US Immigration Crackdown Threatens Indian Tech Workers' Residency

Indian Tech Workers in US Face Uncertainty as Layoffs Raise Immigration Fears

Indian engineers and software developers, who have played a crucial role in building America's biggest tech companies, are facing a new wave of uncertainty as layoffs sweep Silicon Valley. The latest job cuts are not only cutting jobs, but also reopening an old fear among Indian professionals in the US: losing a job could mean losing the right to stay in the country.

The 60-day countdown is a critical period for Indian tech professionals working on H-1B visas. These visas are tied directly to their employers, and under US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) rules, laid-off H-1B workers typically get a 60-day grace period to find another sponsoring employer, apply for a different visa category, or prepare to leave the country.

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The 60-day window begins from the employee's last working day, not when the final paycheck clears. This means that job interviews, visa transfers, and paperwork can take time, and companies have grown more cautious about taking on new hires and the immigration liability that comes with them.

More than 110,000 employees across tech companies have lost jobs in 2025 alone, according to Layoffs.fyi. A significant portion are believed to be foreign nationals, and Indians, who remain the largest beneficiaries of the H-1B programme by a wide margin, are among the hardest hit.

US government data for FY25 showed Indians accounted for the overwhelming majority of approved H-1B petitions. This dominance of the system, long seen as a point of pride, is now a structural vulnerability.

For Indian H-1B workers, a layoff is rarely just a professional setback. It becomes a simultaneous race against immigration deadlines, mortgage payments, school admissions, healthcare continuity, and family decisions, all compressed into 60 days.

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Many have spent years, sometimes over a decade, waiting in the green card backlog, which remains among the longest in the US immigration system for Indian nationals. Some have American-born children. Others bought homes on the assumption of long-term residency. A single layoff can throw all of that into uncertainty almost overnight.

Immigration lawyers have traditionally recommended switching to a B-1 or B-2 visitor visa by filing Form I-539, which can buy additional months in the country while a worker searches for a new employer. However, recent reports indicate US authorities are scrutinizing such applications far more closely than before, with rising requests for additional documentation and tougher questioning around change-of-status filings.

Meta has offered laid-off employees severance packages amounting to 16 weeks of base pay, plus two additional weeks for every year of continuous employment, along with 18 months of healthcare coverage for workers and their families, according to Business Insider. However, for many Indian workers, the financial calculation is secondary to the immigration clock, something their American colleagues do not face.

Workers on green cards or with permanent residency status may still face financial stress after a layoff, but they are not at risk of being required to leave the country within weeks. H-1B workers carry an additional layer of consequence that makes the same job loss an entirely different experience.

Many affected workers are exploring temporary legal pathways to extend their stay in the US while searching for new employment opportunities. One commonly used route is filing a Change of Status (COS) application to move to a B-2 tourist visa, which, if approved, can provide up to six months of additional legal stay.

Others are opting for Day-1 CPT programmes by enrolling in universities that allow immediate Curricular Practical Training under an F-1 student visa framework. Some visa holders are also shifting to dependent visa categories such as H-4 or L-2, particularly when their spouses already hold H-1B or L-1 visas, allowing them to remain in the country without immediate employment pressure.

The uncertainty is reshaping how many Indian professionals think about their futures in the US. A recent Blind poll found that nearly half of Indian professionals in the US would consider returning to India if they lost their jobs. Others are actively exploring Canada and Europe as longer-term alternatives.

The shift is not only financial. According to the poll, workers say the emotional strain of living under permanent visa dependency, unable to take career breaks, switch jobs freely, or remain between roles for any significant period, is becoming harder to sustain.

Meta alone is expected to invest over $100 billion in AI-related infrastructure in 2025, according to Bloomberg. Reports indicate the company has also reassigned thousands of employees internally toward AI-focused roles even as cuts continue elsewhere, a pattern that has fuelled concern that reduced hiring in traditional engineering functions may not be a temporary correction but a structural change.

For Indian tech workers in America, that possibility carries a weight that goes well beyond the professional. It touches homes, families, futures, and the question of where, exactly, they belong.