As employers began to register for the Fiscal Year 2024 H-1B cap on March 1, 2023, it is reported that the demand by US employers for high-skilled foreign workers on temporary work visas is expected to reach a new high for the third year in a row. At the same time eligible applicants register for the visa lottery, some current H-1B visa holders in the IT industry are faced with the prospect of having to leave the homes they have created in the US after losing their jobs.

The United States has relied on “skilled immigrants to maintain a competitive advantage” in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) for years. Foreign-born workers account for nearly one-quarter of all workers in the STEM fields of science, technology, engineering, and math. The demand for H-1B visas comes at the heels of massive layoffs throughout the technology industry, where blue chip corporations like Google, Meta, Microsoft, and Amazon have laid off workers by the thousands in the past few months. In 2022, more than 150,000 IT workers were laid off in the US, among these workers are hundreds of H-1B visa holders who are now faced with the hardship of having to leave behind the life they created in the US if they cannot find suitable employment with a company willing to sponsor their temporary visas within sixty days from the date they were dismissed from their H-1B sponsoring employment.

Foreign born IT workers who helped shape the IT industry boom in the US for years are now in a race against time to find new employment or applying for another type of visa, such as a tourist visa, which would prohibit them from working. In order to maintain our competitive edge, Congress must examine our immigration system which forces international talent to look past the US to lay roots and contribute to the economy. “Canada is aiming to add 1.45 million immigrants by 2025” to address their labor shortages, and yet our foreign born skilled work force is being forced out of the country due to our outdated immigration laws. Indeed, it is time for Congress to enact new legislation and reform our immigration system, or we will continue to lose highly skilled talent to nations who are keen on attracting foreign talent to maintain a competitive edge in the marketplace.