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In helping instigate a heated debate over H-1B visas, Elon Musk is speaking both from personal experience and as a business owner. That’s because his company, electric car maker Tesla, is among the U.S. companies that bring thousands of foreign engineers and other skilled workers into the U.S. each year.
After not placing in the top 25 H-1B visa employers in prior years, Tesla now ranks No. 16, according to the National Foundation for American Policy (NFAP) a nonpartisan think tank focused on trade and immigration issues.
While well behind the likes of technology giants such as Amazon, IBM, Microsoft and Google, Tesla in 2024 significantly increased its count of employees hired through the visa program, with its 742 approved H-1B petitions for initial employment more than double the 328 it recorded in 2023, NFAP found.Tesla also had 1,025 H-1B petitions for continuing employment approved in 2024.
“I’m in America along with so many critical people who built SpaceX, Tesla and hundreds of other companies that made America strong is because of H1B,” Musk, who early in his career worked in the U.S. on an H-1B visa, posted Friday on his social media site, X. Musk also vowed to “go to war on this issue the likes of which you cannot possibly comprehend.”
Musk and his companies certainly aren’t alone in using the H-1B program to fill out their employee ranks. The tech industry has long pushed to expand the number H-1B visas granted by the government to bring skilled workers to the U.S. from India, China, Canada, Korea, the Philippines and other countries.
The program is capped at 65,000 news visas each year, although an additional 20,000 can be issued for employees with a master’s degree or higher, according to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
Here’s a rundown of the top 20 companies as listed by the number of H-1B petitions for initial employment the U.S. approved in fiscal-year 2024, according to NFAP:
- Amazon. The e-commerce company had the most approved H-1B petitions for initial employment in 2024, with 3,871. That figure was down from more than 4,000 H-1B visas in 2023 and nearly 6,400 in 2022.
- Cognizant. The information technology services firm had the second most H-1B petitions approved in 2024, tallying 2,837.
- Infosys. The digital services and consulting company had 2,504 petitions approved in fiscal-year 2024.
- TCS. Tata Consultancy Services ranked forth, with 1,452.
- IBM. The technology company nicknamed Big Blue tallied 1,348 petitions.
- Microsoft. The technology conglomerate saw 1,264 petitions approved.
- HCL America. The computer programming solutions provider had 1,248 approved H-1B visas.
- Google. The search engine ranked No. 8, with 1,058 H-1Bs.
- Capgemini. The information technology company accounted for 1,041 H-1B visas last 2024.
- Meta Platforms. Formerly known as Facebook, Meta was behind 920 approved petitions.
- Deloitte. The audit and tax consultancy company had 891 petitions approved.
- Apple. The iPhone and laptop maker accounted for 864.
- Intel. The semiconductor company’s count came to 851.
- Accenture. The IT company garnered approval for 833 petitions.
- LTIMindtree. The global technology consultancy counted 798.
- Tesla. The electric car maker had 742 petitions approved.
- Ernst & Young. The accounting firm tallied 741.
- Goldman Sachs. The investment bank and financial services firm garnered 678.
- Wipro. The IT services provider’s tally came to 609.
- Walmart. The retailing giant is behind 654 approved H-1B petitions.
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