Washington: US President Donald Trump on Tuesday said he doesn’t intend to stop the H-1B visa to foreign workers in the US but he wants “very competent people” coming into the country in all sectors amid calls from his Republican support base to stop the policy.
Speaking at the White House during a joint press conference with Oracle CTO Larry Ellison, Softbank CEO Masayoshi Son, and Open AI CEO Sam Altman, Trump said, “I like both sides of the argument, but I also like very competent people coming into our country, even if that involves them training and helping other people that may not have the qualifications they do.
“But I don’t want to stop — and I’m not just talking about engineers, I’m talking about people at all levels,” he said.
The clarification from the US president came in response to a question on the ongoing debate on H-1B visa among his supporters.
While close allies like Elon Musk, the owner of Tesla, support the H-1B visa programme for bringing in skilled tech professionals, many of his supporters oppose it, arguing that it takes jobs away from Americans.
#WATCH | Washington DC | On H1B visas, US President Donald Trump says, “… I like both sides of the argument but I also like very competent people coming to our country, even if that involves them training and helping others that may not have the qualifications… About HB1, I… pic.twitter.com/ALFRoHUWgD
— ANI (@ANI) January 22, 2025
“We want competent people coming into our country. And H-1B, I know the programme very well. I use the programme. Maître d’, wine experts, even waiters, high-quality waiters — you’ve got to get the best people. People like Larry, he needs engineers, Masa also needs… they need engineers like nobody’s ever needed them,” Trump said.
