‘I’d say it was a gray area’: Is Elon Musk an illegal immigrant?

Elon Musk has many opinions about immigration, and he’s not afraid to share them. What he is afraid of, however, is disclosing the technical details of his journey to becoming an American citizen, as he was born in South Africa. Musk has gone on record to say that he supports legal immigration for “honest” immigrants, but what are the skeletons Musk is hiding in his own immigration story? In a remarkably ironic turn of events, it seems as if those closest to Trump have had questionable residency acquisition in the USA.

Elon Musk’s new “special” government job

Questions about Elon Musk’s immigration status have always popped up, but as the richest man in the world, it’s been easy for him to dodge, avoid, and distract from them. However, now that Musk’s influence has shifted into politics, people are more curious than ever about the legality of his presence in the United States. 

Musk was appointed by President Trump to work at the Department of Government Efficiency as a “special government employee,” according to White House spokeswoman, Karoline Leavitt. The Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, is a new department formed by President Trump to find ways to cut down federal spending. Musk made outlandish claims throughout Trump’s campaign trail such as claiming that he would create cuts in the federal budget that would save trillions of dollars, only to later backtrack and say that his ideas would save one trillion dollars at best. 

A special government employee or SGE is usually an expert in a field, employed by the government to work for a limited time of up to 130 days per year. Special government employees may or may not be compensated for their work, and Trump’s administration claims that Musk will not be paid. This doesn’t mean that Musk has nothing to benefit from this role, though. The tech mogul has several conflicts of interests with his SGE role. SGE’s are not supposed to work on government issues where they might have financial interests, but some of Musk’s companies, such as SpaceX, receive federal funding. 

There have also been concerns about Musk and DOGE having access to the Treasury Department’s payments system which is a violation of the privacy of many. The Treasury Department doles out payments such as tax returns, federal salaries, and more. DOGE has faced multiple lawsuits since its inception, such as one filed by the Alliance for Retired Americans that alleged, “unlawful ongoing, systematic and continuous disclosure of personal and financial information” to DOGE. 

But is Elon Musk even a legal immigrant?

It is common knowledge that Elon Musk is South African, but the CEO has always been vague on the details of his journey to becoming an American citizen. All records say that he gained American citizenship in 2002, but he has been actively working in the States long before that, so let’s take a look at his immigration history.

Musk was born in Pretoria, South Africa to the wealthy Musk family, but immigrated to Canada in 1989, thanks to his Canadian mother. He transferred from Queen’s University in Canada to the University of Pennsylvania, where he earned his undergraduate degrees. Musk was then accepted to a graduate program at Stanford University, but dropped out before enrolling in any classes in 1995. After this, he and his brother founded his first startup, Zip2, but this is where the controversy lies.

Last year, the Washington Post published a detailed story about Musk’s immigration journey, claiming that Musk had worked illegally in the U.S. for years, from 1995 at his first startup, Zip2. Musk was in the U.S. on a student visa, but hadn’t enrolled at Stanford. He was therefore overstaying his visa by remaining in the U.S., and violating its terms by starting his own company. 

Musk denied the claims by the Post, saying that his student visa transitioned to an H-1B visa, which allowed him to work, but his story isn’t airtight. The story by the Post also included court documents and statements from former business associates that indicated that Musk was working illegally. Moreover, there is a damning video of Musk and his brother Kimbal Musk from the Milken Institute Global Conference in 2013, which was later reported on by CNN. While sharing anecdotes about the early days of their company, Kimbal shared how, after they got their first investments for their startup, their investors later found out that they were illegal immigrants. Musk was quick to correct his brother, calling it a “grey area.”

Considering that Musk was okay with starting his journey to wealth in an immigration “grey area,” it is ironic that he now insists that the only immigrants that should be allowed are hardworking and honest people willing to put their heads down and do the hard work to become a citizen. What was this “grey area” Musk was able to find, and why is he the only one who gets to use it?