Billionaires Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy may be advising President-elect Donald Trump Cutting federal spending But they also have some advice for him on the U.S. workforce and are urging his next administration to hire more foreign technology workers.

Musk and Ramaswamy’s views have sparked an online dispute between factions of Trump’s supporters over immigration and the tech industry, whose companies rely on the H-1B visa to bring in thousands of foreign engineers and other skilled workers each year from India, China and to recruit from other countries.

The tech industry has long called for more H-1B visas to attract high-skilled workers to the U.S., even in Trump’s first administration restricted the program in 2020, arguing that it allows companies to replace Americans with lower-paid foreign workers.

That debate has flared up again after Musk, who once held an H-1B visa and whose electric vehicle company Tesla hired workers through the program, defended the tech industry’s need to hire foreign workers. For his part, Ramaswamy wrote in an X post that American culture has “worshipped mediocrity over excellence,” resulting in a nation that “doesn’t produce the best engineers.”

“There is a permanent shortage of excellent engineering talent. This is the fundamental limiting factor in Silicon Valley,” Musk wrote on December 25 on X, his social media app.

Here’s what you should know about the debate and the H-1B visa.

How did the recent H-1B debate begin?

The debate began this week when Laura Loomer, a right-wing influencer with a history of racist and conspiratorial statements, criticized Trump’s selection of Sriram Krishnan as an adviser on artificial intelligence policy in his incoming administration. Krishnan supports the possibility of bringing more skilled immigrants to the United States

Loomer said this stance was “not an America First policy” and said the tech executives who joined Trump were doing so to enrich themselves.

Loomer’s comments sparked a back-and-forth with venture capitalist and former PayPal executive David Sacks, whom Trump has named the “White House AI and crypto czar.” Musk and Ramaswamy, whom Trump has tasked with finding ways to cut the federal government, defended the tech industry’s need to hire foreign workers.

A larger debate developed, with more and more far-right figures speaking out about the need to hire U.S. workers, about whether values ​​in American culture can produce the best engineers, about free speech online, about the new influence , the technology representatives in Trump’s world have, etc. what his political movement stands for.

Who is qualified for an H-1B visa?

According to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the H-1B visa is aimed at professionals with “theoretical and practical application of highly specialized knowledge” and a bachelor’s degree or higher in their field.

These professionals must also be offered temporary employment by a U.S. company that must offer a wage that is not less than the wage paid to similarly qualified workers or below the prevailing wage for the position in the geographic area in which which this person will work.

How many workers receive H-1B visas?

According to USCIS, the U.S. limits the number of H-1B visas to 65,000 new visas per year, although an additional 20,000 may be granted to people with a master’s degree or higher. The visa is valid for three years, but can be extended for a further three years.

However, the US approves extensions every year for people already working on H-1B visas. A 2023 report said the agency greenlit more than 309,000 applications for continued employment under the visa program.

Which countries do H-1B recipients come from?

More than 7 in 10 H-1B visa recipients come from India, followed by China with more than 1 in 10 recipients. According to a USCIS report, the remaining H-1B visa holders come from a variety of countries, including Canada, Korea, the Philippines, Mexico and Taiwan.

What is the debate about H-1B visas?

Tech companies say H-1B visas for skilled workers, used by software developers and others in the tech industry, are critical for hard-to-fill jobs.

But critics say they are undercutting U.S. citizens who could take those jobs. Some on the right called for the program to be abolished rather than expanded.

Some research, including one from 2017 report CBS’ “60 Minutes” found that while many companies are using the program as intended, some have used the visa program to replace American workers with cheaper temporary foreign workers.

What does Donald Trump say about H-1B visas?

Trump has not yet commented on the split, and his presidential transition team did not respond to a message seeking comment.

But Trump’s positions over the years reflect the divide in his movement. His tough immigration policies, including his promise of mass deportation, were central to his victorious presidential campaign.

He focused on immigrants entering the U.S. illegally, but also called for restricting legal immigration, including family-based visas.

As a presidential candidate in 2016, Trump called the H-1B visa program “very bad” and “unfair” for U.S. workers. After becoming president, Trump issued a “Buy American and Hire American” executive order in 2017 that directed Cabinet members to propose changes to ensure that H-1B visas are awarded to the highest-paid or best-qualified applicants to become American workers to protect.

In 2020, the Trump administration required employers to pay H-1B holders higher wages, a move it said would discourage U.S. companies from turning to cheaper labor from abroad.

The Associated Press

contributed to this report.