In serving to instigate a heated debate over H-1B visas, Elon Musk is talking each from private expertise and as a enterprise proprietor. That’s as a result of his firm, electrical automobile maker Tesla, is among the many U.S. corporations that convey hundreds of overseas engineers and different expert employees into the U.S. every year.
After not putting within the prime 25 H-1B visa employers in prior years, Tesla now ranks No. 16, based on the National Foundation for American Policy (NFAP) a nonpartisan suppose tank centered on commerce and immigration points.
While effectively behind the likes of know-how giants resembling Amazon, IBM, Microsoft and Google, Tesla in 2024 considerably elevated its depend of staff employed via the visa program, with its 742 permitted H-1B petitions for preliminary employment greater than double the 328 it recorded in 2023, NFAP discovered.Tesla additionally had 1,025 H-1B petitions for persevering with employment permitted in 2024.
“I’m in America together with so many vital individuals who constructed SpaceX, Tesla and tons of of different corporations that made America sturdy is due to H1B,” Musk, who early in his profession labored within the U.S. on an H-1B visa, posted Friday on his social media web site, X. Musk additionally vowed to “go to conflict on this situation the likes of which you can not presumably comprehend.”
Musk and his corporations definitely aren’t alone in utilizing the H-1B program to fill out their worker ranks. The tech trade has lengthy pushed to broaden the quantity H-1B visas granted by the federal government to convey expert employees to the U.S. from India, China, Canada, Korea, the Philippines and different nations.
The program is capped at 65,000 information visas every year, though a further 20,000 may be issued for workers with a grasp’s diploma or increased, based on the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
Here’s a rundown of the highest 20 corporations as listed by the variety of H-1B petitions for preliminary employment the U.S. permitted in fiscal-year 2024, based on NFAP:
- Amazon. The e-commerce firm had essentially the most permitted H-1B petitions for preliminary employment in 2024, with 3,871. That determine was down from greater than 4,000 H-1B visas in 2023 and practically 6,400 in 2022.
- Cognizant. The data know-how companies agency had the second most H-1B petitions permitted in 2024, tallying 2,837.
- Infosys. The digital companies and consulting firm had 2,504 petitions permitted in fiscal-year 2024.
- TCS. Tata Consultancy Services ranked forth, with 1,452.
- IBM. The know-how firm nicknamed Big Blue tallied 1,348 petitions.
- Microsoft. The know-how conglomerate noticed 1,264 petitions permitted.
- HCL America. The pc programming options supplier had 1,248 permitted H-1B visas.
- Google. The search engine ranked No. 8, with 1,058 H-1Bs.
- Capgemini. The data know-how firm accounted for 1,041 H-1B visas final 2024.
- Meta Platforms. Formerly referred to as Facebook, Meta was behind 920 permitted petitions.
- Deloitte. The audit and tax consultancy firm had 891 petitions permitted.
- Apple. The iPhone and laptop computer maker accounted for 864.
- Intel. The semiconductor firm’s depend got here to 851.
- Accenture. The IT firm garnered approval for 833 petitions.
- LTIMindtree. The international know-how consultancy counted 798.
- Tesla. The electrical automobile maker had 742 petitions permitted.
- Ernst & Young. The accounting agency tallied 741.
- Goldman Sachs. The funding financial institution and monetary companies agency garnered 678.
- Wipro. The IT companies supplier’s tally got here to 609.
- Walmart. The retailing big is behind 654 permitted H-1B petitions.
