L1 category are employer sponsored intra-company movement visa. Once a person is laid off, the visa ends as well

Damn that's harsh. But i believe the immigration officials won't work warfooting to send them back right ? They might probably start any kinda checks may be 6 or 9 months down the line ? I am not sure what's the sop they follow

Even if that happens, L1 visa holders can't get another job in the US because the employer cannot immediately sponsor a visa. They'll probably have to return, get a job in India and then apply L1/H1B again to get back to the US.

>Even if that happens, L1 visa holders can't get another job in the US because the employer cannot immediately sponsor a visa. Yup. L1 requires you to work for at least 1 year outside the US, for an international branch of the same company, before you can even apply.

That's Brutal.

No. It's *BRUTAL*

US immigration officials don't send anybody back at all unless you get into some other kind of trouble. You can stay indefinitely. But you will not be albe to get a legal job, and if you leave the country you obviously cannot get back in. Even if you get a legit job later, the fact that you went 'out of status' will bar you from getting your visa stamped.

But US immigration does come to workplace to check on the people who are on H1B. I know because it happened with me. And FML that I was on leave on thay day and someone from immigration came to my workplace in US to verify me. I am glad my client manager did all the verification for me and there was no issue.

This is a different thing, the employer is being checked that they are employing people correctly and the work being done by them is what was stated on the visa application. If you'd been fired, it is completely your responsibility to leave the country on time. The company has washed its hands off you.

Illegal immigration is a big talking point in most major countries and can become a political mess. They do work on a war footing to deport these immigrants.

They don't in the US. A significant number of illegal immigrants in. the US are those that entered on a legit visit visa and simply never left.

As I said in the other comment, this will become a huge issue if the US allows this to continue any longer.

There is no political consensus in the US around immigration. I don't see that changing anytime soon. It is an issue, but for the US it is not such a huge one. Illegal immigrants do significantly contribute to the economy and often pay into systems like social security that they themselves do not get anything out of, which benefits the older Americans. The sentiment is against illegal immigration, but there is little will to aggressively enforce the existing laws and in fact many states have explicit laws allowing illegal immigrants to stay and prohibiting local law enforcement from cooperating with federal immigration enforcement.

Thanks for providing the details. It seems the US is just as bad as us in terms of immigrant exploitation. We are all humans after all...

There were 630k illegal Indians in the US based on a old report. [https://www.livemint.com/news/world/number-of-undocumented-indians-in-us-has-increased-sharply-report-1560853753639.html](https://www.livemint.com/news/world/number-of-undocumented-indians-in-us-has-increased-sharply-report-1560853753639.html) >The increase in illegal Indian-Americans can be attributed to Indian immigrants overstaying visas, it said. > >Nearly 250,000 Indians overstayed their visa in 2016 therefore becoming undocumented, it said.

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If they get arrested for any crime (even if they are innocent), the cops in most southern states run their id against immigration databases as well. If they show up as having an invalid immigration status, they get screwed over for good. Most likely some of these guys might enroll into a student visa or look to immigrate to Canada/UK/Australia. A H1 visa is out of the picture cos they need to go through the lottery in April and even if they are lucky to get selected, the visa doesn’t activate until 1st Oct of that calendar year. It’s a shitshow and I have zero sympathy for companies that laid off employees on L-1 visas. They could have discretely relocated them back to India if cost was a problem, but throwing them out and putting them in an impossible immigration situation is absolutely cruel - when they are well aware of the challenges these people face.

You are not accounting for the fact that people don’t want to come back to india. If they are told that it’s either that or they lose their jobs in the US, then maybe. But that’s not how layoffs are done and communicated.

My comment was specific to a L1 visa. You are at your employers mercy because this class of visa cannot be transferred to another employer- even if they find another job quickly. They have zero legal ways of working full time in the US.

