Microsoft described its hiring approach as a mix of domestic recruitment and international hiring. “We do this by strengthening this country’s talent pipeline, hiring American workers, and attracting the best talent from around the world.”
