The Indian Panorama

Tag: H1B

  • Google, Meta, Amazon hiring low-paid H1B workers after US layoffs: report

    Google, Meta, Amazon hiring low-paid H1B workers after US layoffs: report

    According to a report, Google swiftly filed H1B visa applications for international H1B hires, including software engineers, consultants, researchers, and various other roles, just a month after Sundar Pichai’s announcement of the company’s plan to cut 12,000 jobs.

    SAN FRANCISCO (TIP): Even as global tech giants are carrying out mass layoffs, several top Silicon Valley companies are reportedly looking to hire lower-paid tech workers from foreign countries. Google, Meta, Amazon, Microsoft, Zoom, Salesforce and Palantir have applied for thousands of H1B worker visas this year, according to a US Department of Labor data, reported independent investigative journalist Lee Fang.

    Ironically, thousands of workers on H1B visa, including Indians, have been affected by the layoffs in the United States, with many taking to social media to share the news and seek new opportunities.

    Just a month after Sundar Pichai announced Google’s plan to cut 12,000 jobs around the world in January, the company filed applications for H1B visas to hire software engineers, analytical consultants, user experience researchers and other roles from outside the United States, with several requests aimed for new Google employees to join in August, the report states. Google parent Alphabet owned Waymo too has reportedly filed similar H1B applications to hire engineers. Meta has laid off nearly 25 per cent of its estimated workforce in just a few months in what CEO Mark Zuckerberg has called the company’s “year of efficiency” as the US tech sector continues to downsize. Amazon CEO Andy Jassy in March laid out a plan to cut 9,000 more jobs from the online retail giant’s workforce, following the 18,000 that were axed in January.

    The layoffs account for a smaller percentage of Amazon’s total workforce, which ran up to 1.5 million people in December 2022, than the cuts seen at some other tech giants.
    Jassy told workers that the extra layoffs were necessary as the company seeks to downsize after years of hiring, particularly during the coronavirus pandemic when people turned to the internet for shopping.

    In January, Microsoft said it would eliminate 10,000 jobs, almost 5 per cent of the global workforce, as it braces for a potential recession. In an email to employees, CEO Satya Nadella said, “While we are eliminating roles in some areas, we will continue to hire in key strategic areas.

    (Source: Money Control)

  • 2024 H-1B Cap Registration period opens March 1

    2024 H-1B Cap Registration period opens March 1

    NEW YORK (TIP): U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that the initial registration period for the fiscal year 2023 H-1B cap will open at 12 p.m. EST on March 1 and extend to 12 p.m. EST on March 17, 2023. During this period, prospective petitioners and representatives will be able to complete and submit their registrations using the USCIS online H-1B registration system.

    Prospective H-1B cap-subject petitioners or their representatives are required to use a myUSCIS online account to register each beneficiary for the selection process and pay the associated $10 H-1B registration fee for each registration. Prospective petitioners submitting their own registrations (i.e., U.S. employers and U.S. agents) will use a “registrant” account. Registrants will be able to create new accounts beginning at 12 p.m. ET on Feb. 21. Of note, the USCIS confirmation number assigned to each registrant is used solely to track registrations and cannot be used to track the case status in Case Status Online.

    Moreover, representatives may add clients to their accounts at any time, but both representatives and registrants must wait until March 1 to enter beneficiary information and submit the registration with the $10 fee. Through the account, prospective petitioners will be able to prepare, edit, and store draft registrations prior to final payment and submission of each registration.

    After the registration period is completed, USCIS will begin the H-1B cap selection process. Petitioners will be notified of the selected registrants via selection notifications sent to their my USCIS online accounts through March 31. An H-1B cap-subject petition, including a petition for a beneficiary who is eligible for the advanced degree exemption, may only be filed by a petitioner whose registration for the beneficiary named in the H-1B petition was selected in the H-1B registration process.

