Will Amazon layoffs lead to an exodus of Indians from the US?

The great layoff continues. After Twitter, Meta and other tech giants carried out mass layoffs in the last months of 2022, Amazon, the online giant that employs 1.5 million people globally, announced that after the mass layoffs in November — they had cut over 10,000 jobs then — they will be letting go of another 18,000 employees.

The latest step, considered to be largest in the company’s history, is a measure to save costs. “Amazon has weathered uncertain and difficult economies in the past, and we will continue to do so,” CEO Andy Jassy said in a note to employees that the company made public. “These changes will help us pursue our long-term opportunities with a stronger cost structure.”

He added the layoffs will mostly impact the company’s brick-and-mortar stores, which include Amazon Fresh and Amazon Go, and its PXT organizations, which handle human resources and other functions.

And while losing jobs is a painful affair for all, it’s an even more painful and traumatic experience for Indians, who are H-1B visa holders. For them, they haven’t not only lost their jobs, but also face concerns over their immigration status in the US.

Also read: Twitter, Meta, Amazon and more… Why are tech titans laying off employees?

Here’s a better understanding of how Amazon’s layoffs will affect H-1B visa holders.

Amazon layoffs and the immigrant workforce

It is not confirmed which departments will see the layoffs, with employees affected by the cuts to be told by 18 January. The cuts amount to six per cent of Amazon’s roughly 300,000-person corporate workforce.

The layoffs will largely impact the company’s e-commerce and human-resources organisations and will be across the globe, including Europe.

Chief Executive Jassy said that this was part of Amazon’s annual planning process for 2023, however, that this year’s review has been more difficult given the uncertain economy and that they hired rapidly over the last several years.

Amazon, just like other tech companies in the US, has a large immigrant workforce. In fact, according to a 2018 report, more than 70 per cent of tech workers in Silicon Valley were born in another country.

This is where the H1-B visa comes in. The H-1B visa is a commonly used status by many tech firms in the United States to hire international employees. It is a non-immigrant work visa that allows American companies to employ foreign workers in speciality occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise.

In dire straits

Now, with the mass layoffs, several of these H-1B visa holders will be in a precarious situation.

As one Twitter user, Shawn Wenzel, noted on Twitter earlier during the previous cuts, “These folks have 60 days to either find another company to sponsor them or leave the US.”

Basically, these workers have 60 days to find a new job — or leave the country. It’s a daunting task as many have mortgages to pay, children in school, and other life complications.

Also, the current work environment — recession-induced economy — makes finding a new job only that much more difficult.

After the previous cuts, several Amazon employees had written about the loss of their dream jobs, while trying to find new opportunities in the United States.

Raj Kansagra, who is based in California, had written then that he was let go after six years at Amazon. On LinkedIn, he had written, “I’m actively seeking my next opportunity. I’m reaching out to my network for positions in Backend Software Engineering (Product/Infra). I have eight-plus years of experience, starting my career at Symantec and then becoming part of Amazon. I’m on an H1-B visa so time is of the essence to find something new.”

Another employee, Shivani Parate also shared similar sentiments then. “It is super hard for all of us and I am still trying to navigate through this, while constrained by the timeline of being on a visa,” she had said.

Also read: How the US’ EAGLE act could benefit thousands of Indians

Options for laid off H1-B visa holders

Those who will be let off by Amazon will have 60 days — two months — to find a new job and get their new employer to endorse their immigrant status. Failing to find new work within those 60 days would mean the worker would have to leave the US and then try to find new American employment from abroad.

However, there are some options for these people. One thing such a worker could do if they want to stay longer is to apply to change to B-1/B-2 visitor status. Such an application would need to be filed before their 60-day period of authorised stay expires.

Tanvi Dubey, Advocate, Supreme Court of India, told The Outlook that filing an I-539 application is also an option to change the status from H-1B to B-2. She adds, “It is used by people currently in the United States in a non-immigrant status to change the classification for their status and/or extend their stay with their current status. This may be one of the options to get extension to transition out of the US but it will only be for six more months.”

Another option is to get an H4 visa. This is only issued to dependents of H-1B visa holders. If one is a legally recognised spouse of a valid H-1B holder, they can apply for this. The processing time for this can take anywhere between two and 12 months. However, the advantage of H4 is that one can work part-time or full-time while on this visa.

The last and most extreme option is moving back to India. While this may sound like a big decision, it is one many are considering since the market seems to at this moment be affected.

And if people thought this trend would end, most experts predict more cuts and layoffs in 2023.

With inputs from agencies

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