For thousands of Indian tech workers in the United States, losing a job now means far more than unemployment. It can also trigger a 60-day deadline that determines whether they can continue living in the country with their families.
As AI-driven restructuring spreads across Silicon Valley, layoffs at companies such as Meta, Amazon and Oracle are leaving many Indian professionals on H-1B visas scrambling to find new jobs before their legal stay expires.
A viral post on X, cited by The American Bazaar, highlighted the growing anxiety among Indian communities abroad. The post described the situation of an Indian engineer who had just been laid off from Meta.
“An Indian engineer at Meta gets the layoff email at 11 pm Bangalore time. His wife is on H-4. His kid is in 3rd grade in Seattle. His Bellevue apartment lease has 8 months left. His H-1B clock just started ticking — 60 days. Meta’s stock went up on the news. Zuck called it becoming more efficient. This is what AI transformation actually looks like for 2 lakh Indians abroad. AI impact on Indians abroad is highest.”
The post gained widespread attention online as users shared concerns over how mass layoffs are affecting Indian families who have spent years building their lives in the US.
For many, the uncertainty extends far beyond employment. Families are now dealing simultaneously with rent agreements, mortgages, school-going children and strict immigration timelines.
Some laid-off professionals are attempting to temporarily switch to B-2 visitor visas in order to remain in the US while searching for another employer. Although the visa can allow them to stay in the country for up to six months, immigration lawyers say approvals are becoming increasingly difficult.
The pressure is growing alongside widespread job cuts across the technology sector. According to Layoffs.fyi, more than 110,000 employees have lost jobs across 144 tech companies in 2026 alone.
A significant number of those affected are Indian H-1B workers.
Data from the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) showed that Indians accounted for 283,772 of the 406,348 approved H-1B petitions in FY25, underlining their dominant presence in America’s technology workforce.
