Tech billionaire Elon Musk has said that the US has been an “immense beneficiary of talent from India.” He added that while some US-based tech companies have “gamed” H-1B visas, that shouldn’t be a reason to entirely shut down the programme.
Musk was speaking on businessman Nikhil Kamath’s People by WTF podcast episode that aired on December 1.
Asked about H-1B visas and rising anti-immigration sentiments in the US, Musk noted that some on the US right wing believe the programme is taking away jobs from “talented” Americans.
“I don’t know how real that is. My direct observation is that there's always a scarcity of talented people. So, from my standpoint, I'm like, ‘We have a lot of difficulty finding enough talented people to get these difficult tasks done. And so more talented people would be good (sic)’,” Musk said.
He added that some US companies hire Indians on the H-1B visa so that they can “employ someone for a fraction of the cost of an American citizen.”
Musk further said, “That's not my experience. But that’s what a lot of people complain about. And I think there’s been some misuse of the H-1B programme. At my companies, we are just trying to get the most talented people in the world. And we pay way above average.”
He also said, “Some of the outsourcing companies have kind of gamed the system ... And we need to stop the gaming of the system. But I'm certainly not in the school of thought that we should shut down the H-1B programme.”
Musk added that the US right wing’s push for such a move would have a negative impact.
He went on to claim that immigration had been “a total free-for-all” during Joe Biden’s presidency and that there had been no border control.
“Unless you’ve got border controls, you’re not a country. So you had massive amounts of illegal immigration under Biden. You have to have border controls. That's kind of ridiculous not to,” Musk further claimed.
He also claimed that the US Left wants to have open borders and allow even people with criminal records into the country.
The H-1B visa, issued to ‘skilled’ workers, has been the centre of controversy after Donald Trump won the presidential elections in November 2024.
The visa programme caused a major divide in the Make America Great Again (MAGA) base in January. A section of them believed support for the programme goes against Trump’s nativist, white nationalist rhetoric, while others, like Musk, insisted the H-1B visa brings in “talent”.
In September, the Trump administration raised the H-1B visa fee to USD 100,000 for all new applicants.
However, in November, Trump appeared to do a u-turn. Speaking to Fox News host Laura Ingraham regarding the visa programme, Trump said, “We also do have to bring in talent.”
When Ingraham attempted to counter him, saying, “we have plenty of talent,” Trump replied, “No. No, you don’t. You don’t have certain talents and people have to learn.”
His remarks led to an uproar among Republicans.
