--- title: Tech winter is dire for immigrant visa holders - The Hustle description: Tech companies use H-1B visas to hire skilled workers from overseas. But now they’re laying them off. image: https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/1302623735-HS-News-Brief_2022-12-09T011935.138Z.webp --- # Tech winter is dire for immigrant visa holders ![Juliet Bennett Rylah](https://53.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/53/assets/hubspot.com/web-team/WBZ/HubSpot%20Media/Blog%202021/Images/Nav/Optimized/TheHustle_Icon_Dark.svg) [Juliet Bennett Rylah](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/author/juliet-bennett-rylah) [Juliet Bennett Rylah Twitter profile ](https://twitter.com/JBRylah) Published: December 09, 2022 Updated: October 11, 2023 As tech layoffs continue, workers are struggling to find new jobs during the holiday season — arguably the *worst *time to do so. ![Tech winter is dire for immigrant visa holders](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hs-fs/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/1302623735-HS-News-Brief_2022-12-09T011935.138Z.webp?width=595&height=400&name=1302623735-HS-News-Brief_2022-12-09T011935.138Z.webp) For H-1B immigrants, it’s even worse. #### **What’s an H-1B?** A renewable three-year work visa that US companies — especially tech — use to hire skilled workers. In 2021, 68.8% of the [~407k](https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/document/data/H1B_Characteristics_Congressional_Report_FY2021-3.2.22.pdf) H-1B beneficiaries worked in computer-related fields. But because H-1Bs are tied to employment, workers who lose their jobs have 60 days to find another or leave the US, [per](https://www.npr.org/2022/12/08/1141402046/h1b-visa-immigrant-workers-tech-layoffs-60-days-to-find-a-job) *NPR.* #### **What about citizenship?** That’d be great, but there’s a* huge* backlog. Congress caps how many employer-sponsored green cards the US issues annually, and how many can be issued per birth country — including dependents. - There are [1.4m](https://www.cato.org/blog/14-million-skilled-immigrants-employment-based-green-card-backlogs-2021) people waiting for an employment-based green card. - About 74% of H-1B beneficiaries are from India, meaning for many, it’s a **~90-year** wait. #### **So, what can be done?** Well, Congress’ efforts to reduce the green card backlog have mostly stalled, [per](https://www.forbes.com/sites/stuartanderson/2022/08/22/what-happened-to-the-bills-on-employment-based-immigration/?sh=135124f35658) *Forbes*. For now, an immigration attorney [told](https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/pranavdixit/laid-off-tech-workers-us-visas-problems) *BuzzFeed *that workers could try to secure another kind of visa (not always easy) or become a partner’s dependent (which might not allow them to work). Others are suggesting [Canada](https://yourstory.com/2022/12/job-loss-visa-woes-impact-h-1b-visa-holders) as an option, where immigration is easier. Impacted workers can also get on [this database](https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6995132718082646016/), which is shared with hiring managers across the US. 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