Tesla CEO Elon Musk reportedly blasted the US administration for putting a cap on visas under the H-1B category and said the country should shut down illegal immigration and increase legal immigration.
“While it is trivial to enter the United States illegally, it is insanely difficult for legal immigrants to move to the United States,” Musk said while commenting on a chart that showed pending applications by ‘highly skilled people’ for visas under the H-1B category.
The H-1B visa category is a non-immigrant visa that allows US employers to temporarily employ foreign workers in specialty occupations.
Indian techies are among the major beneficiaries of this. However, a limit has been placed on the number of applications that will be accepted per year under the category.
It all began with former US President Donald Trump, who in July 2020 temporarily suspended new work visas and barred hundreds of thousands of foreign workers from seeking employment in the US.
On Thursday, Aaron Levie, CEO at Box, shared a chart showing prospective applications under the H-1B category.
“This chart should make you go insane. This is the number of highly skilled workers that want to work here. There is a cap of 85,000 slots that will be filled. We are actively shooting our future selves in the foot,” he wrote.
The Tesla boss reacted to this and said: “This is madness! We should shut down illegal immigration and greatly increase legal immigration.”
H-1B visa cap
Currently, the H-1B classification has an annual numerical limit (cap) of 65,000 new visas each fiscal year.
An additional 20,000 petitions filed on behalf of beneficiaries with a master’s degree or higher from a US institution of higher education are exempt from this cap.
Donald Trump saw more visas under this category as a threat to the employment of American workers.
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