US suspends Microsoft from green-card program hours before Trump awards Satya Nadella

United States President Donald Trump honored six tech leaders on Thursday, including Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella, just hours after Vice-President JD Vance announced that Microsoft was suspended from a program that lets firms apply for green cards for skilled foreign workers. Vance accused the company of misusing the visa system and stated that Microsoft laid off 6,000 American workers last year while receiving 6,300 H-1B visas and nearly 3,000 green cards. Five of the six tech leaders honored by Trump were born outside the US.

Company Response

Based in Redmond, Washington, Microsoft employs 223,000 people globally. In an official statement, the company explained that most of its H-1B applications last fiscal year were used to extend or change the status of people already working for the firm. When asked about the timing of the suspension and the medal ceremony, Vance maintained that the administration keeps a good relationship with Microsoft and will continue to support the company.

Awards and Honorees

Trump awarded the National Medal of Technology and Innovation to Nadella and Dell Technologies chief executive Michael Dell. The National Medal of Science went to Elon Musk of SpaceX, Google co-founder Sergey Brin, Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang, and AMD chief executive Lisa Su. Trump praised the group as national treasures during the summit on science. White House spokesperson Liz Huston stated that the winners help the US maintain its lead in innovation.

Context

Programs like the PERM green-card system and H-1B visas are central to how major US technology companies recruit and retain specialized international talent. Tensions around high-skilled immigration often highlight a wider political debate over domestic job protection versus the tech industry's reliance on global recruitment.