Topline
The H1-B visas given out to specialized employees—particularly in science and engineering jobs—are dividing President-elect Donald Trump’s circle of allies ahead of his second administration, as tech billionaires like Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy are being criticized by others on the right for defending the immigration policy.
Key Facts
H1-B visas are short-term visas given out to foreign workers hired for U.S. jobs that require “highly specialized knowledge,” which have gained the most attention for being heavily used by tech companies hiring for engineers and other similar jobs—though U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services notes it also applies in fields like architecture, medicine, education, business, law, theology and the arts.
Support for the visa program has typically fallen along partisan lines, with Trump temporarily suspending the visa program during his first term, while President Joe Biden’s administration issued a new rule in December that enhances the H1-B visa program by making the approvals process more streamlined and giving employers more flexibility in hiring workers.
Trump has courted tech leaders for his second administration whose companies are reliant on the visas, however, which has led to a divide between the Trump-aligned tech figures and other Trump allies.
That feud was spurred by Trump hiring venture capitalist Sriram Krishnan as a senior policy adviser for artificial intelligence, Politico notes, after Krishnan advocated for getting rid of country caps for green cards and skilled immigration, like through H1-B visas.
Trump allies criticized Krishnan—with far-right activist Laura Loomer calling his appointment “deeply disturbing”—which led Musk and other tech leaders to advocate for H1-B visas, with Musk claiming “there is a dire shortage of extremely talented and motivated engineers in America” that makes using foreign workers necessary.
Other Trump allies have opposed H1-B visas and the tech leaders’ comments in response, with right-wing commentator Mike Cernovich saying Big Tech is responsible for the rise in foreign workers and “now they want more H1-B’s for their self-inflicted wound,” while Loomer said, “Allowing big tech executives into Mar a Lago is going to be the death of our country. Isn’t it?”
What Have Tech Leaders Said About H1-B Visas?
In addition to Musk—who likened using H1-Bs for “the top ~0.1% of engineering talent” to the NBA recruiting foreign players to “help your whole team (which is mostly Americans!) win the NBA”—the visa program has also been supported by Ramaswamy, who claimed on X, formerly known as Twitter, that recruiting foreign workers is necessary because America “has venerated mediocrity over excellence for way too long.” “A culture that venerates Cory from ‘Boy Meets World,’ or Zach & Slater over Screech in ‘Saved by the Bell,’ or ‘Stefan’ over Steve Urkel in ‘Family Matters,’ will not produce the best engineers,” Ramaswamy, who is set to lead Trump’s new “Department of Government Efficiency” with Musk, wrote. “More movies like Whiplash, fewer reruns of ‘Friends.’” Venture capitalist David Sacks, whom Trump appointed as his new AI “czar”—and is himself from South Africa, like Musk—has also expressed support for Krishnan and H1-B visas, reposting tweets in favor of Krishnan and denouncing “a baseless witch hunt against a highly qualified American for a role as A.I. adviser.” “Number of illegal aliens/year: 3+ million. Number of employment visas/year: 140k. As a start, maybe we should focus on the 95% where we all agree,” Sacks posted on X Wednesday.
What Will Happen To H1-B Visas In Trump’s Second Term?
It’s ultimately unclear what will happen to H1-B visas during Trump’s second term. The president-elect has not yet weighed in on the debate over the immigration program, and it’s uncertain if he would follow his first term by restricting the visas, or if advisers like Musk and Ramaswamy will convince him to leave the program in place. Trump has suggested his main priority in office will be cracking down on undocumented immigrants—whom he has vowed to deport en masse—though the president-elect has also taken aim at some legal migration routes, like family-based visas.
Big Number
65,000. That’s the number of H1-B visas that are issued each fiscal year, with an additional 20,000 visas given out to workers who have masters degrees or higher from a U.S. university. More than 700,000 people held H1-B visas—which are valid for three years but can then be extended for up to six years—in 2023, according to the American Immigration Council.
Key Background
Silicon Valley has become an increasing presence in Trump’s inner circle ahead of his second administration, as more and more tech leaders are aligning themselves with the president-elect. Musk became one of Trump’s biggest cheerleaders and financial backers ahead of the election, and was rewarded with Trump naming him to co-lead the “Department of Government Efficiency” with Ramaswamy. Trump is also being advised by tech leaders including Oracle CEO Larry Ellison and billionaire Marc Andreessen, according to The New York Times, and has named tech figures to major roles in his administration. Silicon Valley’s courting of Trump could pay off for them, as Musk’s companies are under numerous government investigations that could disappear under a second Trump administration, and his company and other tech firms backing Trump stand to get lucrative government contracts. Trump has also been swayed by major donors on high-profile tech issues, like supporting cryptocurrency and opposing the ban on TikTok. Billionaires in the tech industry who weren’t previously aligned with Trump have also appeared to try and ingratiate themselves with the president-elect in the wake of his electoral win, with leaders including Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos dining with Trump at Mar-a-Lago in recent weeks. Musk’s support for H1-B visas comes as the billionaire has drawn increasing scrutiny for his influence on Trump and U.S. policy, sitting in on meetings between Trump and world leaders and becoming a mainstay at Mar-a-Lago in the wake of Trump’s election. The Tesla CEO also influenced Republicans to vote down a proposed spending bill earlier in December, which prompted fears about a government shutdown and led some Democrats to deem the billionaire “President Musk.”
