Solutions for H-1B staff who’ve been laid off (or assume they is likely to be) • TechCrunch

Based on layoffs.fyi, greater than 23,000 tech staff have been laid off up to now this month. For comparability, the location tracked 12,463 layoffs in October.

Fb’s mum or dad firm Meta introduced the primary main job cuts in its historical past this week, eliminating 11,000 jobs. Like Twitter, Stripe, Brex, Lyft, Netflix and different tech companies primarily based within the Bay Space, most of the staff impacted are immigrants on employee visas.

An surprising layoff introduces a component of chaos into anybody’s life, however when an H-1B employee loses their job, a loud clock begins clicking: except they will land a brand new place or change their immigration standing inside 60 days, they’re required to depart the nation.

And since tech corporations at each dimension are enacting hiring freezes and planning extra cuts, their means to reside and work within the U.S. is immediately in query.

Earlier as we speak, I hosted a Q&A for overseas tech staff who’ve been laid off (or assume they is likely to be) with Silicon Valley-based immigration lawyer Sophie Alcorn.

Alcorn, who writes “Expensive Sophie,” a weekly recommendation column for TechCrunch+, shared basic data for visa staff and hiring managers who’re searching for expertise. For those who’re a visa holder who’s been laid off, your first precedence is to “discover a lawyer and work out your final day of employment, as a result of that’s when that you must begin counting the 60-day grace interval,” stated Alcorn.

“You both get a brand new job, you permit, or you determine another approach to legally keep in the USA, however it’s important to take some motion inside these 60 days.” Begin trying now for brand new alternatives, she suggested, as it’ll take a brand new employer time to submit paperwork to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Providers.

“One of the best-case state of affairs could be that this new firm recordsdata your new change of employer petition and USCIS receives the paperwork on or earlier than the 59th day since your final day of employment,” stated Alcorn.

“It takes at the very least three weeks to arrange all the things,” which suggests candidates and employers should transfer shortly as the times rely down. “You most likely want a signed provide round day 33,” she stated.

Based mostly on her expertise, Alcorn estimated that 15% of the individuals laid off from Bay Space startups are immigrants, 90% of that are H-1B holders. Beneath, you’ll discover solutions to a number of of the questions we obtained [edited for space and clarity].

I used to be laid off whereas I used to be overseas, however my lawyer suggested me to journey again on ESTA, which I did. Do the 60-day grace interval nonetheless apply?

Sophie Alcorn: For those who’re in the USA on ESTA after being laid off whereas overseas, you’re not in H-1B standing anymore. It’s essential depart the nation to get a brand new H-1B and attempt to come again in and begin working.

You don’t have the 60-day grace interval anymore; you’ve deserted it. The one factor you are able to do to alter or prolong your standing in the event you’re in the USA on the Visa Waiver Program for 90 days on ESTA is get married to a U.S. citizen and have them sponsor you for a inexperienced card.

It must be an actual, good-faith marriage. You must intend to share a life collectively, it’s important to display that your households know one another, that you simply do romantic comedy issues collectively and have the pictures to show it. And the federal government’s going to verify in two years to see in the event you’re nonetheless married.

I’m at the moment on an OPT and have an H-1B accepted, however not activated. Can I alter employers with out going by the lottery immediately? Or would my H-1B should be activated first?

You possibly can truly change employers with out [doing so]. While you’re interviewing for jobs, that you must make it very clear to the HR individual that you simply assume you’re eligible for an H-1B change of employer, and you really want their immigration legal professionals to take an in depth look, as a result of primarily, what you will have is a change of standing from F-1 or OPT to H-1B inside the USA, in addition to a change of employer.