Tesla, headed by Elon Musk, was among the leading employers of new foreign-born scientists and engineers in FY 2024, according to H-1B visa data. When combined with an analysis showing more than 30,000 companies gained approval for at least one H-1B professional in FY 2024, it helps illustrate the importance of hiring high-skilled foreign nationals to a wide range of employers. However, the low denial rate for H-1B petitions in the latest data could become a distant memory if restrictive policies on high-skilled immigration come back when Donald Trump returns to the White House.
Low H-1B Denial Rate And The Top Employers In FY 2024
Since a legal settlement in 2020, employers have experienced low denial rates for H-1B petitions. Courts ruled a series of Trump administration actions were unlawful, forcing a settlement that reduced H-1B denial rates for initial employment from 24% in FY 2018 and 21% in FY 2019 to 4% in FY 2021 and 2.2% in FY 2022. H-1B petitions for “initial” employment are primarily for new employment and, for companies, are likely to count against the H-1B annual limit.
In FY 2024, the H-1B denial rate for initial employment (for new employees) was 2.5%, according to a new National Foundation for American Policy analysis. “The denial rate for H-1B petitions for ‘continuing’ employment (primarily for existing employees) was 1.8% in FY 2024,” NFAP reported. “The 12% denial rate for H-1B petitions for continuing employment in FY 2018 and FY 2019 during the Trump years was four times higher than the 3% denial rate between FY 2011 and FY 2015.”
Elon Musk, Tesla And H-1B Visas
Telsa’s filings illustrate the company’s increasing demand for highly skilled talent. In FY 2024, Tesla had 742 approved H-1B petitions for initial employment, more than double its total of 328 in FY 2023 and 337 in FY 2022. It came in 16th among employers for approvals of H-1B petitions for initial employment in FY 2024 after never cracking the top 25. The company’s demand for talent likely exceeded these annual totals, but Congress has set a yearly limit on H-1B petitions that employers have exhausted for the past two decades.
Given Tesla’s focus on cutting-edge technology to sustain and grow its business, it is unsurprising that the company attempts to fill positions for engineers, scientists, software developers and other personnel with the best available talent without regard to place of birth. CEO Elon Musk was born in South Africa, moved to Canada, came to the United States as an international student and stayed after graduation. (There is controversy over whether Musk remained in legal status during the period he founded his first company.)
Tesla designs and manufactures electric vehicles, batteries for energy storage and solar panels. Based in Austin, Texas, the company reports that it has 100,000 employees on three continents. Tesla also had 1,025 H-1B petitions for continuing employment, mostly extensions for existing employees.
Employers in the United States have argued for decades that they can only recruit the talent that is available—and that reality of recruiting influences Tesla and other companies. International students account for 71% of the full-time graduate students in computer and information sciences and 73% of the full-time graduate students in electrical and computer engineering at U.S. universities.
In FY 2024, Tesla requested the U.S. Department of Labor certify Labor Condition Applications for a significant number of engineers and many other positions. (LCAs are part of the H-1B process.) These requests included 658 manufacturing engineers, 629 software developers, 348 mechanical engineers, 320 industrial engineers and 138 electrical engineers.
The types of non-engineering positions illustrate the diverse skills a major company must bring together. In FY 2024, Tesla requested Labor Condition Applications be certified for 89 project management specialists, 86 industrial production managers, 49 data scientists, 37 supply chain managers, 35 logistics analysts, 29 information technology project managers, nine commercial and industrial designers, six statisticians, five data warehousing specialists and many other positions.
According to a National Foundation for American Policy analysis, in FY 2024, Tesla filed 3,215 requests for Labor Condition Applications to DOL. These requests do not represent 3,215 individuals because a significant number are duplicates, such as amended petitions.
In FY 2024, Amazon had the most H-1B petitions approved for initial employment, with 3,871, a drop from 6,396 in FY 2022. Rounding out the top ten for approved H-1B petitions for initial employment was Cognizant, with 2,837, Infosys (2,504), TCS (1,452), IBM (1,348), Microsoft (1,264), HCL America (1,248), Google (1,058), Capgemini (1,041) and Meta Platforms (920). U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services records cases in the fiscal year they are approved, not based on the H-1B cap year.
High H-1B Salaries And Higher Fees
According to USCIS, the average annual salary for an H-1B visa holder in computer-related occupations in 2023 was $132,000, and the median salary was $122,000. Labor economist Mark Regets said employers would not pay such high wages if they did not find the individuals possessed a high skill level. Academic research has found that H-1B professionals earn the same or higher salaries as U.S. professionals with similar skills and experience.
Employers must pay H-1B visa holders the higher of the prevailing or actual wage paid to similarly employed Americans—and must spend money on many fees. An employer today could pay up to $34,900 in legal and government fees to file an initial H-1B petition and an extension. If an employee is also sponsored for permanent residence, the cost could reach $50,000. Attorneys note that employers do not need to pay those costs when hiring U.S. workers.
Employers Waiting For Trump’s H-1B Visa Policy
Viewing Trump’s first-term immigration policy as a guide to expected actions in a second term remains a logical approach. In addition to mounting H-1B denials and a Request for Evidence rate that reached 60%, employers faced many policies during the Trump administration that restricted the ability of employers to hire and retain high-skilled foreign nationals. These policies included:
– A Department of Homeland Security rule, blocked in court, which would have significantly narrowed which jobs and education qualified individuals or their positions for H-1B status.
– The blocked rule and DOL memo also would have prevented many U.S. companies from receiving services from an H-1B visa holder without taking on legal obligations for the individual’s immigration status. The rule ordered companies to become employers rather than customers if they wanted to receive specialized information technology or other services that included H-1B professionals. Businesses complained that the Trump H-1B rule inserted the U.S. government between service providers and their customers. Many U.S. companies attempt to remain competitive by contracting for specialized services they do not possess in-house.
– A Department of Labor rule, also blocked in court, would have priced many H-1B visa holders and employment-based immigrants out of the U.S. labor market by inflating the minimum required salaries by 40% to 100%.
Press reports indicate some in the high tech community hope Donald Trump’s political support from Elon Musk and several Silicon Valley venture capitalists will mean increases in high-skilled immigration rather than a return to restrictions. This optimism is also based on Trump’s comments made to donors in June 2024 podcast.
Early in his first term, Donald Trump issued his “Buy American and Hire American” executive order that signaled new restrictions on high-skilled immigration. The first executive orders in Trump’s second term will tell companies whether to expect a bright future or a sequel that follows the old script.