More than 12,000 Indian tech professionals have left the United States amid visa uncertainty, job losses and changing immigration rules. Meta has cut about 8,000 jobs as companies redirect resources toward artificial intelligence. The pressure is landing on a workforce that accounts for a large share of approved H-1B petitions.
Laid-off workers currently have up to 60 days to find another sponsor, change status or leave, unless their I-94 expires sooner. The Department of Homeland Security has proposed removing that grace period for H-1B workers and several other temporary visa holders whose employment ends. The proposal is not yet final.
Layoffs.fyi counted more than 110,000 job cuts at 144 technology companies so far in 2026. Amazon has continued reducing teams after multiple rounds of cuts, while LinkedIn has also eliminated roles. Employers’ decisions can quickly become immigration decisions.
Seattle-based engineer Vikas Pathak said he has applied for more than 150 jobs, but hiring can take months. The clock is shorter. A separate route to staying, a change to visitor status, is also drawing more scrutiny.
Rajiv Khanna, an immigration attorney, said he has seen a rise in requests for evidence and notices of intent to deny on B-1/B-2 change-of-status applications. Laid-off workers have used Form I-539 to seek B-2 visitor status and buy time. Kevin J Andrews said workers are also exploring F-1 student, O-1 extraordinary-ability and L-1 intra-company transfer options.
Different rules now shape the choices facing laid-off workers
| Group or route | What the material says | Timing or threshold |
|---|---|---|
| Indian H-1B beneficiaries | 283,772 of 406,348 approved petitions went to Indians in FY25 | USCIS and DHS report published in 2026 |
| H-1B cap | Regular cap remains 65,000; H-1B1 set-aside covers Chile and Singapore | Up to 6,800 set aside; another 20,000 for U.S. master's degree holders or higher |
| Workers whose jobs end | Existing grace period allows time to find a sponsor, change status or depart | Up to 60 days, or until I-94 expires, whichever comes first |
| Higher-wage applicants | Lottery entries receive more chances at selection | Fiscal year 2027 process |
The regular cap and selection process remain separate from the grace-period proposal. USCIS says the weighted lottery counts registrations four times for OEWS wage level IV, three times for level III, twice for level II and once for level I. The system favors higher-paid applicants, while the annual caps remain in place.
The proposed grace-period change is only one of several rule shifts
On September 10, 2026, DHS proposed requiring some temporary workers to leave immediately after they fail to maintain employment. The agency said the proposal aims to ensure employers offer jobs to “equally qualified US workers.” It would take effect only after the public comment process and finalization.
A separate executive order, signed September 18, 2026, directs Homeland Security, Labor and State to check whether sponsoring companies laid off domestic workers in similar jobs during the previous 12 months or plan further cuts. Vice President J.D. Vance has argued companies cannot claim a worker shortage while dismissing U.S.-based employees.
The administration’s rules also touch hiring from abroad. A September 19, 2025, proclamation set an additional $100,000 payment for certain H-1B petitions filed from 12:01 a.m. Eastern on September 21, 2025. It covers beneficiaries outside the country without a valid H-1B visa and some petitions seeking consular notification, port-of-entry notification or pre-flight inspection. Previously issued, valid visas and petitions filed before the cutoff are excluded.
That payment rule has faced a court challenge. The U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts vacated the agency guidance on June 8, 2026, in State of California v. Mullin, 1:25-cv-13829. The First Circuit rejected the government’s request to pause that order on July 24. DHS said it would comply while considering next steps, but still planned to collect the payment if the order were lifted.
DHS also issued a final rule on August 10, 2026, covering the statutory 9-11 Response and Biometric Entry-Exit Fee for H-1B and L-1 petitions. It took effect September 9. Employers with at least 50 U.S. employees, more than half of whom hold H-1B or L-1 status, must pay for covered petitions; amended petitions that do not seek an extension are excluded.
Job loss can leave workers racing against both time and debt
The employment-based green-card queue adds another constraint. The Cato Institute puts the number of Indian applicants in the backlog at nearly 1.1 million of 1.8 million pending cases, about 63%. New Indian applicants face an estimated wait of 10 to 15 years.
Bijayant Singh, who is from Bihar and lives in San Francisco, said families are worrying about children’s education, home loans and dependent visas while preparing for a possible return to India. Some homeowners have seen rates climb from 4% to 7.5%. Tech workers who once earned a 1 crore package are taking salaries of 35 lakh in cities such as Hyderabad.
Telugu students have taken jobs at petrol stations, supermarkets and in delivery work to repay debts. Indians living in the United States described conditions as “exactly like the 2008 economic recession.” Families have also broken leases and scrapped cars they could not sell.
Employers are adjusting as officials widen scrutiny
Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling announced that the department was suspending Cognizant, Infosys, Tata, Wipro, HCL and Capgemini from making new PERM filings while officials investigate alleged visa-program abuses. Microsoft and Adobe were also named as affected. The announcement came at a press conference with Vance, Attorney General Todd Blanche and White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller.
Sonderling said the companies had sought nearly three million foreign workers since 2009, receiving more than 2,30,000 H-1B approvals and 1,00,000 permanent labor certifications. He characterized the resulting positions as “jobs that were taken from American workers.” Vance pointed to 6,000 Microsoft layoffs in 2025 and 6,300 H-1B workers added by the company, calling the program “rife with fraud over the last several years, probably the last several decades.” Blanche said the administration would not tolerate discrimination against American workers.
The task force Vance leads was created by an executive order signed March 16, 2026, to coordinate a federal strategy against waste, fraud and abuse. The Federal Trade Commission and Justice Department are participating. Sonderling’s suspension applies while the government investigates the allegations.
Industry executives say companies will shift further toward local hiring. Pareekh Jain, CEO of EIIRTrend, said that could mean higher salaries and lower margins, but argued Indian technology firms would need to become global businesses rather than rely on exports. Nasscom says the six largest Indian IT services firms already reduced H-1B use by an average 46% over five years as they hired more Americans.
Xiao Wang, CEO of Boundless Immigration, said Indian workers are especially exposed because their green-card queues were already decades long. “We're hearing more people say they want to go home or move to Canada or Europe than at any point in the last decade,” Wang said. The public comment period on DHS’s proposed grace-period change will run for 60 days before the agency can finalize it.