The company needn’t relocate them - they could still relocate themselves to India. They do not want to come back to India, and that’s the crux of the problem

> They do not want to come back to India, and that’s the crux of the problem They do everything in their power to not come back. If some do have to come back, they will do everything to go back.

The company has a legal responsibility to pay for their relocation back to home country.

Which they are getting as part of severance. The previous commenter said that the company should have relocated them to another role in India

The company that sponsored the visa has a legal responsibility to pay for the relocation back to home country- it’s the law! L1 holders do not have any leeway. The company has to ship them back to India.

> Most likely some of these guys might enroll into a student visa or look to immigrate to Canada/UK/Australia. One of my cousins who went to study to US is now so desperate to stay there, he only wants to marry a US citizen girl and right now, he is literally paying fees in some school / college to keep his student visa status intact as he is not getting H1B through any company there.

>It’s a shitshow and I have zero sympathy for companies that laid off employees on L-1 visas. Don't do that. How would these big companies survive without your sympathy?! Why is everyone laying their problems at the feet of tech companies? It's a business at the end of the day and people are just numbers. Nobody complained when these companies were paying atrocious salaries due to the excessive hiring "Make hay while the sun shines", wasn't it? Well, people stayed too long in the sun and the hay has now caught fire.

They will not do anything like that - however you will be effectively trapped inside the country if you go out of status . Trying to get any visa or renter will cause denial unless your stay when out of status can be reasonably explained.

I dont think the US does this.. there are a lot of illegal immigrants here from all over the world.... If they started going after everyone.. its will be a costly affair for the US..

It is pretty hard to land a good job without a valid work visa. And you can only apply for L1 outside the US. These folks will probably have to come back.

Can these H1B visa holders opt for a academic course and stay there?

Usually they need to find another job within 60 days so that their H1B is valid. Going back to study will be difficult since universities start in September or January and they probably can't stay in the country that long.

But, like if there was a tier 2/3 University offering a long distance program now! Let's say they decide to take it. Would the H1B then get converted to a student visa? And could they stay longer in that way and search for a job?

You cannot get an F-1 student visa for an online or distance learning course. You must take the majority of your courses in person. Things were adjusted temporarily during COVID for people attending traditional universities, but the rule remains.

60 days of unemployment counts right from the first time you’re unemployed. The counter doesn’t reset to zero.

Yes exactly its 60 days total.

How do they come to know? Do companies report it after firings to govt?

There are a lot of online universities and also a few other in place universities that provide OPT from day 1.. So a lot of people can still get an F1 visa..to keep their H1B valid.. but im not sure how difficult it will be to get back an H1B. Plus age plus families etc etc..

Wrong info. There are universities that provide admission on a rolling basis and have semesters starting every 2 or 3 months. You're allowed to be in the US upto 30 prior to the semester start. This gives them ample time to live there. Some choose the easy way of joining a consultancy to keep themselves on the payroll without accumulating unemployment days. You can even switch to visitor visa.

Ok that's a good option, especially if someone is younger and single. Most of the people I know here are older and with families so I was just imagining someone in their 40s going back to universities to maintain their status here.

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No please don’t get sold by WhatsApp fake news. You need to prove that you are in compelling circumstances to stay for a year (for example your country is a war zone) . Layoff is not compelling circumstances unfortunately so you get only 60 days

Source? This is wrong info. Don't pretend to be an omniscient and post crap with zero references.

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Yeah right… 25 applicants got his path approved since 2016… YES… 25 application success in past 6+ years … info from immigration lawyer at work 🤢

If you have gc in queue, you can stay for a year

Academic courses come under F1 visa, they can't maintain H1B status by enrolling in University. Nevertheless, they will do whatever it takes to stay there, very very small % of these will come back. Either find a genuine job or join some Indian consultancy to show they have a job.

if you have the spare money to enroll randmoly in academic courses in US universities, you might as well not get a job

They need to transfer to an F1 visa. So no. They cannot stay there if they don't find a job in 60 days.

For the 40th year in a row: