Lawmakers from Silicon Valley Urge USCIS to Allow Laid Off Immigrants to Stay in the US

A group of lawmakers from Silicon Valley has written a letter to the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) requesting that high-skilled immigrants be allowed to stay in the country even if they lose their jobs due to large-scale layoffs in the tech industry.

The letter, addressed to USCIS Director Ur Jaddou, highlights the concerns of the lawmakers regarding the impact of layoffs in the tech sector on immigrants and the nation’s long-term economic competitiveness. The lawmakers, including Congressmen Zoe Lofgren, Ro Khanna, Jimmy Panetta, and Kevin Mullin, state that the number of tech jobs lost in 2023 has already surpassed the total number of layoffs in 2022.

In addition to requesting information from USCIS on the impact of layoffs on immigrants, the lawmakers call for an extension of the 60-day grace period given to H-1B visa holders who have been laid off, so that they have more time to find a new job before their legal status is revoked. The H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers in specialty occupations.

The letter also seeks data on approval and denial rates for visa applications submitted by newly unemployed H-1B holders, broken down by visa category, and requests that this data be made publicly available to help individuals make informed decisions about which visas to apply for. The lawmakers also express concerns about processing times that exceed the 60-day grace period and seek information on the duration of time USCIS takes to process visa applications submitted by newly unemployed H-1B holders.

The lawmakers conclude their letter by urging USCIS to take action to address these issues and ensure that high-skilled immigrants who are laid off are not forced to leave the US, as it would be detrimental to the nation’s long-term economic competitiveness.