For thousands of Indian tech workers in the US, job loss now means more than just unemployment. It could also trigger a 60-day countdown that may decide whether they can continue to live in the country with their families.As AI-driven restructuring sweeps across Silicon Valley, layoffs at companies like Meta, Amazon and Oracle are leaving many Indian professionals on H-1B visas scrambling to secure new jobs before their legal residency period expires.A viral post on X, cited by American Bazaar, recently demonstrated the anxiety spreading across Indian communities abroad. The post described the case of an Indian engineer who had just been laid off from Meta.“An Indian engineer at Meta receives a layoff email at 11pm Bangalore time. His wife is in H-4. His son is in 3rd grade in Seattle. He has 8 months left on rent on his apartment in Bellevue. His H-1B clock is ticking – 60 days. Meta’s stock soared on the news. Zuck called it more efficient. This is what AI transformation looks like in reality for 2,000,000 Indians abroad. The impact of AI on Indians abroad is the highest”The post gained attention online with many users expressing concerns about how the mass layoffs would impact Indian families who have built their lives in the US over several years.
For many families, uncertainty extends beyond employment. Workers now deal with rental agreements, mortgages, children in school, and immigration deadlines all at the same time. Some laid off professionals try to temporarily switch to B-2 visitor visas in order to remain in the United States while searching for another employer.
The visa can allow them to stay in the country for up to six months, but immigration lawyers say approvals are becoming increasingly difficult.The pressure is mounting alongside widespread job cuts in the technology industry. Data from Layoffs.fyi shows that more than 110,000 employees have already lost their jobs at 144 technology companies in 2026 alone. A large number of those affected are Indian H-1B workers.A report by 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 H-1B petitions approved in FY25, underscoring their significant presence in the US technology sector.
