Trump honours tech leaders as Vance suspends Microsoft visa programme

Hours before Donald Trump honoured Satya Nadella, JD Vance suspended Microsoft's green card programme for H-1B workers. The split-screen moment exposed the administration's clash between celebrating immigrant-led innovation and tightening skilled immigration.Washington,Oct 8, 2026 23:36 ISTUS President Donald Trump was set to honour some of the biggest names in technology, including Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, at a White House ceremony on Thursday. Hours before the event, however, Vice President JD Vance announced that Microsoft was being suspended from a programme that lets companies apply for green cards for skilled foreign workers holding H-1B visas.The move put the spotlight on a wider tension in the administration: its public praise for the business leaders driving growth in artificial intelligence and technology, alongside its push to cut immigration in the name of protecting American jobs. Vance said the action against Microsoft was taken as part of his work leading a fraud task force.At a news conference, Vance said, "Our message to Microsoft is: You're a great American company, but you've got to hire great American workers." He added that the company had misused the visa system, saying, "You cannot lay off American workers and then replace them with foreign indentured servants."Vance said Microsoft laid off 6,000 US workers last year, while also obtaining 6,300 H-1B visas and nearly 3,000 green cards. Microsoft, which is based in Redmond, Washington, has 223,000 employees worldwide. The company has not commented on the allegations. Of the six technology leaders due to receive awards from Trump, five are immigrants. Trump was to present the National Medal of Science to SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, Google co-founder Sergey Brin, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and Advanced Micro Devices CEO Lisa Su. Musk was born in South Africa, Brin in Russia, and Huang and Su in Taiwan.Trump was also to present the National Medal of Technology and Innovation to Nadella and Dell Technologies CEO Michael Dell, who has backed the government's child investment scheme known as Trump Accounts. Dell was born in Texas, while Nadella immigrated from India. The awards are part of a summit celebrating what Trump has called a new "golden age" of science. He has repeatedly praised these entrepreneurs for speeding up the development of artificial intelligence, which he calls "super intelligence". Trump has increasingly relied on the technology to support his economic agenda and has argued that the US must lead its development, while opposing restrictions he believes could slow growth.Past winners of the National Medal of Science, established in 1959, have mostly been academics and research scientists rather than business leaders. The ceremony for the technology executives also comes in the same week as the separate announcement of Nobel Prize winners.The honourees have been frequent visitors to the White House in recent weeks. Musk, Huang and Su were at the head table with Trump during the state dinner for Chinese President Xi Jinping. Brin, Nadella and Dell were also present, and Dell met Trump in the Oval Office on Wednesday to discuss Trump Accounts. Last week, Huang and Musk were among the technology leaders who came to the White House to sign a voluntary agreement on AI development after recent models raised national security and safety concerns.With the November midterm elections less than a month away, Trump has also tried to show voters that investment in AI data centres and computer equipment has helped lift the stock market to record highs, increasing the wealth of richer Americans. But that message has not always connected. Polls show concern across party lines that AI is moving too quickly, while high prices for essentials such as petrol and groceries are hurting the economic mood.Vance also said several universities, including Stanford and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, should be investigated for visa fraud. Huang and Brin studied at Stanford, while Su holds multiple degrees from MIT. Even as Vance targeted Microsoft and called for broader scrutiny, the White House defended Thursday's honourees. "These recipients are helping ensure America keeps leading the world in innovation," spokesperson Liz Huston said.The day therefore brought together two sharply different messages from the administration: public recognition for technology leaders, many of them immigrants, and a fresh crackdown on the visa system that helped some of their companies build their workforces.With PTI Inputs- Ends