H1B visa

These tensions flared up in December, when billionaire Elon Musk defended H1B visa holders from attacks from the louder white nationalist influencers calling for Trump to kick them all out.

Redmond-based Microsoft employed a tech industry-leading 8,000 immigrant guest workers on the H1B visa program in 2021, according to Business Insider.

Counting H1B visa holders who arrived in previous years, there were close to 600,000 of these immigrant workers in the United States as of 2019, according to a Homeland Security Department report widely cited as the most accurate count available.

The H1B visa lottery for 2024 opens in March, so it will soon become clear whether demand for high-skilled workers remains as strong as it has been.

Another H1B visa holder — who spoke on the condition of anonymity so his parents in India wouldn’t find out he had lost his job — voiced frustration that he’d been courted by recruiters in the past, but is now struggling to find a job so he and his wife don’t get deported.