Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk had vowed to support the H-1B visa at all costs but has now admitted that the system needs major reforms. Musk, along with Indian-American entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, has been appointed by Trump to lead the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

Musk had earlier supported H1B visa

Last week, Musk had said that companies like SpaceX and Tesla need foreign workers. He had posted on X supporting the H1B visa. However, Musk has now withdrawn his earlier statement in response to a post by an 'X' user.

X users posted that the US needs the world's most talent, but the current H-1B system is not the solution. Many Trump supporters are pushing to end the H-1B visa program.

"I am clear that this program is flawed. It needs major reform. This can be easily fixed by increasing the minimum wage and adding an annual cost to maintain H-1B, which will make hiring from abroad more expensive than domestically," Musk posted on X on Sunday.

Demand for more H-1B visas to attract workers

The H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers in jobs requiring technical expertise. Technology companies rely on it to hire thousands of employees every year from countries such as India and China. The industry has long been demanding more H-1B visas to attract skilled workers to the US.

Previously supported

Trump was responding to a user who said the US needs to become a destination for the world's most elite talent, but the H-1B programme is not the way to do that. Musk said this could be easily fixed by raising the minimum wage and adding an annual cost to maintain H-1Bs, which would actually make it more expensive to hire from overseas than domestically. Last week, Musk said bringing in elite engineering talent from overseas is essential for the US to keep winning.