Nikhil Kamath has finally released the much-awaited WTF podcast episode featuring Elon Musk, where the Tesla chief criticised the United States’ H-1B visa programme and said there has been misuse of it.
"I think there's been some misuse of the H-1B Program. It would be accurate to say that some of the outsourcing companies have kind of gamed the system on the H-1B front," Elon Musk said on Nikhil's WTF podcast.
In September, US President Donald Trump signed a proclamation that will require a new annual one hundred thousand (100,000) dollar fee for applicants to the H-1B visa programme aiming to reduce foreign workers in the tech industry.
With the order, companies that apply to bring in workers from other countries on this visa will have to fulfil the 100,000 dollars per visa payment annually.
With Trump's heat on H-1B visa program, Indian technology firms are experiencing some of the highest rejection rates for visa applications, even as American technology companies continue to secure approvals at near-record levels.
As per the National Foundation for American Policy (NFAP), companies such as HCL America, LTIMindtree, Cognizant and Capgemini have witnessed denial rates well above the national average of 2.8% for fiscal year 2025. In contrast, leading US employers such as Amazon, Microsoft, Google and Meta have reported rejection rates below 1%.
Recently, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, in his remarks, emphasised that Trump is committed to protecting American jobs while encouraging foreign investment in the United States.
His comments come amid growing scrutiny over H-1B visas and concerns that foreign labour could displace domestic jobs in key industries.
Speaking to reporters, Leavitt stated, "The President does not support American workers being replaced... The President wants to see the American manufacturing industry revitalised better than ever before. That's part of what he's doing with his effective use of tariffs and cutting good trade deals around the world."
Former Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Raghuram Rajan recently said that the proposed US Halting International Relocation of Employment (HIRE) Act is a greater concern for India than the recent hike in H-1B visa fees.
In an interview with DeKoder, Rajan said the HIRE Act could impose tariffs on outsourced services, not just on goods, which would directly affect India’s information technology and services exports. “One of our biggest concerns is not so much the goods tariffs but whether they try and find ways of imposing tariffs on services. This is a threat,” he said.
He explained that the US Congress is debating the HIRE Act, which aims to tax outsourced work. “How that’ll be implemented is anybody’s question, but this creeping of tariffs beyond goods to services to Indian visitors into the US through the H-1B route – these are all concerns,” Rajan added.
Trump’s recent remarks on H-1B visas and foreign talent mark one of the clearest shifts in immigration rhetoric of his political career. The evolution of Trump’s stance reveals the tension between populist politics and his desire to Make America Great Again.
Trump made a clear U-turn, at least in his views, when he dismissed the idea that the US already possesses sufficient homegrown talent to meet the needs of emerging high-tech industries. “No, you don’t—no you don’t,” Trump snapped when Fox News’ Laura Ingraham insisted during an interview that the U.S. already has “plenty of talented people,” arguing that if the President wanted to raise wages for American workers, he can’t flood the country with hundreds of thousands of foreign workers.
Source Name : Economic Times
I agree—but you also do have to bring in talent,” Trump fired back. “We have plenty of talented people here,” Ingraham countered. “No, you don’t… You don’t have certain talents. And people have to learn. You can’t take people off an unemployment line and say, ‘I’m going to put you into a factory, we’re going to make missiles.’ It’s not an easy thing. Very dangerous, a lot of explosions, a lot of problems.”