South African billionaire businessman Elon Musk worked illegally in the United States for a brief period in the 1990s while building a startup. The Washington Post reported on Saturday.
According to the report, Musk arrived in Palo Alto, California, in 1995 to attend Stanford University, but never enrolled in a graduate program there. Instead, he developed the software company Zip2, which was sold in 1999 for about $300 million, according to the outlet.
Quoting two immigration law experts mail He said Musk would have needed to enroll in a full course of study in order to maintain a valid work permit as a student.
Musk did not respond to requests for comment sent to four of his companies SpaceX, Tesla, social media company X and The Boring Company, nor Musk’s lawyer Alex Spiro.
“I was there legally, but I was supposed to do student work. I was allowed to do work that supported anything,” Musk said in a 2020 podcast cited by The Post.
The Washington Post He cited two of Musk’s former colleagues who recalled that Musk obtained his work permit in the United States in or around 1997.
Musk has supported Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump in the US elections scheduled for November 5.
Trump has for years portrayed immigrants as invaders and criminals, and during his 2017-2021 presidency he took strict steps to limit legal and illegal immigration. He promises the largest deportation effort in US history if re-elected.