Laid-off Indian techies on H-1B visas race against time to find new jobs

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Layoffs at Big Tech companies like Amazon, Meta, and Twitter have brought the H-1B visa — the non-immigrant work visa on which most Indians who worked at these companies are on — to the forefront. Once thought to be a safe option, layoffs have revealed the precarity of workers' conditions, as they must find work within 60 days of their last day of employment or leave the country.

LinkedIn is flooded with stories of laid-off workers, ranging from those who had only been with the company for a few weeks to those who had been there for up to eight years. While Meta laid off 11,000 employees and Twitter laid off half of its 7,500-person workforce and more since then, Amazon has been laying off employees in phases that will last until 2023.

Raju Kadam, a laid-off Meta employee, wrote on LinkedIn that he had been in the US for 16 years and that his sons are also US citizens, adding that their lives would be affected as he will have to leave the country.

“I am heartbroken to say that my role at Alexa Conversations Data Generations Team has been impacted by the recent #techlayoffs as of this morning at Amazon. Due to the nature of my visa, I have limited time to look out for new work opportunities,” wrote Tejal, who worked at Amazon and was laid off, on LinkedIn.

Immigration lawyers noted a significant increase in inquiries as workers consider their options for staying in the country while racing against the clock.

What are the options?

Sophie Alcorn, founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of Alcorn Immigration Law, said that most laid-off workers in the US are on the H-1B visa, while some are on H-4 work permits, which are issued to certain H-1B dependents.

She added that a smaller number of those affected by the layoffs are also on the L1 visa (intra-company transfer — such as when a company transfers an employee from India to the US), F1 (student visa), regular OPT or science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) OPT (Optional Practical Training after studying) work permits.

“For the vast majority of Indian nationals in the United States who are affected by the layoffs, they're going to be on H-1B status and L1 status. If they are laid off, they have 60 days from the cessation of employment, to either transfer their visa to a new company, change their status or leave the United States,” Alcorn told Moneycontrol.

The only exception, in this case, is for workers on the H-1B visa who have advanced far enough in their Green Card application.

“But what I saw from the Twitter layoffs and the people who were seeking help on job boards, most of the international people who need immigration sponsorship in a future role are on H-1B, they have not advanced through the Green Card process…they really just have 60 days to get a new job, change their status or leave the country,” she said.

Poorvi Chothani, founder and managing partner of LawQuest, an immigration and employment law firm, told Moneycontrol that a new employer can file an H-1B petition for workers who have been counted in the lottery in the last six years, without having to wait for the expected lottery in April.

If the worker is not in the US and is visiting India, the situation is complicated. In this case, they must find another job before entering the US.

Even if a person has an H-1B visa with multiple entries, according to Alcorn, they may be questioned at the airport about their offer letter, recent pay stubs, a letter from their employer, and other documents. Chothani says they can regain H-1B status if a new employer files the necessary paperwork. If the old visa is valid, they can travel with the new approval on the newly filed H-1B.

Laid-off workers who want to find another job within the next 60 days must now find a new company to sponsor their visa and file a change of employer petition where they are paid the prevailing wage. However, most L1 visa holders do not have this option.

“Broadly speaking, the prevailing wage is the wage paid to similarly qualified people, doing similar jobs in the geographic region or the actual wage paid to similarly qualified and employed people at the company, whichever is higher,” Chothani says.

Availability of jobs

Both point out that the issue may not be a lack of job opportunities. The concern is that Americans will soon be on vacation due to Thanksgiving, the December holidays, and then the New Year, at a time when Big Tech companies also have hiring freezes.

Alcorn notes that the majority of laid-off workers likely have savings or will receive severance pay, which will let them stay in Silicon Valley for a few more months.

“The US colleagues get to take a mental health break, think about the meaning of their lives, decide if they want to be a startup founder, etc... They have time runway, whereas Indian nationals on H-1B, even if they have enough money and have great startup ideas, they don't have time runway. They are looking for new jobs as quickly as possible. It's going to be hard for people to get jobs in the holiday season in the next 60 days,” she says.

She adds that workers have also reached out, asking if her law firm can put them in touch with potential employers, services they do not provide. The challenge in employees finding jobs, she says, is matching demand to supply. Employers cannot advertise jobs to target visa-ready employees as that would be a discriminatory practice.

“There is demand in my opinion. If these employees looked hard enough in the 60-day grace period, and were flexible, ready to go to remote locations, are ready to work at local prevailing wages, etc. jobs are available,” Chothani said.

Return to India

One of the options currently available to laid-off workers is the possibility of returning to India, but according to HR experts, the workers largely do not intend to do so.

Sriram Rajagopal, co-founder of talent sourcing firm Diamondpick, says that workers aren’t looking to return to India currently, and there are sufficient tech jobs in the US. Additionally, he pointed out that sectors such as retail and BFSI are still hiring.

The demand for talent in the US has not decreased, according to Kamal Karanth, co-founder of specialised staffing firm Xpheno. Karanth asserts that there is still a shortage of good tech talent, taking into account IT services companies, product companies, consulting firms, startups, and non-tech firms seeking tech talent.

“There is a shortage of tech talent which has always existed. They were trying to make do by shipping jobs in India, paying more salaries there, etc. The demand for technology guys has not shot down to an extent where all these guys are to look for a job back home,” he says.

Rituparna Chakraborty, co-founder of TeamLease Services, says that the workers are people with niche skill sets that are typically always in demand and aren’t redundant.

“Things will cool off, things will become a lot more rational and reasonable. It's just how you can wait it out. I don't think people will want to take any knee-jerk reaction. The first option would be that let's look for something else. They might compromise on job roles, on compensation, and might move to gigs. People may do whatever they can to stick around essentially — that should be the advisable modus operandi,” she says.