Elon Musk worked illegally in the U.S. while on a student visa and faced fears of deportation when he first arrived, according to a report by The Washington Post. The South African-born billionaire admitted in an email that he “had no legal right to stay in the country” after abandoning his studies to launch a company that he later sold for over $300 million. His brother, Kimbal, also faced immigration issues, raising concerns that they had committed “fraud upon entry,” according to immigration experts.
This revelation comes as Musk, the CEO of Tesla, X, SpaceX, and Starlink, has vocally supported Donald Trump and repeatedly accused Democrats of attempting to increase illegal immigration—a narrative that has gained traction within the Republican Party. Bloomberg labeled Musk “X’s biggest promoter of anti-immigrant conspiracies,” highlighting a striking contradiction in his public stance.
Musk’s entrepreneurial journey began after he moved to the U.S. from Canada at 18, having obtained citizenship through his mother. He initially studied at the University of Pennsylvania on a student visa before relocating to Palo Alto to attend Stanford. However, he never enrolled there, which would have invalidated his visa. Instead, he focused on his startup, Global Link Information Network, later known as Zip2. This decision raised significant legal concerns, prompting investors to seek advice from immigration attorneys about the potential for Musk’s deportation.
Leon Fresco, a former immigration attorney, emphasized that working on a startup while on a student visa is illegal, noting, “If you do anything that helps facilitate revenue creation… then you’re in trouble.”
Musk recruited his brother Kimbal to help run the company, but Kimbal later disclosed that he had lied to border agents about his status after being previously denied entry due to his illegal work in the U.S. He orchestrated a ruse to enter the country, claiming he was simply visiting for a television show.
“This is fraud on entry,” said Ira Kurzban, a former president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, noting that such actions could lead to permanent inadmissibility. Additionally, hiring someone without the legal right to work in the U.S. constitutes a federal crime.
Investor concerns about the Musk brothers’ immigration status were so significant that Mohr Davidow Ventures, which invested $3 million in Zip2 in 1996, included a clause in their agreement requiring the brothers to obtain legal status within 45 days. Derek Proudian, who later became CEO of Zip2, stated that investors were anxious about the potential for deportation. Another anonymous investor admitted, “Perhaps naively, we never examined whether he was a legal citizen.”
The legal implications of Musk’s immigration history are significant. Zip2 was sold to Compaq in 1999 for $305 million, netting Musk $22 million. This success paved the way for his future ventures, including PayPal, Tesla, and SpaceX. Musk became a U.S. citizen in 2002, but false statements about past immigration status in citizenship applications can be grounds for revocation—a detail that raises questions about his application.
In a 2005 email to Tesla co-founders, Musk remarked on his Stanford experience, saying, “Actually, I didn’t really care much for the degree, but I had no money for a lab and no legal right to stay in the country.”
At a 2013 conference, Kimbal Musk acknowledged their illegal status, to which Elon responded, “It was a gray area,” further complicating the narrative surrounding their immigration journey.
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