Donald Trump, Elon Musk's stand on H-1B visa sparks row in US; Indian govt on alert

The speculations around the H-1B visa policy under the incoming Donald Trump administration took an unexpected turn this month after the US President-elect announced the appointment of Chennai-born Sriram Krishnan as senior White House policy adviser on artificial intelligence (AI). The announcement triggered backlash from far-right activists who claimed the move was against Trump’s ‘America First’ agenda as the H-1B visa holders were taking away jobs from Americans.

Trump, however, came out in support of immigration visas for highly skilled workers.

“I have many H-1B visas on my properties. I’ve been a believer in H-1B. I have used it many times. It’s a great program,” he added, siding with tech billionaire Elon Musk on the issue.

The H-1B program allows US employers to temporarily hire foreign workers in speciality occupations requiring theoretical and practical knowledge in specialised fields.

The tech industry has long called for more H-1B visas to attract highly skilled workers to the US.

Musk was involved in a heated debate on X over H-1B after he argued that foreign workers were needed for tech companies like Musk’s SpaceX and Tesla.

"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 H-1B," Musk last week wrote on X.

He also called for removing “contemptible fools” from the Republican Party who oppose his immigration agenda, triggering a backlash from MAGA supporters.

Musk later clarified that his statement was addressing the “hateful, unrepentant racists” he considers a threat to the Republican Party's future.

The debate on H-1B intensified when Ramaswamy criticised American culture for promoting mediocrity instead of focusing on academic excellence and success based on merit.

“Trump’s election hopefully marks the beginning of a new golden era in America, but only if our culture fully wakes up. A culture that once again prioritises achievement over normalcy; excellence over mediocrity; nerdiness over conformity; hard work over laziness,” Ramaswamy said on Thursday.

Musk, however, appeared to soften his stand on the issue by calling for reforms in the "broken" system used to bring skilled foreign workers to the US.

"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. I’ve been very clear that the programme is broken and needs major reform," Musk on Sunday said in a post on X.

"We shouldn't have a situation where there is an unpleasant issue which is created for our Indian workers who are (working) there legally. That is something that the government is constantly concerned about," TOI quoted a government source as saying.

The IT ministry is also reportedly involved in the process and is taking feedback from large software companies as well as relevant industry associations such as Nasscom to understand the situation.