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Laid Off, Now What?

bharathpbhat.github.io

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Re: Laid Off, Now What?

#21

Post by pm90 »

This happened to me as I was laid off from my first job in the US after a year.

It was perhaps the most insanely stressful period in my life. You cannot begin to fathom the desperation that comes with it. There is literally a ticking time bomb until the country is like “whoops, looks didn’t work out for you buddy. Just pack your bags and leave your life and go home. Bye!”. I think of myself generally as a rather carefree person but I couldn’t sleep at night because there was the very real chance that I would just not get a job in time. I wouldn’t wish this on anyone.

I basically did what the author describes... cast a pretty wide net in my job search. Couldn’t make it into the FAANGS but got another job just in time. The timing was pretty insane though. And as a person still on an H1B that worry is always on top of my mind, although as a fairly experienced engineer now, it is somewhat less intimidating.

The other thing that Citizens May not realize is that CBP can stop you from entering for any fucking reason whatsoever. Which is what prevented me from buying a house and making other long term investments.

Re: Laid Off, Now What?

#22

Post by JonLim »

Does the 60 day timeline include the amount of time you need to be approved for the visa, as well?

I wasn't laid off, but am in the process of changing employers with my TN visa. This is probably the least smooth part of the entire interviewing/job changing process, at least from my perspective, as a software dev who doesn't have a degree in computer science or computer engineering.

Wish it were all a little more transparent, and that it wasn't just a big waiting game with lawyers and USCIS!

Re: Laid Off, Now What?

#23

Post by Igelau »

WilTimSon wrote: post #16
kinkrtyavimoodh wrote: post #10

H1B rules are quite ridiculous (or more accurately, cruel). Do people here know that even this 60-day grace window was only put into place relatively recently by the Obama administration? Before that, you technically had to leave the country the day you were laid off. Never mind that you might have a house a family and might have been living here for more than a decade. You would officially be staying illegally if yo…

> Do people here know that even this 60-day grace window was only put into place relatively recently by the Obama administration? This is what happens when the people making the laws for unique experiences have never been even in the proximity of those experiences. (Well, in this case it's more likely just cruelty.) You get lawmakers who lived a standard life of an upper-class person and don't realize that finding a…

The distance between the political class and everyone else is shocking. This brings to mind the time that Obama was trying to cut 529 tax breaks and even Democrats were like "Dude, wtf!"

For many of them it's been too long since they've had normal people problems. For immigrant experiences the gulf is even wider.

Re: Laid Off, Now What?

#24

Post by lordnacho »

oDot wrote: post #7

The current state of job interviews is terrible. Just the fact that studying for a few weeks affects their outcome should raise eyebrows everywhere. And don't get me started on lack of job-related questions, false negatives and having to guess what interviewers want to hear

It's bad, but compared to other industries there are some real pluses.

At least you can actually hunker down and do these silly tests. There's a huge amount of advice on the technical stuff.

And yes it means people who have a job already are disadvantaged, but that also means people who have no income have a way in.

In a lot of other industries, there's no real way to boost your game. Often it's purely reputation of your school and previous employers, and your feedback on a failed application is just platitudes. People circle around for ages and never find anything but crappy advice that doesn't work.

It's also a process that makes bias a little bit harder to introduce. If your pal from the country club can't fizzbuzz, it will be hard to convince people to accept him. Not saying this is bullet proof, but in most jobs it's a lot more vague whether someone is terrible.

Re: Laid Off, Now What?

#25

Post by paxys »

mancerayder wrote: post #18
kinkrtyavimoodh wrote: post #10

H1B rules are quite ridiculous (or more accurately, cruel). Do people here know that even this 60-day grace window was only put into place relatively recently by the Obama administration? Before that, you technically had to leave the country the day you were laid off. Never mind that you might have a house a family and might have been living here for more than a decade. You would officially be staying illegally if yo…

> Typically it's the Democrats who are pro-immigration, but in reality they don't care much about H1B style immigration and are in fact likely against it due to American tech unions hating H1Bs, Wait, what? Tech unions? I've never seen a single union in my entire 20 year career. I was sympathetic up until you complained about that. What unions? The H1B stuff goes back and forth politically. If you ask me, if the econ…

Every one of the numerous studies done in this area over the years has come to the clear conclusion that high-skilled immigration produces a net economic benefit to the country and its workers (here's a recent one - https://nfap.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/The-Impact-of-H-...).

