H-1B visa system 'broken', in need of 'major reform', says Elon Musk

Days after pledging to “go to war” in defence of the H-1B visa programme, tech billionaire Elon Musk has turned his sights on the system itself, labelling it “broken” and in need of “major reform.” The entrepreneur, who emigrated from South Africa to the US on an H-1B visa, suggested overhauling the scheme by significantly raising the minimum salary for visa holders and imposing an annual fee to maintain the visa.  

Responding to a post on X, the social media platform he owns, Musk argued that the system could be “easily fixed by raising the minimum salary significantly and adding a yearly cost for maintaining the H-1B, making it materially more expensive to hire from overseas than domestically”. 

 

The remarks come amid a growing debate over the future of the H-1B visa, a programme that allows US companies to employ highly skilled foreign workers in specialised fields such as technology and engineering. Technology firms have long depended on the visas to hire thousands of employees from countries, including India and China.  

According to data from the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), Indian nationals were granted 72.3 per cent of all H-1B visas issued in 2023, highlighting the programme’s importance to workers from South Asia. In total, 755,020 

people were admitted to the US on H-1B status last year, according to the Office of Homeland Security Statistics.  

In a surprising intervention over the weekend, US President-elect Donald Trump voiced support for the programme, further exposing divisions within the Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement. “I’ve always liked the visas,” Trump told the New York Post. “It’s a great programme. That’s why we have them.”  

The comment marks a departure from Trump’s previous administration, which sought to curtail the H1B scheme in 2020, citing concerns that it was being used to replace American workers with cheaper foreign labour. It also underscores Trump’s reliance on skilled immigrant labour during his career as a businessman, particularly in his hotel and real estate ventures.   

The apparent shift has deepened ideological rifts within Trump’s base, pitting economic pragmatism against the hardline nationalism espoused by many in the MAGA camp. 

The latest controversy over H-1B visas spread after Musk, in an earlier post of X, defended the programme, stating: “The reason I’m in America along with so many critical people who built SpaceX, Tesla, and hundreds of other companies that made America strong is because of H1B.”  

Musk, who has been tapped alongside Indian-American tech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy to lead Trump’s newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), reiterated last week that foreign workers are essential for tech giants like SpaceX and Tesla. The tech industry as a whole has called for an expansion of the H1B programme, arguing it is critical to maintaining the US’ competitive edge in innovation.  

All this started when Right-wing influencer Laura Loomer criticised Trump’s appointment of Indian-American entrepreneur Sriram Krishnan as an adviser on artificial intelligence policy. Krishnan, a proponent of expanding skilled immigration, has been viewed by some on the Far-Right as emblematic of Silicon Valley’s influence on Trump’s administration. Loomer dismissed the stance as “not America First policy,” accusing tech executives of self-enrichment at the expense of American workers.  

The debate has drawn broader cultural tensions into the fray. Ramaswamy himself weighed in, blaming American society for fostering mediocrity over merit. In another post on X, he said: “The reason top tech companies often hire foreign-born & first-generation engineers over ‘native’ Americans isn’t because of an innate American IQ deficit (a lazy & wrong explanation). A key part of it comes down to the c-word: Culture.” 

Ramaswamy’s comments prompted a rebuke from Nikki Haley, Trump’s former rival in the Republican primary. “There is nothing wrong with American workers or American culture,” Haley countered.  

“All you have to do is look at the border and see how many want what we have. We should be investing and prioritising in Americans, not foreign workers.”