Indian Tech Workers Face Harsh Reality After H-1B Layoffs

(INDIA) — Indian technology workers on H-1B visas are racing to find new sponsors or leave the United States after layoffs swept through major employers and erased more than 114,000 jobs across nearly 150 technology companies in 2026.

Swapnil Sagar, a former Microsoft engineer, returned to Bengaluru from Houston in late 2025 after a layoff ended a decade spent in the United States on the F-1-to-OPT-to-H-1B path. His move, once seen by many professionals as a setback, now reflects a calculation spreading through Indian tech households.

Companies including Meta, Amazon, Oracle, LinkedIn and Cisco have cut staff as artificial intelligence reshapes hiring and job design in the sector. Thousands of those affected are Indian nationals on H-1B visas, the group that accounts for most approved H-1B petitions in the United States.

Under current U.S. rules, laid-off H-1B workers get a discretionary 60-day grace period after termination. In that window, they must find a new employer willing to sponsor them, switch to another status, or depart the country.

Rajiv Khanna, a U.S.-based immigration attorney, said the squeeze now reaches far beyond the loss of a paycheck. “The pressure has become intense,” Khanna said.

“Families are now dealing with mortgage payments, apartment leases, children in schools, and uncertain immigration timelines all at once, with only 60 days to resolve it.”

That deadline has grown harder to meet as employers slow hiring and as immigration options that once bought time face closer scrutiny. Workers who previously sought to change temporarily to B-2 visitor status, often to remain in the United States for up to six months while looking for another sponsor, now face heavier examination.

Immigration experts cited in the account described a spike in Requests for Evidence and Notices of Intent to Deny on B-1 and B-2 change-of-status filings made by laid-off H-1B workers. Authorities are asking for more documentation and applying closer review, a shift that leaves families with less room to wait out a weak market.

The strain falls hardest on people who spent years building lives around an immigration system tied directly to employment. Many bought homes, enrolled children in school and entered green-card queues that can stretch for decades, assuming a stable job would hold the structure together.

This round of cuts differs from earlier downturns because companies are not simply trimming payroll. They are reorganizing work around AI tools and automated systems, a shift that has hit many entry-to-mid-level IT roles where Indian H-1B workers have long held a strong presence.

One job loss can also fracture a household’s finances in ways that are specific to the visa system. In Sagar’s case, his wife held H-4 status and could not work because his Form I-140, the first step in the employment-based green card process, had not yet been filed.

Under USCIS rules, H-4 work authorization generally depends on the H-1B spouse having an approved I-140 or qualifying extensions. Until that point, even two-career households can depend on one salary.

That structure turns a layoff into what many families describe as a double shock. Income stops at the same moment legal status becomes uncertain, and the dependent spouse often cannot replace lost earnings by entering the labor market quickly.

Sagar’s return to India came with tradeoffs. The United States still offers higher pay in many jobs, mature infrastructure and international exposure, but he said life in India felt “freer because life was no longer governed by visas.”

That view is gaining ground as India expands its technology base. Global capability centers, startup hiring and remote roles have created openings in Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune, Chennai, Gurgaon and Mumbai, giving returning professionals a chance to rebuild without employer-sponsored status hanging over every career move.

The decision is no longer framed simply as staying in America or giving up on it. Many families now weigh earnings against control, asking whether a move back to India offers more stability, two working spouses and closer access to parents and extended family.

Policy changes in Washington have added another layer of pressure. A Trump administration executive order proposed raising the H-1B application fee to $100,000, though a court of appeals has temporarily stayed the measure.

Even under a stay, the proposal has sharpened concern among employers and workers who already face a tighter hiring market. A $100,000 H-1B application fee would raise the cost of sponsorship to a level that could deter new filings if the stay ends.

Movement from India to the United States has also narrowed. Since September 2025, onshore movement has been largely frozen, with Indian IT companies sending H-1B holders to the United States mainly for pending renewals or filings within the last 2-3 years.

Some companies have turned to L-1 visas instead, but that has not altered the direction of travel. The broader pattern points to fewer pathways, more scrutiny and less flexibility for workers trying to recover from layoffs in real time.

Students looking at a U.S. master’s degree now face a changed equation as well. The F-1-to-OPT-to-H-1B route still exists, but it no longer offers the sense of predictable upward movement it once did for many Indian families.

Anyone planning that route must account for the work time available under OPT, the extra period under STEM OPT if eligible, the chance of missing the H-1B lottery multiple times and the employer’s willingness to sponsor through a weak hiring cycle. After a layoff, the central question can shrink to a countdown: how many days remain before lawful stay runs out.

For people already in the United States, that clock is unforgiving. Families must assess whether an H-1B transfer filing is possible, whether the I-94 remains valid, whether another status category fits and whether children, housing costs and savings allow them to wait.

Those decisions do not end when a flight lands in India. A return often triggers tax, banking and residency changes across two countries, especially for workers who held U.S. assets, retirement accounts, property or insurance while living abroad.

Indian tax residency depends heavily on physical presence, including the 182-day test in a financial year or the 60-day/365-day test, subject to exceptions for Indian citizens. U.S. citizens and green card holders can also continue to face U.S. tax obligations after moving because the IRS generally taxes citizens and resident aliens on worldwide income.

Banking status changes too. RBI guidance says NRO accounts may be redesignated as resident accounts when an account holder returns to India with the intention to stay for an uncertain period.

That administrative work adds to the emotional and professional reset already underway in many households. Parents must rethink schools and childcare, spouses must restart interrupted careers, and workers who once believed one employer could anchor an entire future now build backup plans into every major decision.

The numbers have made that adjustment hard to ignore. More than 114,000 tech workers lost jobs this year alone, and Indian H-1B holders sit near the center of the fallout because their right to stay depends on employment at the very moment the industry is reshaping itself around AI.

Sagar’s move back to Bengaluru captures the shift in mood. Ambition in the United States remains real, but many Indian professionals now pair it with an exit plan, measuring the American opportunity against the cost of a layoff that can start a 60-day grace period and force an entire family to change countries at once.