Top 10 immigrant billionaires in the United States: Jensen Huang used to clean toilets, and Elon Musk took a decade to obtain U.S. citizenship.

In the United States, new immigrants are constantly breaking the self - made wealth records.

The Forbes list in July 2025 showed that the top ten richest people who were born overseas and later naturalized or settled in the United States had a total wealth of approximately $867 billion, equivalent to the GDP of Switzerland.

Among them, three technology giants, Elon Musk, Sergey Brin, and Jensen Huang, accounted for 77% of the total wealth on the list.

The technology industry, with seven people on the list, contributed more than 80% of the total wealth. These ten richest people were born in various places such as South Africa, Taiwan (China), Hungary, and Ukraine, and their industries covered diverse fields including AI chips, electric vehicles, cloud security, media, and gambling.

In this article, FoinSight will focus on these ten richest people. Many of them went through hardships when immigrating to the United States. For example, Elon Musk took ten years to obtain U.S. citizenship.

I. Elon Musk

Net worth: $393.1 billion

Title: Founder of Tesla and SpaceX

Place of birth: South Africa

On June 28, 1971, Musk was born in Pretoria (now known as Tshwane), the capital of South Africa. His grandfather was a healer, pilot, and political activist, his mother was a Canadian - born model and nutritionist, and his father was a mechanical and electrical engineer and real - estate developer.

Influenced by his grandfather's adventure stories, Musk claimed that his family had the spirit of "adventure and exploration." His parents divorced when he was nine years old, and he lived with his father. During his studies at various schools in South Africa, Musk suffered from school bullying. When he was at Bryanston High School, he was even pushed down the stairs and sent to the hospital injured.

Musk (front row, left) in the chess team in the school's 1985 yearbook. Photo source: Bryanston High School

As a teenager, to avoid mandatory military service in South Africa, Musk applied for a Canadian passport through his Canadian - born mother. While waiting for the passport approval, Musk briefly studied at the University of Pretoria. In 1990, he entered Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario. In 1992, he transferred to the University of Pennsylvania in the United States with a J - 1 exchange visitor visa. He completed his studies in 1995 but did not receive his double degrees in physics and economics until 1997.

Musk's name appears on the donor list of the new auditorium at Pretoria Boys High School

In 1995, Musk moved to California and enrolled at Stanford University, but then decided to go into business. He co - founded the web software company Zip2 with his brother Kimbal, which was later acquired by Compaq for $307 million. After that, Musk co - founded the online bank X.com with others, and the company merged with Confinity to form PayPal. In 2002, Musk founded SpaceX.

Moving to the United States was a crucial turning point in Musk's career. He arrived in the United States in 1992, but it took him ten years until 2002 to finally obtain U.S. citizenship.

II. Sergey Brin

Net worth: $139.7 billion

Title: Co - founder of Google

Place of birth: Russia

On August 21, 1973, Sergey Mikhailovich Brin was born into a Jewish family in Moscow. His parents, Mikhail Brin and Eugenia Brin, were both mathematics scholars and graduated from Moscow State University.

In 1977, after experiencing the free atmosphere in the West at a Polish mathematics conference, Mikhail decided to immigrate with his family. After applying for an exit visa in 1978, the couple lost their jobs one after another and could only make a living by doing odd jobs. While waiting for approval, they also worried about being rejected. They were allowed to leave the country in May 1979, and the family moved around in Vienna and Paris before arriving in the United States in October of the same year.

After arriving in the United States, his parents worked at the University of Maryland and NASA respectively. They paid great attention to Sergey's education, encouraging him to study mathematics and maintain his Russian language proficiency. Sergey studied at Eleanor Roosevelt High School and the University of Maryland and graduated with excellent grades at the age of 19.

Google founders Larry Page (left) and Sergey Brin (right)

With a scholarship, Brin entered Stanford University for a master's degree. During this period, he met Larry Page, and the two jointly developed the predecessor search engine of Google. Years later, Brin learned about the hardships his parents had endured in the Soviet Union, which deeply influenced him. This family history not only shaped his values but may also have been one of the inspirations for Google's "Don't be evil" concept.

III. Jensen Huang

Net worth: $137.9 billion

Title: Co - founder of Nvidia

Place of birth: Taiwan, China

Jensen Huang was born in Tainan, Taiwan (China) in 1963. His father, Huang Xingtai, was an engineer, and his mother, Luo Caixiu, was a teacher. His father once went to the United States for work - related training, which later became an opportunity for his son to study in the United States. When he was a child, his family moved to Thailand. Due to the political turmoil in Thailand in 1973, his parents sent nine - year - old Jensen and his elder brother to the United States to live with their uncle.

At first, Jensen and his brother were mistakenly sent to a strict boarding school, Oneida Baptist Institute, where life was tough. Jensen later recalled, "Those kids were very tough, and they all carried knives." During that time, one of his main tasks was to clean the dormitory toilets.

After his parents moved to the United States in 1972, the brothers reunited with their parents and moved to Oregon. Jensen performed well at school, skipped two grades, and won the third place in the youth doubles at the U.S. Table Tennis Open when he was 15.

