The human cost of layoffs: Without a job and racing against a 60-day deadline

Raj Thakur is stressed anxious and above all angry A Seattlebased IT engineer Thakur was among the 18000 employees Amazon laid off in what has been the largest singleshot cut by any company since Meta set off off the continuing spate of firings with 11000 in November 2022But Thakur is not angry with Amazon thats just how private sector companies do business He is upset about a US law that prevents him from bringing the same equities to his job search that is allowed to American workers in the same situation and with similar skill sets chiefly time Thakur has only 60 days from the date he was laid off to get reemployed in the US by an employer to take him on on H1B nonimmigration shortterm visa for foreign workers and hopefully file the paperwork necessary for him to keep his place in the queue for permanent residency Green CardThakur dreads the alternative If he doesnt find another job in these 60 days he will fall out of status his wife who is working on a work authorisation for H1B dependents will also fall out of status and lose her job and worst of all the family will have to uproot itself from the US sell home cars and everything they have accumulated over the past 11 years they have been here and return to India with their two children who were born here and are American citizens and who have known no other country as home Just 60 days or what remains of that period stand between him and that eventualityI would not blame the tech companies I think theyre just you know running their business Thakur said in an interview Raj Thakur is not his real name but a pseudonym he chose for the interview because he did not want to be identified fearing any adverse impact on his job search Also H1B visa holders are subjected to very strict confidentiality standards by their employers He agreed to the interview only if his name and all other indicators to his identity were kept confidentialI would definitely like to highlight this whole immigration process as well which has sort of put us in this quandary because of being in this backlog because of country caps he added There is an annual cap on the number of people from any one country who can be issued Green Cards 7 per cent The US issues an estimated 1 million Green cards every year both related to work and family links But applications from Indians are far in excess of that country cap of 7 per cent and those left behind are added to a rolling backlog that has built up so much over the years that there is a theoretical waiting period of over 100 years for new applicants according to one studyRead More Explained Why are tech giants laying off a mass of humanityThere are a large number of H1B workers from India among more than 170000 laid off by tech companies in the last few months but observers believe they could account for between 30 and 40 per cent many of them would be in queue for their Green Card They all have 60 days to find a job and stay on track to permanent residencyThakurs place in the backlog is 2013 which is the priority date allotted to him on successfully completing his application So he is in queue but that queue is moving extremely slowly leaving him and others like him in this situation when job loss is not just a job loss but a potentially lifealtering eventI wish I had more time I wish I had my permanent residence in this country And Im extremely upset about the laws about the country caps and thats one thing Im really really upset about he said adding I wish the law changedThere is a widespread acknowledgement of the need to change this law and several attempts have been made to legislate it but it gets stalled for one reason or the other Thakur has had a number of first and second round interviews with potential employers who he said are being cautious themselves given the largescale layoffs that are taking place industrywideTheyre looking at this stuff and saying Oh well I think we have to be cautious as well So Ive had situations where you know Ive been through the second round and then I dont hear back at all because now theyve decided to look at you know their headcount and reconsider whether this is a good idea Thakur saidThough stressed and hopeful Thakur is also prepared for the worst Im giving myself a month If Im not able to find something solid in a month my next month will just be focused on you know going back home so all the steps that I needed to do that I will do in my second month he said including pulling his two children from schoolRead More Toxic work culture Humiliation at workplace is driving employees to quitThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever