Billionaires Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy may be advising President-elect Donald Trump on federal spending cuts, but they also have some advice for him on the US workforce, urging his next administration to hire more foreign technology workers.
Musk and Ramaswamy’s views have sparked an online debate among Trump supporters about immigration and the tech industry, which relies on the H-1B visa to bring in thousands of foreign engineers and other skilled workers from India, China, and other countries each year.
The tech industry has long advocated for more H-1B visas to attract highly skilled workers to the United States, but Trump’s first administration limited the program in 2020, claiming that it allows businesses to replace Americans with lower-wage foreign workers.
That debate erupted again after Musk, who was previously on an H-1B visa and whose electric vehicle company Tesla has hired workers through the program, defended the tech industry’s need to hire foreign workers.
Ramaswamy, for his part, wrote in an X post that American culture “has venerated mediocrity over excellence,” resulting in a country that does “not produce the best engineers.”
“There is an ongoing shortage of top engineering talent. It is the fundamental limiting factor in Silicon Valley,” Musk wrote on his social media platform, X, on December 25.
Here’s what you should know about the debate and the H-1B visa.
How did the most recent H-1B debate begin?
The debate began this week when Laura Loomer, a right-wing influencer with a history of racist and conspiratorial remarks, criticized Trump’s appointment of Sriram Krishnan as an adviser on artificial intelligence policy in his upcoming administration. Krishnan supports the ability to bring more skilled immigrants into the United States.
Loomer declared the stance to be “not America First policy” and claimed that tech executives who supported Trump were doing so to enrich themselves.
Loomer’s remarks sparked a debate with venture capitalist and former PayPal executive David Sacks, whom Trump has appointed as the “White House A.I. & Crypto Czar.” Musk and Ramaswamy, whom Trump has tasked with finding ways to reduce federal spending, defended the tech industry’s need to hire foreign workers.
It grew into a larger debate, with more hard right figures speaking out about the need to hire American workers, whether American values can produce the best engineers, free speech on the internet, tech figures’ newfound influence in Trump’s world, and what his political movement stands for.
Who qualifies for an H-1B visa?
According to US Citizenship and Immigration Services, the H-1B visa is intended for professionals with a “theoretical and practical application of a body of highly specialized knowledge,” as well as a bachelor’s degree or higher in their field.
Those professionals must also have been offered a temporary job by a U.S. company that pays a wage that is not less than that of similarly qualified workers or less than the prevailing wage for the job in the geographic area where they will be working.
How many workers receive H-1B visas?
The United States limits the number of new H-1B visas to 65,000 per year, with an additional 20,000 available for those with a master’s degree or higher, according to USCIS. The visa is valid for three years and can be extended for another three years.
However, the United States approves H-1B visa extensions each year, with a 2023 report indicating that the agency approved more than 309,000 requests for continued employment under the visa program.
What countries do H-1B recipients come from?
More than seven out of ten H-1B visa recipients are from India, with China accounting for more than one out of ten. The remaining H-1B visa holders come from a variety of countries, including Canada, Korea, the Philippines, Mexico, and Taiwan, according to a USCIS report.
What’s the debate about H-1B visas?
According to technology companies, H-1B visas for skilled workers, which are used by software engineers and others in the tech industry, are critical for hard-to-fill positions.
However, critics claim they undercut U.S. citizens who could take those jobs. Some on the right have called for the program to be eliminated rather than expanded.
Some investigations, including a 2017 report from CBS’ “60 Minutes,” have found that, while many businesses use the visa program as intended, some have used it to replace American workers with less expensive temporary foreign workers.
What does Donald Trump say about H-1B visas?
Trump has not yet commented on the split, and his presidential transition team has not responded to a message seeking comment.
However, Trump’s positions over the years have reflected the divisions within his movement. His tough immigration policies, including his call for mass deportation, were central to his successful presidential campaign.
He has focused on illegal immigrants in the United States, but he has also advocated for restrictions on legal immigration, such as family visas.
As a presidential candidate in 2016, Trump described the H-1B visa program as “very bad” and “unfair” to American workers. After becoming president, Trump issued a “Buy American and Hire American” executive order in 2017, directing Cabinet members to propose changes to ensure H-1B visas were awarded to the highest-paid or most-skilled applicants in order to safeguard American workers.
In 2020, the Trump administration mandated that employers pay H-1B holders higher wages, arguing that this would discourage US companies from outsourcing to cheaper labor abroad.
