Trump awards Microsoft CEO as VP suspends firm's foreign worker visas

US President Donald Trump has celebrated tech billionaires for their contributions

to America on Thursday with the National Medal of Technology and Innovation,

honouring six individuals, including SpaceX's Elon Musk, Nvidia's Jensen Huang

and Microsoft's Satya Nadella.

But just hours before the ceremony, Vice President JD Vance suspended

Microsoft from a skilled foreign worker visa programme.

US President Donald Trump touted Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella's

contributions while honouring him and five others

at the National Medal of Technology and Innovation.

Ironically, this happened just hours after Vice President JD Vance

had accused Nadella's company of abusing the foreign

worker programme and had suspended Microsoft

from applying for H-1B visas.

This while Trump had said in the past

it was possible to spot the "superstar immigrants" from the

general application pool of "unexceptional foreign workers" that

harms the American workforce.

Of the six individuals who received the award, five of them were born

overseas alondside Nadella- South Africa for Musk, Russia for Google's Sergey Brin and

Taiwan for Nvidia's Jensen Huang and Advanced Micro Devices' Lisa Su.

The president also praised Musk during the programme, calling the

SpaceX founder "a national treasure"

and "a modern day Thomas Edison."

Microsoft said in a statement that the majority of its H-1B visa

applications last fiscal year were "to extend or change the status

of existing Microsoft employees."