So far, the government has advised stranded H-1B holders to petition to file for an extension of status, or a change of status. The odds are against any young job-hunter right now: Companies are laying off thousands of employees, or at the very least freezing new hires, as the pandemic continues to strangle business activity. With a flood of available workers vying for jobs, any employers still hiring can afford to be choosy.
Over the years, hundreds of thousands of foreign workers have buoyed a booming US tech industry. Many first arrive to study at US colleges and universities, and then receive authorization to work for 12 months under a "training period'' known as OPT. Students like Sharma who have degrees in STEM-related fields can apply to extend that period by 24 months.
When non-US citizens are working under one of the temporary work authorizations they have a limited window of time to remain unemployed — usually between 60 and 90 days. And as layoffs rack up in an economy squeezed by the pandemic, the futures of these workers have never been more uncertain., around 200,000 foreign workers holding H-1B visas stand to lose their legal status in June. The number rises even higher when it includes OPT-authorized employees like Sharma.
After spending close to a decade in the United States, he sees the downturn threatening to upend the life that he has so carefully built in Silicon Valley, as he reckons with the growing probability of heading back to Taiwan with his wife and baby daughter. In Sharma's case, a series of dead-ends on the job hunt pushed him broadcast his status on LinkedIn.
It's so sad to know some people get a lot of pressure to become their best when in reality we're still so young and we have so much time to improve and get better, we are a work in progress.”