BENGALURU: Tech workers have been laid off, especially H-1B visa holders who had to find work within 60 days to avoid having to leave the US and return to their home country, are using LinkedIn and other social channels to reach out to their network to find new jobs. And some are seeing offers of help pouring in, including from Indian companies.
Raju Kadam, before The senior technical program manager at Facebook’s parent company Meta, who was among 11,000 people fired by the company last week, shared a photo of his children on LinkedIn and said. “My watch leaving America started today. I am reaching out to all my Metamates, connections, LinkedIn communities to help me find a job or else I have to leave the US with my kids. I don’t expect to be fired, as I’ve had a strong performance all quarters since I joined Meta. I started an incredible journey to work at Meta 9 months ago, but it came to an abrupt end. ”
Kadam’s post received more than 23,000 feedbackIncludes many offers of help.
Madhura Dighe, a former software engineer at Twitter, said, “This isn’t easy to write, but let’s get started. I am among the 50% of employees affected by layoffs at Twitter. I signed out of corporate Gmail and Slack for the evening with my teammates. No contact at all. ”
Cyrus D Mehta, managing partner at the New York-based law firm Cyrus D Mehta & Partners, said that when an H-1B employee is laid off or terminated, they will receive 60 days of additional benefits. The term allows them to continue working in H-1B status to find a new job. “New employers must file an H-1B within a 60-day period. This 60-day period may not be enough to find a new job. H-1B workers should negotiate that their employment with the company that is terminating they are extended as long as possible because the 60-day grace period will only begin when the paid employment ends.”
An Indian worker is at a disadvantage because of the green card backlog caused by each country’s restrictions, he said. A green card allows a person to live and work permanently in the US, but the country’s limit on green cards issued each year, coupled with the rush of green card applications in India, means that today there are more than 70,000 Indians waiting for it. Many of those applicants are working on visas such as H-1B.
Mehta said the Biden administration could help by changing the 60-day extension rule by allowing more time for H-1B workers to stay in the US. But he notes that changing the rule will take time because governance often has to comply with notice and comment requirements before changing the rule. “The government must also be inclined to do this,” he said.
Meanwhile, companies in India are inviting those laid off in the US to return home. Harsh Jain, CEO and co-founder of Dream Sports, is among those offering the job. “With all of the 2022 Tech layoffs (52,000+!) in the US, please spread the word to remind Indians to return home (especially those with visa issues) to help the Company. Indian tech realizes our hyper growth potential over the next decade!,” Jain tweeted.
Silicon Valley-based academic and entrepreneur Vivek Wadhwa said the layoffs are good news for India as hundreds of very highly qualified people will return to the country and join the workforce there. “It’s a loss for America because skilled workers are forced to leave and they won’t encourage others to come here when the market is better. Many people will take the huge savings they have and set up a company in India. This is immigrant migration for which I wrote a book, in which I want the United States to lose its competitiveness because of its really bad immigration policies,” he said.
Raju Kadam, before The senior technical program manager at Facebook’s parent company Meta, who was among 11,000 people fired by the company last week, shared a photo of his children on LinkedIn and said. “My watch leaving America started today. I am reaching out to all my Metamates, connections, LinkedIn communities to help me find a job or else I have to leave the US with my kids. I don’t expect to be fired, as I’ve had a strong performance all quarters since I joined Meta. I started an incredible journey to work at Meta 9 months ago, but it came to an abrupt end. ”
Kadam’s post received more than 23,000 feedbackIncludes many offers of help.
Madhura Dighe, a former software engineer at Twitter, said, “This isn’t easy to write, but let’s get started. I am among the 50% of employees affected by layoffs at Twitter. I signed out of corporate Gmail and Slack for the evening with my teammates. No contact at all. ”
Cyrus D Mehta, managing partner at the New York-based law firm Cyrus D Mehta & Partners, said that when an H-1B employee is laid off or terminated, they will receive 60 days of additional benefits. The term allows them to continue working in H-1B status to find a new job. “New employers must file an H-1B within a 60-day period. This 60-day period may not be enough to find a new job. H-1B workers should negotiate that their employment with the company that is terminating they are extended as long as possible because the 60-day grace period will only begin when the paid employment ends.”
An Indian worker is at a disadvantage because of the green card backlog caused by each country’s restrictions, he said. A green card allows a person to live and work permanently in the US, but the country’s limit on green cards issued each year, coupled with the rush of green card applications in India, means that today there are more than 70,000 Indians waiting for it. Many of those applicants are working on visas such as H-1B.
Mehta said the Biden administration could help by changing the 60-day extension rule by allowing more time for H-1B workers to stay in the US. But he notes that changing the rule will take time because governance often has to comply with notice and comment requirements before changing the rule. “The government must also be inclined to do this,” he said.
Meanwhile, companies in India are inviting those laid off in the US to return home. Harsh Jain, CEO and co-founder of Dream Sports, is among those offering the job. “With all of the 2022 Tech layoffs (52,000+!) in the US, please spread the word to remind Indians to return home (especially those with visa issues) to help the Company. Indian tech realizes our hyper growth potential over the next decade!,” Jain tweeted.
Silicon Valley-based academic and entrepreneur Vivek Wadhwa said the layoffs are good news for India as hundreds of very highly qualified people will return to the country and join the workforce there. “It’s a loss for America because skilled workers are forced to leave and they won’t encourage others to come here when the market is better. Many people will take the huge savings they have and set up a company in India. This is immigrant migration for which I wrote a book, in which I want the United States to lose its competitiveness because of its really bad immigration policies,” he said.
