Musk and Ramaswamy spark a debate about H-1B visas. Here’s what you need to know about visas.

Billionaires Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy may be advising President-elect Donald Trump cut federal spending but they also have some advice for him about the American workforce, urging his next administration to bring in more foreign tech workers.

Musk and Ramaswamy’s views have sparked an online spat between factions of Trump supporters over immigration and the tech industry, whose companies rely on the H-1B visa to bring in thousands of foreign engineers and other skilled workers each year from India, China and other nations.

The tech industry has long called for more H-1B visas to attract highly skilled workers to the U.S., although Trump’s first administration limited program in 2020, arguing that it allows companies to replace Americans with lower-paid foreign workers.

That debate has erupted again after Musk, himself once on an H-1B visa and whose electric car company Tesla have hired workers using the program defended the technology industry’s need to bring in foreign workers. Ramaswamy on his part, wrote in an X post that American culture “has honored mediocrity over excellence,” leading to a nation that “doesn’t produce the best engineers.”

“There is a permanent shortage of excellent engineering talent. It is the fundamental limiting factor in Silicon Valley,” Musk wrote Dec. 25 on X, his social media app.

Here’s what you need to know about the debate and the H-1B visa.

How did the latest H-1B debate start?

The debate touched off this week when Laura Loomer, a right-wing influencer with a history of racist and conspiratorial comments, criticized Trump’s selection of Sriram Krishnan as an artificial intelligence policy adviser in his incoming administration. Krishnan advocates the ability to bring more skilled immigrants into the United States

Declaring the stance “not America First politics,” Loomer said the tech executives who aligned themselves with Trump did so to enrich themselves.

Loomer’s comments sparked a back-and-forth with venture capitalist and former PayPal executive David Sacks, whom Trump has named to be the “White House AI & Crypto Czar.” Musk and Ramaswamy, whom Trump has tasked with finding ways to cut the federal government, defended the tech industry’s need to bring in foreign workers.

It blossomed into a larger debate, with more figures from the hard right weighing in on the need to hire American workers, whether values ​​in American culture can produce the best engineers, free speech on the Internet, the newfound influence tech figures have in Trump’s world and what his political movement stands for.

Who qualifies for an H-1B visa?

US Citizenship and Immigration Services says The H-1B visa targets professionals with a “theoretical and practical application of a body of highly specialized knowledge” and who have a bachelor’s degree or higher in their field.

These professionals must also have been offered a temporary job by a U.S. company, which must offer a wage no lower than that paid to similarly qualified workers or below the prevailing wage for the job in the geographic area in which that individual must work.

How many workers receive H-1B visas?

The United States caps the number of H-1B visas at 65,000 new visas each year, although an additional 20,000 may be granted to those with a master’s degree or higher, USCIS says. The visa is valid for three years, but can be extended for another three years beyond that.

But the US approves extensions each year for people already working on H-1B visas, with a 2023 report notes that the agency cleared more than 309,000 requests for continued employment under the visa program.

What countries are H-1B recipients from?

More than 7 in 10 recipients of H-1B visas are from India, followed by China at more than 1 in 10 recipients. The rest of the H-1B visa holders originate from a wide range of nations, including Canada, Korea, the Philippines, Mexico and Taiwan, according to a USCIS report.

What is the H-1B visa debate?

Tech companies say H-1B visas for skilled workers, used by software engineers and others in the technology industry, are essential for hard-to-fill positions.

But critics have said they undercut American citizens who could take those jobs. Some on the right have called for the program to be eliminated, not expanded.

Some studies, including a 2017 report from CBS’s “60 Minutes,” has found that while many companies are using the program as intended, some have taken advantage of the visa program to replace American workers with cheaper foreign workers.

What does Donald Trump say about H-1B visas?

Trump has yet to weigh in on the rift, and his presidential transition team did not respond to a message seeking comment.

But Trump’s positions over the years have reflected the divide in his movement. His tough immigration policies, including his promise of mass deportation, were central to his winning presidential campaign.

He has focused on immigrants who enter the United States illegally, but he has also sought to limit legal immigration, including family-based visas.

As a presidential candidate in 2016, Trump called the H-1B visa program “very bad” and “unfair” to American workers. After he became president, in 2017 Trump issued a “Buy American and Hire American” executive order, which directed cabinet members to propose changes to ensure that H-1B visas were awarded to the highest-paid or most skilled applicants to protect American workers .

In 2020, the Trump administration required employers to pay H-1B holders higher wages, a move they argued would discourage American companies from turning to cheaper labor from abroad.

Associated Press

contributed to this report.