{"id":15298,"date":"2023-11-07T13:15:21","date_gmt":"2023-11-07T12:15:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ceoinfluencers.com\/?p=15298"},"modified":"2023-11-07T13:15:21","modified_gmt":"2023-11-07T12:15:21","slug":"was-elon-musk-an-illegal-immigrant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ceoinfluencers.com\/was-elon-musk-an-illegal-immigrant\/","title":{"rendered":"Was Elon Musk An Illegal Immigrant"},"content":{"rendered":"
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When the world found out about tech entrepreneur and futurist Elon Musk being an undocumented immigrant, it sent shockwaves. Born in Pretoria, South Africa, Musk migrated from his homeland with few resources and used his own determination to get an education abroad. Despite the many obstacles he has faced in trying to become an integral part of society, he has achieved major success and become a household name.<\/p>\n

Musk came to the United States to study at the University of Pennsylvania when he was 17. In 1997, after graduation, he applied for a student visa, which he received. This allowed him to stay in the US legally; however, his visa eventually expired and he was again left undocumented.<\/p>\n

Musk’s path to success was not easy. After his graduation in 1997, he found his first major success working in Silicon Valley with his brother, Kimbal. Together, they created a company called Zip2, which was acquired by Compaq in 1999 for $307 million. In 2002 he cofounded the online payment system PayPal, which was acquired by eBay for $1.5 billion in 2002. With this success, he became a billionaire.<\/p>\n

Musk took considerable risk in pursuing his American dream and was heavily reliant on the country’s immigration laws at the time. He managed to obtain several visas over the years, including a work visa in 2002 and an investor visa in 2007. But due to his undocumented status, Musk was ineligible to apply for a green card, which would have allowed him stay in the US permanently.<\/p>\n