In 1984, Jensen graduated from Oregon State University with a major in electrical engineering and then worked at AMD and LSI Logic. He obtained a master's degree in electrical engineering from Stanford University in 1992. On his 30th birthday in 1993, Jensen founded NVIDIA with two friends, promoting the development of graphics computing and artificial intelligence.

IV. Thomas Peterffy

Net worth: $67.9 billion

Title: Founder of Interactive Brokers

Place of birth: Hungary

Thomas Peterffy was born in Budapest, Hungary, in 1944. After the failure of the Hungarian Revolution in 1956, his father immigrated to the United States. In 1965, Peterffy interrupted his studies and went to the United States to join his father.

Before setting off, he visited his relatives in Lucerne, Switzerland, and then waited in Munich for four months until he got permission to enter the United States. When he first arrived in New York, Peterffy didn't speak English and had a hard life. His father lived with his step - mother, and there was no extra room for him at home. Then his father only gave him $100 and said to him, "Go and make something of yourself." After that, Peterffy saved up $200,000 by working as a draftsman and programmer.

In 1977, Peterffy bought a seat on the stock exchange and started options trading. He used computer technology to develop handheld trading devices and pioneered market - making business, achieving success. In 1993, he founded Interactive Brokers, creating a leading digital trading platform and changing the global financial trading landscape. Peterffy sighed that his grandmother's books inspired him to understand freedom and entrepreneurial spirit, guiding his life direction.

V. Miriam Adelson and family

Net worth: $33.4 billion

Title: Owner of the Las Vegas Sands casino empire

Place of birth: Israel

Miriam Adelson (formerly Miriam Fabustan) was born in Tel Aviv, the British Mandate of Palestine, in 1945. She received her education in Israel and obtained degrees in microbiology and medicine from the Hebrew University and the Tel Aviv University School of Medicine respectively. She served as a military doctor during her mandatory military service and later became the chief physician in the emergency department of a Tel Aviv hospital.

In 1986, she went to Rockefeller University in the United States, focusing on drug addiction research and promoting the development of methadone therapy. She published many papers. She was first married to doctor Ariel Oxhorn and had two daughters. She met businessman Sheldon Adelson in 1989 and got married in 1991, having two sons.

Dr. Sheldon and Miriam Adelson

In 1993, the couple founded the Adelson Clinic in Israel and opened a branch in Las Vegas in 2000, focusing on drug abuse treatment. After Sheldon's death in 2021, she inherited the Las Vegas Sands Corporation, becoming the major shareholder and managing the family business.

With her business talent and charity work, she has been included in the global rich list many times. In December 2023, she and her son - in - law acquired a controlling stake in the NBA's Dallas Mavericks, holding 69% of the shares and helping the family continuously expand its business territory.

VI. Rupert Murdoch and family

Net worth: $24 billion

Title: Owner of the global media empire (News Corp and Fox)

Place of birth: Australia

Rupert Murdoch was born in Melbourne, Australia, in 1931. His grandfather was a Scottish pastor who immigrated to Australia in 1884. His father, Keith Murdoch, was a war correspondent and later became a newspaper magnate in the Adelaide area of South Australia and served as the chairman of a publishing company.

In 1952, his father died, and the family business was deeply in debt. Murdoch returned to Australia in 1954 to take over the family's newspaper business.

In 1964, Murdoch entered the New Zealand market and successfully acquired the Dominion Post in Wellington. In the same year, he founded Australia's first national daily newspaper, The Australian. He bought the Sydney Daily Telegraph in 1972 and the British Times in 1981, entering the British market.

Rupert Murdoch checking the first edition of The Sun he published in London

Murdoch naturalized as an American in 1985. In 1986, he acquired the Herald and Weekly Times, the largest newspaper company in Australia, expanding his influence in the country. From the 1980s to the 1990s, he acquired Twentieth Century Fox, HarperCollins Publishers, and The Wall Street Journal and founded British Sky Broadcasting Group. His media business spread all over the world.

In 1999, Murdoch entered the music industry and acquired a controlling stake in Australia's Mushroom Records. Entering the 21st century, Murdoch developed News Corp into the world's second - largest media group, covering diverse businesses such as newspapers, television, and movies.

VII. Peter Thiel

Net worth: $21.8 billion

Title: Co - founder of PayPal

Place of birth: Germany

On October 11, 1967, Peter Thiel was born in Frankfurt. His father, Klaus, was a chemical engineer who worked for several mining companies. Coupled with his mother frequently changing passports, Peter and his younger brother had a nomadic childhood.

Before settling in Foster City, California, in 1977, Peter's family also lived in South Africa during the apartheid era and South - West Africa (now Namibia). Peter changed seven primary schools, including a German - language school in Swakopmund, where strict corporal punishment was practiced. He recalled that this experience made him hate the one - size - fits - all and high - pressure disciplinary system.

Later, Peter's parents settled in the United States, but his father did not obtain U.S. citizenship. Peter studied at Stanford University, majoring in philosophy. After graduation, he attended Stanford Law School and obtained a Doctor of Juridical Science degree in 1992.