US President Donald Trump on 9 October 2026 awarded Indian-origin Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella the National Medal of Technology and Innovation at the New Golden Age Summit in Washington, even as Vice President JD Vance announced the same day that Microsoft had been barred from sponsoring foreign workers for permanent residency — a contradiction that a reporter raised directly at Vance's press conference.

Trump's tribute to Nadella

Speaking at the summit, where six prominent technology leaders received the National Medal of Science or the National Medal of Technology and Innovation, Trump credited Nadella with reshaping the company over more than three decades. “For more than three decades, Satya Nadella has been a key figure in the transformation of Microsoft, revolutionizing the company and empowering businesses, students, and consumers from all over the world with some of the most capable software ever built or ever even conceived,” Trump said. He specifically highlighted Nadella's role in building Microsoft's cloud computing business and positioning the company as an early leader in superintelligence.

Nadella, who was born in Hyderabad and became Microsoft's chief executive in 2014, responded on X: “Thank you, @POTUS, for this incredible honor today. I’m humbled to stand alongside so many giants of American innovation and looking forward for what we can continue to do together to advance technology and drive American prosperity.”

Vance's enforcement announcement

Hours before the ceremony, Vance accused Microsoft of laying off 6,000 American workers while benefiting from 6,300 H-1B visa approvals and nearly 3,000 green cards. He argued that companies were using foreign workers to undercut American wages. When a reporter asked Vance to explain the apparent contradiction, he defended the distinction between honouring Microsoft's achievements and scrutinising its employment practices.

“Microsoft is a great American company and we have a great relationship with them,” Vance said. “We’re going to continue to support Microsoft and have a great relationship with Microsoft, but we’re also going to deny them the ability to apply for these permanent residences until they show that they’re going to get serious about putting American workers first,” he added.

It is worth noting that the figures cited by Vance were presented as allegations. The publicly available transcript did not establish that the workers laid off by Microsoft were directly replaced by individual H-1B employees.

PERM suspensions and Indian IT companies

Labour Secretary Keith Sonderling announced that the Department of Labour was suspending Microsoft and Adobe from the Permanent Labour Certification (PERM) programme, citing ongoing federal investigations. Six major IT services companies were also named: Cognizant, Infosys, Tata, Wipro, HCL, and Capgemini.

“We will not accept any new or process any pending permanent labor certification applications involving these companies,” Sonderling said. The PERM programme is a critical step in employment-based green card applications. The suspension affects new and pending labour certification applications but does not, by itself, cancel existing H-1B visas or revoke permanent residency already granted. Notably, several of the named companies have substantial operations in India and employ large numbers of technology professionals in the United States.

The 'exceptional talent' question

Vance drew a distinction between what he called truly elite foreign talent — citing Elon Musk and AMD CEO Lisa Su as examples — and the routine use of foreign workers to replace Americans at lower wages. Both Musk and Su were among the technology leaders honoured by Trump at the summit.

A reporter challenged Vance on how the government could identify the next Elon Musk, given that successful entrepreneurs rarely arrive with established records of achievement. Vance said the administration would examine whether an applicant possessed skills unavailable among American workers and whether they brought exceptional abilities. “We want a lot of other people to come into the United States of America if they have truly elite specialized skills,” he said. Critics argue that such a standard is difficult to operationalise objectively, particularly for younger engineers and researchers whose accomplishments are still years away.

University investigations and Trump's technology targets

At the same press conference, administration officials announced investigations into the use of J-1 visas at nine prominent American universities, including Harvard, Yale, Stanford, MIT, and Caltech, alleging that some institutions were using foreign researchers in ways that disadvantaged American workers. Those allegations remain subject to investigation.

At the summit, Trump announced a target of developing a quantum computer for scientific discovery by 2028 and highlighted the Genesis Mission and the White House Accord on Superintelligence — ambitions that observers note depend heavily on the very specialised international talent the administration is now restricting.

For Indian professionals, who have historically formed the largest group of H-1B beneficiaries, the PERM suspensions could introduce significant uncertainty over long-term career pathways in the United States — even as Nadella's own trajectory from Hyderabad to the helm of Microsoft continues to be celebrated as an emblem of American technological leadership.