Five Pakistan-born Americans have been recognized on Forbes magazine’s list of the 250 “Greatest Living Immigrants,” a special tribute marking the 250th anniversary of American independence and celebrating the transformative contributions of immigrants to the United States.
The ranking highlights individuals whose achievements embody the enduring promise of the American Dream. From business leaders and technology pioneers to investors, innovators, and public figures, the honorees have helped shape industries, create jobs, and drive economic growth across America.
In introducing the list, Forbes notes that no symbol better represents America’s immigrant heritage than the Statue of Liberty, which stands as a tribute to the nation’s 50 million foreign-born residents and welcomes the “huddled masses yearning to breathe free.”
Fittingly, Lady Liberty is herself an immigrant—a gift from France in 1885—serving as a lasting reminder that the United States has long been a destination for those seeking opportunity and a better future for their families.
“Despite any current challenges, the American Dream is alive and well,” Forbes writes, echoing the experiences of many immigrant entrepreneurs featured in the ranking.
America has long been a place where people come to build a new life for themselves and their children. For the nation’s 250th anniversary, Forbes is honoring that legacy by ranking America’s 250 greatest living immigrants. https://t.co/n4AtXVVhiX #Forbes250
📸: Martin Schoeller… pic.twitter.com/WT0hfyRGhi
— Forbes (@Forbes) June 10, 2026
Leading the Pakistani-American contingent is entrepreneur and philanthropist Shahid Khan, 75, whose remarkable journey has become one of the most celebrated immigrant success stories in America.
Arriving in the United States with just $500 to pursue an engineering degree in Illinois, Khan transformed adversity into opportunity.
After eventually acquiring auto-parts manufacturer Flex-N-Gate, he built it into a multibillion-dollar enterprise and expanded his business interests to include ownership of the NFL’s Jacksonville Jaguars.
Khan is also known for hosting naturalization ceremonies at the Jaguars’ stadium, welcoming new Americans much as he was once welcomed.
Also featured is Qasar Younis, 44, ranked No. 83 on the list. A former chief operating officer of Silicon Valley accelerator Y Combinator, Younis co-founded Applied Intuition in 2017, a company whose software is helping accelerate the development of autonomous vehicles.
His work places him at the forefront of one of the most transformative technologies of the modern era.
At No. 220 is Tariq Farid, 56, founder of Edible Arrangements. Shortly after arriving in the United States, Farid worked at a local McDonald’s before opening a flower shop and eventually launching a business that revolutionized the gift industry.
Today, Edible Arrangements operates through more than 1,000 franchised locations, demonstrating how a simple entrepreneurial vision can grow into a nationally recognized brand.
Personal-computer pioneer Safi Qureshey, 75, ranks No. 222.
As co-founder of AST Research, Qureshey played a key role in the early days of the PC revolution.
The company became one of the leading computer manufacturers of its time before being acquired by Samsung in 1997, cementing his place among the innovators who helped bring computing into homes and offices around the world.
Completing the list is Mamoon Hamid, 48, ranked No. 237. As managing partner at venture-capital powerhouse Kleiner Perkins, Hamid has helped identify and nurture some of Silicon Valley’s most successful companies.
An early investor in firms such as Slack, Figma, Rippling, Glean, Applied Intuition, and Box, he has played a significant role in shaping the modern technology landscape.
The Forbes ranking also highlights the remarkable contributions of Indian Americans, who account for nearly two dozen names on the list and have played leading roles in technology, business, academia, and public life.
Among the highest-ranked Indian-born Americans is Vinod Khosla, the Sun Microsystems co-founder who helped shape Silicon Valley’s innovation culture and became one of the technology sector’s most influential venture capitalists.
The list also includes Sundar Pichai, the chief executive of Google and its parent company Alphabet, whose rise from India to the helm of one of the world’s most powerful technology companies has become a defining immigrant success story.
Another prominent honoree is Satya Nadella, who has transformed Microsoft into a global leader in cloud computing and artificial intelligence since becoming CEO in 2014.
The ranking recognizes Abhijit Banerjee, the Nobel Prize-winning economist whose pioneering research on poverty alleviation has influenced development policies around the world.
Also featured are Shantanu Narayen, who helped turn Adobe into a global software powerhouse, Arvind Krishna, the CEO steering IBM through its next generation of artificial intelligence and cloud-computing innovation, and former PepsiCo chief executive Indra Nooyi, one of the most influential business leaders of her generation.
At the very top of the Forbes ranking are some of the most recognizable immigrant success stories in modern American history.
Topping the list is Austrian-born Arnold Schwarzenegger, whose journey from champion bodybuilder to Hollywood superstar, billionaire businessman, and two-term governor of California epitomizes the possibilities available in America.
Schwarzenegger has often expressed his deep gratitude to his adopted homeland, once declaring that the label he values above all others is “American.”
Ranked second is South African-born entrepreneur Elon Musk, founder of SpaceX and one of the most influential innovators of the 21st century. Musk became a U.S. citizen in 2002, the same year he founded the private space exploration company that has transformed the aerospace industry.
Third on the list is Russian-born Sergey Brin, who arrived in the United States as a child after his family fled anti-Semitic persecution in the Soviet Union. His story highlights America’s long tradition of providing refuge and opportunity to those seeking freedom and a better future.
Taiwan-born Jensen Huang, chief executive of Nvidia and ranked fourth, is celebrated for helping build one of the world’s most valuable technology companies and for championing the role of immigration in driving American innovation and competitiveness.
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Completing the top five is Australian-born media mogul Rupert Murdoch, whose decades-long influence on American journalism, business, and politics has made him one of the most consequential figures in modern media.
Together, the stories of Pakistani Americans, Indian Americans, and countless other immigrants featured in the ranking underscore the extraordinary role newcomers have played in shaping the United States.
Pakistani American entrepreneur and author of American Dream Now and Forever Muhammad Nasimuddin says it is great to see that immigrants are being recognized by a major publication on the 250th anniversary of American Independence.
“From technology and entrepreneurship to science, media, and public service, their achievements demonstrate how generations of immigrants have helped fuel America’s prosperity, innovation, and global leadership,” he said.
“It is incumbent upon us as I argue in the book that we hand over America as a land of hope and opportunity, a place where innovation is born,” he added.
As the United States approaches its 250th anniversary, the Forbes list serves as both a celebration of individual accomplishment and a reminder that the nation’s success has long been intertwined with the dreams, talents, and determination of people who began their journeys far beyond its shores.
Ali Imran is a Washington-based journalist, who has worked for leading world news organizations as correspondent, expert and in editorial positions. He is a published author and poet.
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