South African-born billionaire businessman Elon Musk briefly worked illegally in the US in the 1990s while developing his software company, writes in. "Washington Post", quoted by Reuters.
Musk today denied the claims contained in a post yesterday, saying he had permission to work legally in the US during that period. "I had a J-1 visa that turned into an H1-B visa," he said on his "Ex" platform. The J-1 Exchange Visitor visa allows international students to study in the US, while the H1-B visa allows them to be temporarily employed.
"Washington Post" reported that in 1995, Musk arrived in Palo Alto, California to study at Stanford University, but never enrolled in his master's program there. Instead, he developed the software company Zip2, which he sold in 1999 for about $300 million, the newspaper said.
According to two immigration law experts cited by the daily, Musk would have had to be enrolled in a full course of study to have a valid student work permit.
In a 2020 podcast quoted by the "Washington Post", Musk said: “I was there legally, but I was expected to do student labor. I had the right to do something like auxiliary work.
The newspaper cited two former colleagues of Musk who recalled that he received his US work permit in or around 1997.
Elon Musk has endorsed Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump in the upcoming US election, in which the former president is expected to enter a tight race against Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris, according to polls.
Trump has for years portrayed migrants as invaders and criminals, and during his 2017-2021 administration, he introduced tough measures to limit legal and illegal migration. He promises to launch the largest deportation campaign in US history if re-elected.