Impact of recession on Indians with H1-B visas in the US. From the Wall Street Journal
Since nearly 40 percent of all H-1B visa holders are from India , the mounting layoffs are hitting Indian professionals particularly hard.
An estimated 16,000 to 20,000 Indian nationals have returned home, says Arvind Panagariya, an economics professor at Columbia University and a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.
H-1B visa holders say they feel they are in a state of limbo, ready to pick up and move wherever the economy or work takes them. Lives have been disrupted, and some said they were under tremendous stress to pay back mortgage loans for buying houses and cars. Many had children born on U.S. soil and wonder how their children will adjust to Indian schools and a different way of life.
It is one of the major vulnerabilities for professionals on the H-1B visa. “The moment you don’t work, you’re out of status, you have no grace period,” said immigration attorney Tahmina Watson. Workers can either leave the country within a matter of days, or convert to a B1/B2 tourist visa, which doesn’t allow them to work, but buys them a few months to sell their homes and cars, make travel arrangements or find a new school for their children. More:
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