US has greatly benefited from talented Indians over the years, says Musk on H-1B visa row

Elon Musk said the United States has benefited greatly from skilled Indians who have moved there over the years. Speaking on the “WTF is” podcast by Zerodha co-founder Nikhil Kamath, released on Sunday, Musk said engineers, scientists, and entrepreneurs from India have played an important role in the growth of American technology and business.

When Kamath asked about the growing number of Indian-origin executives leading major Western companies, Musk replied, “America has benefitted immensely from talented Indians that have come to America.” Responding to Kamath, he said that his observation is that the trend seems to be shifting, “America has been an immense beneficiary of talent from India.”

The discussion then shifted to perceptions of rising anti-immigration sentiment in the United States. Kamath asked why the narrative around immigration seemed to have shifted. Musk explained that opinions on the topic were divided, and suggested that under the Biden administration, there had been what he called “a total free-for-all with like no border controls.”

The Tesla CEO argued that this approach had encouraged illegal immigration, creating what he described as “a diffusion gradient” of people entering the country, driven in part by economic opportunities and access to social benefits.

Musk flags misuse of H-1B visas

Musk also spoke about the H-1B visa programme, saying that some of the push for stricter immigration policies came from the belief that the system had been misused and had operated in what he called a “free-for-all” environment.

Addressing fears that foreign workers could replace American employees, Musk rejected that idea based on his own experience. He said he had consistently seen a shortage of highly skilled workers.

“I don’t know how real that is. My direct observation is that there’s always a scarcity of talented people,” he said. He added that companies often struggle to find enough qualified individuals to handle complex and demanding work. “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.

He repeated that concern, saying his experience suggested the worry about foreign workers taking American jobs was overstated. “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.