List of Famous H1B Visa Holders
1. Elon Musk (Founder of Tesla & SpaceX)
Born in South Africa.
First went to Canada on a student visa, then later migrated to the United States.
In the early stages of his career, he worked in the U.S. through an H1B visa.
Later, he obtained a Green Card and eventually U.S. citizenship.
2. Satya Nadella (CEO of Microsoft)
Born in India.
During his early years at Microsoft, he worked in the U.S. through an H1B visa.
Later, he obtained a Green Card and U.S. citizenship, and today he is the CEO of Microsoft.
3. Sundar Pichai (CEO of Google & Alphabet)
Born in Chennai, India.
Went to the United States on a student visa to study at Stanford.
After completing his studies, he joined work through an H1B visa.
Rose through Google, and today he is the CEO of Alphabet & Google.
4. Melania Trump
Born in Slovenia.
Came to the United States in the 1990s and obtained an H1B visa to work as a model.
Later, she received a Green Card, became a U.S. citizen, and eventually the First Lady.
5. Arvind Krishna – CEO of IBM
6. Shantanu Narayen – CEO of Adobe Systems
👉 Summary:
The H1B visa has long been a key pathway for highly skilled foreign professionals to work in the United States. Many globally renowned leaders began their careers in the U.S. through this visa before rising to great prominence.
💼 Business Sector
Vinod Khosla – Co-founder of Sun Microsystems, Venture Capitalist
Jayshree Ullal – CEO of Arista Networks
Tharun Pichai – Entrepreneur, Tech Industry (Brother of Sundar Pichai)
🎭 Arts & Entertainment
Melania Trump – Former U.S. First Lady, received H1B visa for modeling
Priyanka Chopra – Actress, initially worked in the U.S. on an H1B visa (Film + TV contracts)
Kalpana Chawla – Indian-origin Astronaut, worked at NASA through H1B visa
🔬 Science & Research
Rajeev Gupta – Software Engineer & Entrepreneur, former HP executive
Salwa Hussain – Data Scientist, worked in several research organizations
📌 Key Note:
Many who began their professional journey in the U.S. through the H1B visa later obtained Green Cards → U.S. Citizenship, and went on to become global leaders in their respective fields.