Silicon Valley itself wouldn't exist had it not been openly attracting talent from all over the world, and the difficulty in getting visas and residency over the last few years is already showing its effects as more and more major software companies are popping up outside the US.

Re: Laid Off, Now What?

#27

Post by mathattack »

kinkrtyavimoodh wrote: post #10

H1B rules are quite ridiculous (or more accurately, cruel). Do people here know that even this 60-day grace window was only put into place relatively recently by the Obama administration? Before that, you technically had to leave the country the day you were laid off. Never mind that you might have a house a family and might have been living here for more than a decade. You would officially be staying illegally if yo…

I concur that the H1B rules are awful. We should make it as easy as possible for the best in the world to come here. The laws as they stand directly abuse non-citizens for the benefit of companies, some of which are US based. The H1B holders don’t vote. The beneficiaries of a better system are more indirect, and less likely to make a case. (Most of us benefit when the best talent in the world is free to come here and build/create/pay taxes)

However... The system is arbitrary and can punish people short term. It seems strange to buy a house in a country that can kick you out on no notice through no fault of your own.

Re: Laid Off, Now What?

#28

Post by kinkrtyavimoodh »

mathattack wrote: post #27
kinkrtyavimoodh wrote: post #10

H1B rules are quite ridiculous (or more accurately, cruel). Do people here know that even this 60-day grace window was only put into place relatively recently by the Obama administration? Before that, you technically had to leave the country the day you were laid off. Never mind that you might have a house a family and might have been living here for more than a decade. You would officially be staying illegally if yo…

I concur that the H1B rules are awful. We should make it as easy as possible for the best in the world to come here. The laws as they stand directly abuse non-citizens for the benefit of companies, some of which are US based. The H1B holders don’t vote. The beneficiaries of a better system are more indirect, and less likely to make a case. (Most of us benefit when the best talent in the world is free to come here and…

> It seems strange to buy a house in a country that can kick you out on no notice through no fault of your own.

OK, it's strange to buy a house. What about marrying and having a kid? Many H1B workers here have lived there for decades (with no realistic hope of a green card in sight). Must we stay childless because we can be kicked out on no notice?

I know your statement is well-intentioned but it comes off as one of those things that's easy to say in 'abstract' but it demonstrates a lack of understanding of actual life situations of people.

Re: Laid Off, Now What?

#29

Post by seanmcdirmid »

kinkrtyavimoodh wrote: post #10

H1B rules are quite ridiculous (or more accurately, cruel). Do people here know that even this 60-day grace window was only put into place relatively recently by the Obama administration? Before that, you technically had to leave the country the day you were laid off. Never mind that you might have a house a family and might have been living here for more than a decade. You would officially be staying illegally if yo…

> are in fact likely against it due to American tech unions hating H1Bs

That’s a new one. What are these American tech unions you are speaking of? Googling only brings up a few obscure organizations that I’m sure don’t have much influence with the Democrats.

Re: Laid Off, Now What?

#30

Post by kinkrtyavimoodh »

JonLim wrote: post #22

Does the 60 day timeline include the amount of time you need to be approved for the visa, as well? I wasn't laid off, but am in the process of changing employers with my TN visa. This is probably the least smooth part of the entire interviewing/job changing process, at least from my perspective, as a software dev who doesn't have a degree in computer science or computer engineering. Wish it were all a little more tra…

I _think_ if you have applied for Premium Processing and get the receipt, you can start working with the new employer. But please check with your employer's lawyers, as these things can keep changing and the rules are too complex for me to keep track of.
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