Meet Anupama Nadella, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella’s wife for whom he gave up his Green Card

Satya Nadella has been married to Anupama Nadella since 1992. Anupama Nadella prefers to keep a low profile and rarely features in the news despite being married to a powerful business figure. However, their love story is one of a kind as incidents in the past have revealed. Microsoft CEO Nadella once gave up his Green Card in the US for his love. 

Anupama, who is also known as Anu, was born in India like Satya Nadella. Their fathers were reportedly IAS batchmates. The couple had three children, two daughters and a son. Both Satya and Anupama Nadella like to keep their private life away from the public eye.

Who is Anupama Nadella?

She is reported to be around 49 years old and born in New Delhi in 1973. As reported by some websites, Anupama pursued education in Hyderabad and she studied architecture from Manipal University. Her father, KR Venugopal, was an IAS officer who had worked under former Indian Prime Minister PV Narsimha Rao. She is a homemaker and reportedly gave up her professional career to dedicate herself to bringing up the children.

Anupama and Satya Nadell suffered a setback with the death of their 26-year-old son Zain in 2022, who had cerebral policy. Both have been open about the challenges faced and how they supported each other in bringing up a specially-abled child. Anupama is also closely associated with Seattle Children's Hospital, doing her bit to improve children’s health.

She reportedly donated Rs 2 crore to aid the livelihood of farmers and women in Andhra Pradesh’s Anantapur district. She also reportedly donated Rs 2 crore to the PM relief fund in India during the Covid-19 outbreak. The couple co-own the Seattle Sounders football club of the US Major League soccer.

Satya and Anu Nadella’s complicated yet romantic immigration story

The two had an immigration story to remember. It has been called “complicated” as well as “romantic”. At the time of their marriage, Satya Nadella had already immigrated to the US and was a permanent resident. However, Anupama still used to live in India.

Despite Satya being a green card holder, his wife’s visa application was rejected by the US immigration authorities due to a long wait list for clearance of spouses of green card holders. She could only be in the US for a short time with a tourist visa.

In order to ensure that Anupama is able to get through the immigration complexities, Satya gave up his green card and got himself a H-1B visa instead. While this meant he became a temporary worker again, there was no wait needed for his spouse.

Satya Nadella has openly spoken about the support he gets from his family and their importance in his life. He has revealed in his book ‘Hit Refresh’ that Anupama keeps him grounded and connected to his roots. The Microsoft CEO has called wife Anupama Nadella his best friend and confidant in interviews, giving her credit of helping him emerge as the global business leader he is today.

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