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Tech Layoffs Hit H1B Workers Hard
The Wall Street Journal ^ | February 10, 2023 | Te-Ping Chen

Posted on 02/10/2023 8:33:34 PM PST by KingofZion

When she lost her job at Google last month, Jingjing Tan started worrying about her dog, an energetic, 75-pound German shepherd.

As a foreign worker living in the U.S. on a temporary work visa, if she couldn’t find a job within 60 days, she feared she might have to return to her home country, China. In big Chinese cities, where tech jobs are, keeping large dogs as pets often isn’t allowed.

*** Layoffs have rippled across the tech industry, with more than 257,000 job cuts since last year.

*** While there is no reliable way to track how many workers on temporary visas have been laid off, those in the industry estimate that tens of thousands have been affected. Foreign-born workers, including green-card holders, naturalized citizens and those on temporary work visas, account for nearly one-quarter of all workers in the STEM fields of science, technology, engineering and math, according to a 2019 estimate from the American Immigration Council, up from 16% in 2000.

If H1B workers can’t find new employment within a few weeks, or apply to transfer to another visa, they must leave the U.S. In other cases, immigration lawyers who specialize in employment law say, those laid off while traveling outside the U.S. now find themselves stuck outside of the country, with their work visa no longer valid for re-entry.

*** Companies aren’t allowed to consider national origin when determining whom to terminate, Ms. Alcorn says. “It’s at-will employment,” she says. “Anyone can quit, and anyone can be fired.”

(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Front Page News; News/Current Events; US: California
KEYWORDS: china; h1b; immigration; india
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Poor babies. Good riddance.
1 posted on 02/10/2023 8:33:34 PM PST by KingofZion
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To: KingofZion

Oh well.......


2 posted on 02/10/2023 8:34:53 PM PST by metmom (...fixing our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith…)
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To: KingofZion

It is why I dont have a pet, except an old cat. My personal situation is not stable enough to want to take the responsibility of a pet that I can’t care for.


3 posted on 02/10/2023 8:38:56 PM PST by Jonty30 (THE URGE TO SAVE THE WORLD IS ALMOST ALWAYS AN URGE TO RULE IT)
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To: KingofZion

Now they can go home.


4 posted on 02/10/2023 8:38:59 PM PST by wildcard_redneck (Germans are bat-crap crazy for cold showers, high energy bills, and boiled fturnips.)
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To: KingofZion

I worked with a Schlumburger contractor from China and we used to give her a hard time about eating dogs

She was embarrassed what they do back in China


5 posted on 02/10/2023 8:40:25 PM PST by NWFree (Somebody has to say it 🤪)
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To: KingofZion
Dogs are food in China.

How could she not know that?

6 posted on 02/10/2023 8:40:33 PM PST by Deaf Smith (When a Texan takes his chances, chances will be taken that's for sure.)
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To: KingofZion

Good news.


7 posted on 02/10/2023 8:41:27 PM PST by Georgia Girl 2 (The only purpose of a pistol is to fight your way back to the rifle you should never have dropped)
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To: KingofZion

Feel bad for the dog. Hope she’s on the next thing flying back to China.


8 posted on 02/10/2023 8:42:26 PM PST by qaz123
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To: Georgia Girl 2

Yeah, what’ll they do now, hire American workers?


9 posted on 02/10/2023 8:42:45 PM PST by frank ballenger (You have summoned up a thundercloud. You're gonna hear from me. Anthem by Leonard Cohen)
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To: KingofZion

There will be more. Ai is easier and cheaper to employ and it doesn’t require healthcare, breaks or time off.


10 posted on 02/10/2023 8:44:55 PM PST by M_Continuum
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To: KingofZion

Back to Asia where you all belong and don’t come back ever again.


11 posted on 02/10/2023 8:46:56 PM PST by Clemenza
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To: qaz123

>> the next thing flying back to China

I see what you did there. LOL


12 posted on 02/10/2023 8:49:15 PM PST by Nervous Tick (Truth is not hate speech.)
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To: KingofZion
Send them home to India. I,personally,have real respect for Indians. And unlike the wetbacks from south of the border they're here legally. But I don't like the fact that they're here taking jobs from Americans just because they'll work for one-third of what an American would expect.

Let them go home to India...hopefully they've saved their salaries.

13 posted on 02/10/2023 8:49:26 PM PST by Gay State Conservative (No Doubt Now: Stolen Election)
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To: KingofZion; All

More good news, where is Mike Lee with his crying rag?


14 posted on 02/10/2023 8:51:00 PM PST by robowombat ( )
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To: KingofZion

I’ve managed H1B employees before and it is an administrative nightmare and a drag on business. Deadlines, reports, costs, etc. You have to justify their compensation, and if you are not paying them the exorbitant rates that some stupid federal wage guide stipulates for their official job title, you are in violation and have to pay them back wages for the time worked - sometimes years - to make up the difference. No free market allowed.

One Indian engineer had to go back home for a required trip for his H1B status and got stuck there because of administrative problems - for MONTHS. It cost us dearly.

It is almost never worth it to hire them.


15 posted on 02/10/2023 8:52:11 PM PST by fwdude (Society has been fully polarized now, and you have to decide on which pole you want to be found.)
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Comment #16 Removed by Moderator

To: KingofZion
Companies aren’t allowed to consider national origin when determining whom to terminate.

That of course, is politically correct rubbish.

When the layoff times come, managers get rid of anybody they don't like. That is largely the point of layoffs.

Most H1B employees are contracted through specialized staffing agencies. They are the first to go because they have no effective recourse. That is by design.

Blacks, Hispanics, Gays, and whatever other people belong to the protected classes of the year are a different problem. The managers have to carefully avoid any documented comments that suggest "bias" and the layoff numbers cannot look "disproportionate". Even so, if the managers really don't like somebody for any reason at all, they will be gone.

When the layoff numbers are big enough, none of that will matter, because everybody in the department will be gone, including the managers.

As for the older staff members - they will always be selected for layoff first. Laws about age discrimination do not matter in the slightest.

Been there, done that. Been on the receiving end too.

17 posted on 02/10/2023 8:53:01 PM PST by flamberge (Everybody will hate it when we all play by the same rules.)
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To: KingofZion
FangFang ... sorry, Jingjing Tan started worrying about her dog, an energetic, 75-pound German shepherd.

dog-meat-diagram-vector-id1328154964-s-612x612
18 posted on 02/10/2023 8:54:15 PM PST by Nervous Tick (Truth is not hate speech.)
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To: KingofZion

I have sympathy for the dog.
The spy go bye-bye.


19 posted on 02/10/2023 8:59:43 PM PST by Ex gun maker. (Free thinking is now a radical concept, I will not be assimilated by PC or EV groupthink!)
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To: metmom

She replaced an American. That American was aced out of a job by her. Maybe they too had a dog and had to give it up so they could find a job somewhere else.


20 posted on 02/10/2023 9:16:20 PM PST by minnesota_bound (Need more money to buy everything now)
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