The legal entitlement of foreign workers to remain in the United States has been put in jeopardy by recent mass layoffs at multiple technology companies such as Twitter, Meta, and several other internet firms. Tech businesses frequently use foreign workers who enter the nation on H-1B visas, a form of work visa that enables American companies to hire foreigners in specialized fields. An H-1B visa holder who loses their job has sixty days to leave the United States and return to their home country, find another employer willing to sponsor them for an H-1B visa, or switch to another type of visa.
When being laid off out of the blue, the short window of sixty days is not enough time for many immigrants to figure out their next steps. One of their options includes going back to school and converting to a student visa in order to buy extra time. Another option some people decide on is to apply for a B-2 visa in order to stay in the U.S. longer.
Unless they are very far along in the approval process, getting laid off by their employers might harm an H-1B visa holder’s prospects of obtaining a green card and becoming a permanent resident of the United States. Since many of these foreign technology workers have homes or are paying for their children’s education in the United States, a layoff may be especially detrimental.
