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Comment by superfrank | Hacker News Reader

On an individual level, I really feel bad for anyone put in that positions. I can't imagine how stressful that would be for anyone going through that. I wouldn't want anyone to go through that.

Taking the emotion out of it and looking at a macro level though, I think the program has been abused by big tech to bring in workers who have less bargaining power and I'm all for it getting a bit of a reset. The purpose of the program is to bring in in-demand, high skill workers that employers cannot find in the US. If these employees cannot find other jobs quickly, it makes me question how in-demand their skills actually were.

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A policy change to allow people holding these visas who get laid off -- not fired for cause, not quit -- extended time to find new employment seems like a no brainer to me. An H1B holder can't have caused the layoffs themselves, so there's not much opening for "cheating". Sadly I think it conflicts with the true nature of the program, which you alluded to, to wit, lowering their bargaining power.

Eh, they always have the option of going back to their home countries and use their savings in a vastly stronger currency to tide by. Not to mention that most local markets are very happy to absorb ex-FAANG employees at inflated salaries.

5-8 years of FAANG wages is enough for someone to move back to, say, India, and retire.

For sure moving back home with the savings of a FAANG salary isn't the end of the world, but it still has to be terrible to uproot your entire life and move across the world in such a short period of time.

It's very possible moving back home means pulling kids out of school, leaving friends, and your partner having to quit their job. None of that is fun or easy.

I gather this question is being asked in government too: big tech has been arguing for years that the visas are needed because they need more skilled people than the domestic labour supply can supply. And now suddenly they don't, and hundreds of thousands of people are being laid off.

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