Amid tech layoffs, two foreign workers, Aashka and Nilanjan, face a daunting 60-day countdown to secure new jobs in their fields. The emotional weight of their H-1B visa status adds pressure to their already challenging search. Their stories highlight the complexities of navigating job insecurity while juggling visa requirements. The podcast critiques the H-1B system, exploring the implications for international talent and the evolving tech landscape. This race against time reveals resilience in the face of uncertainty.
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question_answer ANECDOTE
Aashka's Layoff
Aashka, a product engineer at Amazon, was laid off in January 2023.
She was shocked because her team had been praised for its performance.
question_answer ANECDOTE
Nilanjan's Layoff
Nilanjan, a Google employee, was also laid off.
He realized it when he couldn't log into his work account.
insights INSIGHT
The 60-Day Clock
Unlike their American colleagues, Aashka and Nilanjan faced a ticking clock due to their H-1B visas.
They had 60 days to find new, visa-sponsoring jobs or leave the country.
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People come from all over the world to work in U.S. tech. And during the tech boom years, the industry relied heavily on foreign workers. This is how we built Silicon Valley – with great minds coming from everywhere to work in the U.S.
But when the industry started to shrink, all of these people who moved here for work are finding that linking their jobs to their residency is really complicated. That was the case for Aashka and Nilanjan. Aashka was a product engineer at Amazon, and Nilanjan worked in digital advertising for Google. They both lost their jobs in the layoffs each company announced earlier this year.
When Aashka and Nilanjan got the news, a clock started ticking. Because they are both H-1B recipients, they only have 60 days to find new jobs before they risk being sent home. And they can't get just any job – they need new employers in their field willing to sponsor their visa.
On today's show, we followed two tech workers as they tried to find jobs before their visas expired, and what they went through as H-1B recipients trying to stay in the country.
This episode was hosted by Alyssa Jeong Perry and Amanda Aronczyk, produced by Sam Yellowhorse Kesler, engineered by James Willetts, fact-checked by Sierra Juarez, and edited by Molly Messick and Jess Jiang.
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