For workers on H-1B visas and their families, more tech layoffs threaten future in United States

More tech layoffs are hitting western Washington as Microsoft will lay off nearly 700 more local workers starting in May.

The notice on Monday comes after a wave of layoffs this year including 1,500 cuts at Microsoft in January and February and another 2,300 at Amazon. The effective layoff date for many of those jobs is just weeks away.

That means the clock is ticking for those tech workers here on H-1B visas who have 60 days to either find a new job or leave the country.

An H-1B visa is a nonimmigrant classification for people who wish to work in the country on a temporary basis.

While companies do not typically disclose the number of laid-off workers on visas, data from the US Department of Labor shows more than 6,400 workers on H-1B visas in Washington. That's about 7% of the country's H-1B workforce.

[yannip]

Corporate America is now outsourcing to Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam, etc. and no more India. Corporate America always finds new ways to solve a crisis.

[dubseatv]

Go to a nice part of Mexico and wait it out. Lots of these tech guys have hundreds of thousands in their bank accounts. I don’t feel bad for them at all TBH

[totalitarianism]

I read the form online on my way back from a trip to Mexico, had a deported idiot uncle who was trying to get back here but couldn't due to criminal record.

[TheUmaragu]

The H-1B is a temporary (nonimmigrant) visa; no one should have built up an expectation otherwise. Why is returning to India such a terrible option- India is not ravaged by war. Your parents raised you while they lived and worked in India. Did they not?

[bijaykhanal]

everything we have built will come to an end and from the ashes a new world will be created.

[totalitarianism]

If they have a child in the country if I'm not mistaken they can apply for permanent residency to work for supporting the child only. I've read it on a document online.