American Dreams Shattered: Agony mounts for many Telugus

Hyderabad: While massive layoffs are going on at a high speed in the US, the hiring process in various firms is going on at a very slow pace. This has pushed thousands of IT professionals holding H1B visa from Telangana into a state of insecurity.

According to reports, about two lakh techies have been laid off since November and about 40% of them are Indian and most of them are Telugu speaking people.

Telugu IT employees and American Telugu Association (ATA) say that many IT professionals are H1B visa holders (non-immigrant visa) and in case they fail to find a new job, they will have to leave the US within 60 days.

Anil Bodireddy, member on the Board of Trustees, ATA, said, "These layoffs are not a new thing in the USA. They are happening for many years due to worldwide business and political dynamics. But this time, it is massive. Over 40,000 employees have lost jobs. Most of them have been working with major companies like Amazon, Google and Microsoft." To help those who lost jobs ATA has set up various groups on social media platforms to connect job seekers with various organizations, but nothing could be done officially.

ATA is also counselling them not to get panic. Vishweshwar Reddy, founder of Global Association, said for the past one week, they have been receiving numerous calls from the laid-off employees for help as their working period would end by the end of February pushing them into financial problems as many had taken heavy loans.

Hyderabad native Mohan (name changed), who was laid off recently, said: "I arrived in the US only four months ago. Last week, I was told that February 25 would be my last working day."

Another victim, Ramesh (name changed), said, "Day by day the situation is getting worse. I will be jobless from February. If I won't find another job even for a lesser salary, my daughter's education would get affected and life would become difficult."