  • Laid off Indian employees on H1B visa in the United States still struggling to find a job

    Laid off Indian employees on H1B visa in the United States still struggling to find a job

    WASHINGTON, D.C. (TIP): It has been a few months now and a new year but laid off Twitter and Meta employees are still struggling to find a new jobs given the macroeconomic conditions globally. Meta and Twitter laid off thousands globally. Many among them were Indians holding H1B visa. In 2022, employees working for tech companies were majorly impacted by layoffs. Some of the biggest layoffs that took place were at Twitter and Meta. Together, the two biggest tech companies laid off thousands of employees, many of which were Indians living in the United States with H1B visa. At the time of announcing layoffs, Meta head Mark Zuckerberg extended immigration support to foreign employees, but no such support was offered by Elon Musk-headed Twitter.

    (Source:  India Today Tech)

  • 174 Indian nationals file lawsuit against presidential proclamation on H-1B

    174 Indian nationals file lawsuit against presidential proclamation on H-1B

    WASHINGTON (TIP): A lawsuit has been filed by a group of 174 Indians, including seven minors, against the recent presidential proclamation on H-1B that would prevent them from entering the US due to the suspension of issuing of foreign work visas for the rest of the year.

    In his presidential proclamation on June 22, President Donald Trump temporarily suspended issuing of H-1B work visas till the end of the year.

    The H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers in specialty occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise. The technology companies depend on it to hire tens of thousands of employees each year from countries namely India and China.

    The lawsuit was filed by the Indians in the US District Court in the District of Columbia on Tuesday, July 14.

    Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson at the US District Court for the District of Columbia issued summonses on Wednesday to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and acting Secretary of Homeland Security Chad F Wolf, along with Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia.

    “The proclamation 10052’s H-1B/H-4 visa ban hurts the United States’ economy, separates families and defies the Congress. While the two former points render it unseemly, the latter point renders it unlawful,” said the lawsuit filed by lawyer Wasden Banias on behalf of the 174 Indian nationals.

    The lawsuit seeks an order declaring the presidential proclamation restriction on issuing new H-1B or H-4 visas or admitting new H-1B or H-4 visa holders as unlawful.

    An H-4 visa is a visa issued by the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to immediate family members of the H-1B visa holders.

    The lawsuit also urges the court to compel the Department of State to issue decisions on pending requests for H-1B and H-4 visas.

    “In the administration of our nation’s immigration system, we must remain mindful of the impact of foreign workers on the United States labor market, particularly in the current extraordinary environment of high domestic unemployment and depressed demand for labor,” said the proclamation issued by Trump.

    Trump said the overall unemployment rate in the US nearly quadrupled between February and May of 2020, producing some of the most extreme unemployment ever recorded by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

    While the May rate of 13.3 per cent reflects a marked decline from April, millions of Americans remain out of work.

    The proclamation also extends till year-end his previous executive order that had banned issuance of new green cards of lawful permanent residency.

    Green Card holders, once admitted pursuant to immigrant visas, are granted “open-market” employment authorization documents, allowing them immediate eligibility to compete for almost any job in any sector of the economy, Trump said.

    Forbes, which first reported the lawsuit filed by the Indian nationals, said the complaint points out that the Congress specified the rules under which H-1B visa holders could work in the US and balanced the interests of US workers and employers.

    “The complaint seeks to protect H-1B professionals, including those who have passed the labor certification process and possess approved immigrant petitions. Such individuals are waiting for their priority date to obtain permanent residence, a wait that can take many years for Indian nationals,” Forbes reported.

    Meanwhile, several lawmakers urged Scalia on Tuesday to reverse the work visa ban.

    “Throughout this administration, the president has continued to lament the alleged abuses of the immigration system while failing to address the systemic problems that have persisted and allowed businesses and employers to exploit and underpay immigrant workers, guest workers and American workers,” the lawmakers wrote.

    “This misguided attempt by the president to scapegoat immigrants for policy failures during the pandemic not only serves to hurt immigrants but dismisses the true problem of a broken work visa programme that is in desperate need of reform,” said the letter.

    The letter among others was signed by congressmen Joaquin Castro, Chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus; Bobby Scott, Chair of the Education and Labor Committee; Karen Bass, Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus; Judy Chu, Raul Grijalva, Vicente Gonzalez, Yvette Clarke and Linda Sánchez.

    (Source: PTI)