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For Information: http://www.fiids-usa.org/support-h1b-grace-period-extension/
FIIDS Appeal To Organizations / Leaders Support Extension to H1B Grace Period
Community leaders and organizations: We are very close make the change but need your support: Email:immigration@fiids-usa.org or by filling up this form https://tinyurl.com/extend-h1b-grace-period
As more than 250,000 have been laid off since Oct 2022, among who more than 80,000 are H1b and half of them are at risk of needing to leave country if they don’t find alternative employment within 60days, Foundation for India and Indian Diaspora Studies (FIIDS http://fiids-usa.org ) has launched a series of awareness campaigns and working with the administrations to get H1B grace period extended on humanitarian ground and to stop a brain drain. We are near close to make the change happen but to make sure the change happens, we need your support. Hence, FIIDS appeals leaders of professional and community organizations to support FIIDS request to the President of the United States (POTUS), the Department of Homeland Security(DHS), the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to extend grace period of laid off H1B professionals on humanitarian ground and to stop brain drain from the US.
Please join hands to jointly make an appeal either by sending email with details of you & your organization to Email:immigration@fiids-usa.org or by filling up this form https://tinyurl.com/extend-h1b-grace-period
For help or joining hands: info@fiids-usa.org or khanderao@fiids-usa.org +1-202-318-7000
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The President Joe Biden,
The White House,
1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW,
Washington, DC 20500
The Honorable Alejandro Mayorkas
Secretary of Homeland Security
2703 Martin Luther King Jr. Ave.,
SE, Washington, DC 20593
Ur Mendoza Jaddou, Director
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services
5900 Capital Gateway Drive
Camp Springs, Maryland 20588
Dear President Joe Biden, Secretary Mayorkas, Director Jaddou,
On behalf of Indian Americans, we request you to consider extending H1b grace period from 2 months to 6-12 months for laid off tech professionals on humanitarian grounds and to stop brain drain for the US, as appealed by the Foundation for India and Indian Diaspora Studies (FIIDS).
We bring to your attention the massive layoffs in the tech industry since Oct 2022 has a devastating impact on tech professionals’ lives. According to http://layoffstracker.com and other sources more than ~225,000 have been laid off in the USA since Oct, out of them 91,000 got laid off in Jan 2023 and this number is growing. A large number of these professionals are tax-paying H1B immigrants.
As the laid off H-1B holders only 60 days to find another employer to file for H-1B transfer otherwise leave the country, this is a huge disruption both in their family lives and their children’s education. As these massive layoffs caused the tech industry-wide hiring pause/slowdown, these professionals are not able to find jobs during the current grace period of two months.
As the tech industry provides a global competitive edge to the USA whereas Silicon Valley is the hub for many startups and serves as its global center for high tech and innovation and the tech industry is mostly contributed by tech immigrants where more than 70% startups have immigrant co-founders and as of 2022 almost 50+ CEOs of public companies are Indian origin migrants, we received feedback from startup founders, CEOs, venture capitalists and tech executives that this layoffs driven exodus of H1b talent from the US is harmful for the long-term interests of the US, specially in the modern age of Artificial Intelligence competition.
This issue has created a wide concern both in the US based immigrants as well as their countries of origin like India and China. FIIDS Change.org petition https://chng.it/SnBcRSyW has received ~2500 sign ups in a week.
Many representatives of congress Zoe Lofgren and Anna Eshoo, have already issued an appeal to USCIS and others expressed their support to the extension.
Hence, we support FIIDS’ appeal to you to consider extending the current grace period from 60 days to 1 year (minimum 6 months) on humanitarian ground and to stop brain drain from the US. This period will allow them to find an opportunity to find a job to contribute their talent and will pause this brain drain ensuring the US will continue to be a world leader in technology and innovation.
Respectfully,
FIIDS tweet https://twitter.com/FIIDSUSA/status/1617493926784700418
https://borneobulletin.com.bn/layoffs-strip-away-tech-worker-visas-along-with-jobs/
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/tech-layoffs-it-professional-layoffs-us-visa-indian-it-workers-job-cuts-amazon-layoff-google-job-cut-microsoft-job-loss-tech-sector-jobs/articleshow/97256036.cms (FIIDS and GITPRO are quoted)
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/tech-employees-on-visas-face-layoffs-instability-and-the-threat-of-deportation-amid-industry-upheaval/ar-AA16HxZ6 (GITPRO is quoted)
https://indiacurrents.com/h-1b-visa-holders-live-in-limbo/
https://borneobulletin.com.bn/layoffs-strip-away-tech-worker-visas-along-with-jobs/
House Representatives Anna Esshoo and Zoe Lofgren
https://eshoo.house.gov/media/press-releases/eshoo-lofgren-advocate-immigrant-workers-risk-losing-visas-following-tech
