Trump sides with Elon Musk in H-1B visa debate

29/12/2024 15:48

Elon Musk, the billionaire CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, vowed to go to "war" to defend the H-1B visa program for foreign tech workers late on Friday amid a dispute between President-elect Donald Trump's longtime supporters and his most recently acquired backers from the tech industry.



In a post on social media platform X, Musk said "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."



He added, "I will go to war on this issue the likes of which you cannot possibly comprehend."



Musk, a naturalized U.S. citizen born in South Africa, has held an H-1B visa, and his electric-car company Tesla obtained 724 of the visas this year. H-1B visas are typically for three-year periods, though holders can extend them or apply for green cards.



Musk's tweet was directed at Trump's supporters and immigration hardliners, who have increasingly pushed for the H-1B visa program to be scrapped amid a heated debate over immigration and the place of skilled immigrants and foreign workers brought into the country on work visas.