Several US companies hire laid-off H-1B workers, finds survey

MUMBAI: There's a glimmer of hope for the several hundred H-1B visa holders impacted by the wave of layoffs that recently swept through the technology industry. A survey report released by Envoy Global - a worldwide immigration services provider - has found that nearly 89% of companies surveyed have hired one or more foreign nationals who were laid off by another company.
TOI has from time to time covered the plight of laid-off H-1B Indian workers who were and continue to scramble to find another job within the 60-day grace period. Several have been forced to transit to a tourist visa or even return home. The survey was conducted during February and got 443 responses from HR professionals engaged in immigration functions in their companies. It cut across a wide variety of industries and company sizes.

The recently released '2023 immigration trends' report by Envoy points out that 78% of the companies surveyed instituted a hiring freeze into 2022, while nearly 51% laid off foreign workers. However, many companies benefited by recruiting foreign talent impacted by the earlier layoffs.
Despite the harsh economic realities, the survey shows that the demand for foreign talent is higher now than in early 2022. That was when the Department of Labour saw an all-time high H-1B sponsorships. As many as 71% companies report recruiting more foreign nationals in the first quarter of 2023 than during the same period last year, it states.
According to Envoy, this momentum should continue as employers are expected to submit slightly more H-1B registrations than they did in 2022, which saw a record 4,83,000 submissions. The online registration period for H-1B specialty occupation visas opened on March 1. As always, once the registration period ends, this will be followed by a lottery for selection of candidates as the number of registrations far exceeds the annual H-1B cap quota of 85,000 visas. Indians are traditionally the main beneficiaries, bagging more than 60% of the new H-1B cap allotments.
According to the survey, while 84% of the respondents approve of the Biden administration's handling of employment-based immigration, the limited number of H-1B cap visas available annually is seen as a primary barrier.
As in previous years, the survey report points out that despite the high demand to sponsor foreign talent in the US, immigration barriers are leading employers to relocate foreign national employees overseas and outsource jobs. Canada stood to gain, with 62% of the respondents stating that employees were relocated to this neighbouring country. This was followed by Mexico and the UK (with 48% affirmative responses).
In addition to establishing one or multiple entities outside the US, American companies are also exploring the creation of a Global Employment Company and moving employees to other countries using an 'Employer of Record' or a 'Professional Employer Organisation' or other contracting method to continue to indirectly work with them.