WashingtonHiring "talented" Indians has "immensely" benefited the United States over the years, according to Elon Musk, the richest man in the world and former close associate of US President Donald Trump. The comments made by the CEO of Tesla coincide with the ongoing controversy surrounding immigration and the H-1B visa program in the United States.
The SpaceX CEO claimed that some of the Trump administration's anti-immigration policies were brought on by the "misuse" of the H-1B visa program in an appearance on Zerodha co-founder Nikhil Kamath's People by WTF podcast, which was released on Sunday. He did, however, recommend that the program not be shut down.
"I believe that the H-1B program has been abused. It would be accurate to say that some outsourcing companies have sort of gamed the H-1B system, and we need to put an end to this. However, I do not believe that the H1B program should be discontinued," he stated.
Musk, who is also the owner of micro-blogging website X (formerly Twitter), also spoke about the perspective of some US nationals that H-1B visa is snatching jobs from them. However, Musk said that the US should focus on getting 'most talented people' of the world.
"I don't know how real that is. My direct observation is that there's always a scarcity of talented people. So you know, from my standpoint, I'm like we have a lot of difficulty finding enough talented people to get these difficult tasks done and so more talented people would be good," he said.
The H-1B visa was introduced in 1990 when George HW Bush was the president. The programme has hugely benefited foreign nationals, particularly Indians and Chinese, who look for opportunities in the US. However, in September, the Trump administration announced a massive hike in H-1B Visa fees to USD 100,000, a move that triggered panic among Indians.
The US has defended the move, citing the misuse of the H-1B visa.
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