Did Elon Musk Violate U.S. Immigration Laws?

Catherine E. Shoichet, CNN, Sept. 29, 2024

"At the 2013 event, the brothers also touched on a topic they’ve discussed less frequently in public: their immigration status during the company’s founding. In early 1996, their startup, an early online city guide and mapping tool, got a $3 million infusion from venture capitalists. The investors soon found themselves surprised, according to Kimbal Musk’s account captured in a video of the 2013 event posted on the Milken Institute’s YouTube page. “When they did fund us,” Kimbal Musk recalled, “they realized that we were illegal immigrants.” “Well…” Elon Musk interjected. “Yes, we were,” Kimbal Musk pushed back. Video of the remarks shows Elon Musk laughing as he jumped in with a different interpretation: “I’d say it was a gray area.” He didn’t elaborate, and it’s unclear what Elon Musk meant by that characterization. The Musk brothers haven’t responded to CNN’s requests for comment on the exchange, nor to reports earlier this year quoting it on the tech website Gizmodo and in The Los Angeles Times. Other accounts they’ve shared in public, and descriptions in biographies of the billionaire entrepreneur, don’t specify what kind of visas they had when founding the company or at later points — key details that would reveal what requirements they would have needed to meet to maintain a legal status in the US."