Tech Layoffs in 2025 Reshape H-1B Sponsorship and Talent Strategy

Tech layoffs in 2025 are rippling through the U.S. visa sponsorship system, forcing companies and foreign workers to rethink their plans as job cuts collide with higher costs and new rules for H-1B visas and other work permits. As of November 2025, more than 22,000 tech workers have lost their jobs this year, including 16,084 cuts in February alone, after more than 150,000 job cuts across 549 companies in 2024, according to data tracked by Layoffs.fyi and TechCrunch. Those numbers are now feeding directly into a sharp drop in employer demand for new sponsored workers and a shift in which roles still get support.

Big tech cuts and the downstream effect on foreign workers

Major names such as Microsoft, Google and Intel have all moved ahead with staff reductions, pushing experienced engineers and product staff back onto the job market. Microsoft is planning to cut over 6,500 jobs, about 3% of its workforce, while WordPress parent Automattic is shedding 16% of its staff, according to TechCrunch and Channel Insider.

Executives cite:

• Cost-cutting
• The fast spread of AI tools and wider automation
• A desire to focus on core business lines

For thousands of foreign workers whose legal right to stay in the United States 🇺🇸 depends on continued employment, these decisions have turned routine corporate restructuring into a race against time.

H-1B program trends and statistics

The pressure shows up clearly in the latest government figures for the H-1B program, the main temporary work route for foreign professionals in “specialty occupations.”

Key figures:

• H-1B registrations fell by about 38% in FY 2025 — from 759,000 to 470,000 eligible submissions.
• The selection rate for beneficiaries was around 25.6%, higher than in recent years (partly because fewer employers filed).
• Analysis by VisaVerge.com links the decline to hiring freezes and concerns about the cost and compliance risk of sponsoring new workers.

Cost and policy changes affecting sponsorship

Inside many tech companies, HR teams have been instructed to freeze or severely limit new visa sponsorship plans. Several drivers are reshaping employer behavior:

• A new $100,000 application fee for fresh H-1B filings, tied to policy changes under President Trump, has caused startups and mid-sized firms to delay or cancel petitions (reported by Alcor-BPO and Economic Times).
• Higher prevailing wage thresholds raise the minimum salary employers must offer, increasing per-hire cost.
• Employers are prioritizing absolutely essential hires instead of broad offers to international graduates or junior engineers.

Immigration lawyers say this makes firms more selective and increases the financial calculus for each sponsored hire.

Shift in which roles get sponsored

The sponsorship focus is changing from broad IT hiring to targeted specialty areas:

• Roles prioritized for H-1B sponsorship now often include:
  • Artificial intelligence
  • Cybersecurity
  • Cloud computing

Recent regulatory changes give the H-1B lottery more weight to higher-wage roles, favoring experienced specialists over entry-level workers. For international students finishing STEM degrees, this creates:

• A potential advantage for those with top-tier offers
• A growing barrier for others whose offers are lower-wage or entry level

Compliance and audit pressures

Compliance has added another layer of risk for sponsors:

• Law firms such as Kodem Law report stricter audits and verification checks.
• Employers must demonstrate:
  • That a job qualifies as a specialty occupation
  • They can pay required wages at specific locations
  • The role is genuine (especially important for third‑party placement / consulting models)

This scrutiny deters employers that previously filed more casually, and it complicates visa transfers for laid-off foreign workers if a prospective sponsor’s compliance record is weak.

Offshoring and remote hiring as alternatives

With layoffs piling up, some firms are shifting hiring and work offshore rather than bringing workers to the U.S.:

• Remote hiring and offshoring to countries such as Germany and Canada 🇨🇦 is increasing (reported by Alcor-BPO).
• A common pattern: a mid-sized startup hires ML engineers in Berlin or Toronto and maintains a smaller U.S. core team to avoid high H-1B wages and the six‑figure filing fee.

This does not eliminate demand for foreign talent but relocates where talent sits and weakens the tie between U.S. job growth and global tech skills.

Interest in alternative visa pathways

Employers and candidates are exploring visa types that bypass the H-1B cap or better fit corporate strategies:

• Common alternatives being considered:
  • O-1 visas (for individuals with extraordinary ability)
  • L-1 visas (intracompany transferees)
  • EB-2 green cards, especially EB-2 National Interest Waiver

These options often require extensive documentation but can offer more predictability for employers with global structures or for highly accomplished individuals.

Employers commonly begin processes with petitions such as Form I-129, used for H-1B and several other classifications, filed with USCIS; see the USCIS page: https://www.uscis.gov/i-129. More general H-1B guidance is available at the USCIS H-1B specialty occupations section: https://www.uscis.gov/working-in-the-united-states/temporary-workers/h-1b-specialty-occupations-dod-cooperative-research-and-development-project-workers-and-fashion-models.

Advice for international students and early-career workers

The current landscape feels unusually harsh for those inside the U.S.:

• With fewer H-1B entries overall, competition is stiffer and outcomes less predictable.
• Advisers (e.g., Prodigy Finance) recommend:
  • Evaluate an employer’s past sponsorship behavior before accepting offers
  • Favor companies with high Labor Condition Application (LCA) volumes and consistent approval records

This reflects the reality that workers at firms with weak sponsorship histories may be cut first and then struggle to find compliant sponsors within short grace periods.

Salary, cost implications, and who still sponsors

Salary patterns and employer incentives have shifted:

• Stricter wage rules and H-1B lottery weighting toward high wages mean many employers must offer more competitive salaries.
• For some foreign workers, this yields better pay packages than in past years.
• For many employers — especially outside big tech — the combined costs (higher wages, legal fees, $100,000 filing fee) make each H-1B hire a major financial decision.

Despite cutbacks, a few large companies continue to dominate sponsorship:

Data from Beyond Border Global and MyVisaJobs show the largest product companies retain significant pull even as outsourcing models lose some influence.

Political and policy context

Policy changes during and after the Trump administration are central to current debates:

• Industry groups criticize the $100,000 fee and higher prevailing wages as pricing smaller players out of sponsorship.
• Supporters argue the measures:
  • Discourage abuse
  • Encourage training of U.S. workers over relying on cheaper foreign hires

The recent wave of tech cuts has sharpened the debate, with lawmakers asking whether large-scale importation of skilled labor makes sense while many domestic workers are being laid off.

The upshot: tech layoffs, automation, and evolving immigration rules are expected to shape hiring for years, pushing companies to be more deliberate about when they need foreign talent and how they secure it.

How companies and workers are adapting

Observed behaviors and strategies:

1. Companies:
   • Forecast which roles truly require foreign talent
   • Shift roles abroad or hire remotely where immigration systems are more flexible
   • Reserve H-1B filings for high-wage, high-skill positions
2. Workers:
   • Start planning earlier and build profiles for alternatives (O-1, EB-2)
   • Diversify across countries instead of relying on a single H-1B lottery outcome

This means the connection between a high-tech U.S. job offer and a straightforward path to long-term U.S. residence is far less automatic than it was a few years ago — even for top tech talent at the center of the digital economy.