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Facebook parent company Meta announced the first major job cuts in its history this week, eliminating 11,000 jobs. At tech companies like Twitter, Stripe, Brakes, Lyft, Netflix and other Bay Area-based tech companies, many of the affected workers are immigrants with work visas.
An unexpected layoff can disrupt anyone’s life, but when an H-1B worker loses their job, the clock starts ticking loudly: Unless they find a new job or change their immigration status within 60 days, they are required to leave. The country.
And with tech companies of every size issuing hiring freezes and planning further layoffs, their ability to live and work in the US is suddenly in question.
Earlier today, I hosted a Q&A with Silicon Valley-based immigration attorney Sophie Alcorn for laid-off (or who think they might be) foreign tech workers.
Alcorn, who writes “Dear Sophie” for TechCrunch+’s weekly advice column, shares general information for Visa employees and hiring managers looking for talent. If you’re a fired visa holder, your first order of business is to “find a lawyer and find out your last day of employment because that’s when you start counting the 60-day grace period,” Alcorn said.
You get a new job, leave, or find another way to stay in the United States legally, but you must take some action within 60 days. It takes time for a new employer to file paperwork with US Citizenship and Immigration Services, so start looking for new opportunities now, she said.
“The best case scenario is that this new company will file your new employer change application and USCIS will receive the paperwork on or before the 59th day from your last day of employment,” Alcorn said.
“It will take at least three weeks to prepare everything,” which means that candidates and employers must move quickly as the days are dwindling. “You’ll probably need a signed offer around the 33rd,” she said.
Based on her experience, Alcorn estimates that 15% of people laid off from Bay Area startups are immigrants, and 90% are H-1B holders. Below, you’ll find answers to many of the questions we receive [edited for space and clarity].
I was fired while I was abroad, but my lawyer advised me to go to ISTA, which I did. Does the 60-day grace period still apply?
Sophie Alcorn: If you are in the United States on ESTA after being fired abroad, you are no longer in H-1B status. To get a new H-1B, you must leave the country and try to come back and start working.
You no longer have a 60-day grace period; You left him. If you are in the United States for 90 days under the Visa Waiver Program on ESTA, the only thing you can do to change or extend your status is to marry a US citizen and sponsor them for a green card.
It should be a true and good faith marriage. You should think about sharing a life together, that your families know each other, that you do romantic comedy together, and that you have photos to prove it. And the government is going to check after two years to make sure you’re still married.
I am currently on OPT and my H-1B was approved but not activated. Can I change employers without going through the lottery right away? Or does my H-1B need to be activated first?
They can change employers without you. [doing so]. When you interview for jobs, you need to make it very clear to the HR person that you think you qualify for an H-1B change of employer, and you really need their immigration attorneys to look closely, because basically, all you need is a change of status from F-1 or OPT to H-1B in the United States, as well as a change of employer. .
