Headline, January 10 2022/ ''' '' TECH LAYOFFS TENS '' '''

''' '' TECH LAYOFFS

 TENS '' '''

AS OF 2019 FOREIGN-BORN WORKERS IN THE U.S. made up almost a quarter of all STEM workers, up from about 16 percent in the year 2000, according to an analysis of census data by the American Immigration Council.

The visa holders are concentrated in California, home to Twitter, Meta and Apple, and in Washington State, home to Amazon, Microsoft, Zillow and Expedia.

But they are also in states like Arkansas, toiling at the headquarters of Tyson, the poultry processor, to improve production efficiencies, and at Walmart, to design systems for self-checkouts.

Last year, U.S. employers filed more than 480,000 petitions for the 85,000 H-IB visas available, and as in previous years, the government turned to a lottery to allocate them because of the large volume of applications.

TECH LAYOFFS LEAVE FOREIGN WORKERS SCRAMBLING for new jobs. It's a hardship for many, but those on visas may be required to leave the U.S.

''The magnitude of the layoffs is of the likes I have never seen before. There is chaos and confusion,'' said Tahmina Wilson, an immigration lawyer in Seattle who has been barraged with queries from laid-off foreign workers.

''Not only are tech companies laying people off in unprecedented numbers, but they are also implementing hiring freezes,'' she said, ''and thus, there are likely few alternative jobs for immigrant workers.''

SINCE Microsoft brought him to the United States 14 years ago, Abhishikt Jain has excelled professionally, raised a family and settled into a four-bedroom house with a garage ''full of unnecessary stuff,'' he said.

''You could say I achieved the American dream,'' said the software engineer, now 43, who is from India and lives in Bellevue, Wash.

But in October, Mr. Jain fell victim to layoffs batterring the tech industry, and suddenly his family future was thrust into uncertainty.

On the cusp of securing permanent U.S. residency after a 12-year wait, Mr.Jain instead faced the prospect of having to pack up and leave the United States unless he quickly found another job or finally received his green card.

Getting laid off during the holiday season is a blow to any worker. But for foreigners on temporary work visas, the challenges go far beyond managing without paychecks.

They must find jobs within 60 days at other companies willing to sponsor them for visas, or they must leave the country. And many stand to lose their shot at U.S. permanent residency after spending years in a greencard backlog.

So far this year, more than 146,000 tech workers have been laid off, according to Layoffs.fyi, which tracks them, 51,000 in November alone. A substantial share of those terminated were foreigners, even though employers have not disclosed how many workers on temporary visas have been let go.

The cutbacks have sent anxious workers scrambling to find new jobs, and as the clock ticks, looking for possible workarounds, such as transfering to temporary visitor status to buy a little more time to job hunt.

Mr. Jain, who lost his job at Microsoft in October, is among tens of thousands of Indian engineers who for years have been creating software at information technology companies like Cisco, social media platforms like Meta and online retailers like Amazon.

Because of their crucial role, and a dearth of American graduates in STEM fields - science, technology, engineering and mathematics - many foreign workers are being sponsored by their employers for U.S. permanent residency.

While parked in the backlog waiting for approval, the immigrants have built lives in the United States : They have had American children, taken out mortgages and become rooted in their communities.

MOST are on high-skilled worker visas known as H-IBs. More than 500,000 people are in the United States under the visas, the largest number of these from India, followed by China, with the majority in science and technology fields.

Demand for such talent has soared as the U.S. economy has become increasingly reliant on technology. Between 2000 and 2019, the number of tech workers in the United States jumped by 44 percent, to 10.8 million from 7.5 million. For their programming, coding and other skills, many receive six-figure salaries.

The Honour and Serving of the Latest Global Operational Research on Tech, Markets, Economy and Layoffs, continues. The World Students Society thanks author Miriam Jordan.

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