From Elon Musk to Microsoft’s Satya Nadella, these tech leaders were once H-1B visa holders 

President Donald is looking for Trump Restrict H-1 B visa program and overhaulThis has enabled US companies to receive foreign capabilities in professions such as health and engineering for decades.

The program has been a matter of debate between MPs in Washington for years, argues that many competitors have eliminated business opportunities for US citizens and is full of abuse.

In contrast, Trump has announced the plan to bring $ 100,000 to H-1B applications, which can seriously affect American companies’ ability to support visas.

However, something that cannot be discussed is that the program has been part of a significant number of American technology and business leaders since the establishment of the program in 1990.

Here is a list of the highest profile ones.

Elon Musk, the richest man in the world and the founder of the leading technology companies in the USA, is not only one of the most important H-1B visa buyers, but also one of the most vocal defenders of the program.

Originally born in South Africa, musk He moved to the United States in 1992 and transferred to the University of Pennsylvania to continue his work. Later, he joined Stanford before leaving the entrepreneurial initiatives in Silicon Valley.

While some details of the early visa status were discussed, Musk continued Registration promise The reason for being in the USA was the H-1B visa with “many critical people building hundreds of companies that make SpaceX, Tesla and America strong.”

Nevertheless, the billionaire, which was largely involved in the US and global politics, also supported the revision and reform of the H-1B system in the past.

Eric YuanThe founder and CEO of 55-year-old Zoom emigrated from China to the United States in 1997 with an H-1B visa, although it was easy to journey.

Yuan sponsored the H-1B visa to work as an engineer at Cisco-Webex, but it was only approved in the ninth attempt, dedi he said. Cloud giant podcast In 2020.

Despite the fact that he spoke very few English when he arrived in the United States, he would continue to start Zoom in 2011. The company’s public offering in 2019 valued Yuan’s billions of stocks.

Yuan, although he does not comment on the H-1B Visa program, he told CNBC that the US openness is healthy and expects the culture to continue in 2019.

Satya Nadella, Born and Growing in India, President and CEO MicrosoftIt is also an old recipient of a H-1B visa, but its conditions are quite unique.

After being in the USA since 1990, He gave up to bring his wife In 1994, successful but otherwise risky H-1B visa application to the country.

In a 2017 interview with CNBC, Nadella said, “The idea that you should give up your green card to get a H-1B is stupid as backward. And so let us get the reform for us to work for both our security and our competitiveness.” He said.

In 2017, ‘Make me smart’ podcastNadella defended the H-1B Visa program and said that it provided Microsoft a high-skilled labor that helps to remain competitive globally, but welcomed the order of an executive order that reviewed H-1B for the first Trump administration.

Jayshree Ullal, Cloud Networking Company CEO Arista NetworksHe was born in the United Kingdom and grew up in New Delhi before he moved to the United States at the age of 16 and started his work at San Francisco State University.

After graduating from a master’s degree at the University of Santa Clara, he worked for leading technology companies such as Fairchild Semiconductor, Advanced Micro devices and Cisco.

At that time, it was the recipient of a Ullıl H-1B visa, the CEO representative PReviren announced Forbes. Arista did not respond to the request for comments from CNBC.

Although the details of Ullal’s H-1B journey are unknown, it supported migration reform and easier ways for foreign workers in the United States in the past.

Speaking with the Times of India in 2023, the migration process, “a large part of a professional person working life”, which lasts up to 15 years of permanent housing visas, he said.

“In Arista, we believe that the best developers can come from anywhere and that there is a global distribution of engineering skills – virtual or physical.”

Ullal today is one of a handful of immigrant billionaires in the US with a net value of $ 6 billion. Forbes.

Jeff SkollNow the first president of Ebay, the philanthropist and president of the Capricorn Investment Group, has a former H-1B visa defending the program while supporting the reforms.

Canadically graduate Before he came from Toronto University to America at Stanford University in 1987. Later, when Ebay and his founder Pierre began to work for Omidyar, he would receive a H-1B visa in 1996.

Skoll was with Elon Musk in December last year Defending the H-1B visa, At the same time, while defending improvements and some reforms in the program.

“For me personally this was a life [and] Even though I left Stanford Business School, the death struggle to obtain and hold a H-1B visa worked with Pierre Omidyar [a student work visa] While building Ebay from scratch, “O He said in an x ​​post.

If Skoll did not have strong connections at that time, he should have left the country after being rejected for an H-1B visa extension.

He added that EBAY and other organizations have faced numerous problems for H-1Bs, although they are very specialized in most of the necessary work and do not have a domestic applicant.