Some of the largest tech companies, including Google, Meta, Amazon, Microsoft and Salesforce, have hired foreign workers just weeks after cutting headcount by thousands, according to a report.
Google, which laid off some 12,000 workers earlier this year, filed applications for low-wage foreign workers to come to the United States and take on highly specialized technical roles within the company, according to investigative reporter Lee Fang.
The search engine, owned by Alphabet, was submitting applications for dozens of foreign employees seeking positions, including software engineers, analytics consultants, user experience researchers and others, Fang wrote in its Substack newsletter on Tuesday.
Google-owned self-driving outfit Waymo also received government approval for H-1B visa applications for tech jobs, according to Fang.
The newly hired workers from abroad will start working at the company from Aug. 17, Fang reported.
The Post has asked for comment from Google.
Other companies, including Meta, Amazon, Zoom, Salesforce, Microsoft and Palantir, have also filed more H-1B filings, according to Fang.
The Post has solicited comment from all of these companies.
H-1B visas, used by software engineers and others in the tech industry, have been a lightning rod in the immigration debate, with critics saying they are used to undermine US citizens and legal permanent residents.
They are issued for three years and can be extended for a further three years.
Fang cited a 2017 study by the National Bureau of Economic Research that found that “wages for U.S. computer scientists would have been 2.6% to 5.1% higher” while “employment in computer science for U.S. workers would have increased 6.1% would have been up to 10.8% higher” in 2001 “in the absence of immigration.”
The number of visa applications used in the tech industry has soared for a second consecutive year, raising “serious concerns” that some are manipulating the system to gain an unfair advantage, authorities said last month.
According to Fang, tech companies have hired lobbyists to pressure lawmakers and the Biden administration to expand the number of H-1B visas issued.
There were 780,884 applications for H-1B visas in this year’s computer-generated lottery, up 61% from 483,927 last year, US Citizenship and Immigration Services said in a message to “stakeholders”.
Last year’s catch was 57% higher than the 308,613 applications the year before.
Each year, up to 85,000 people are selected for H-1B visas.
The website Layoffs.fyi, which maintains a running tally of the total number of workers who lost their jobs this year, reported more than 168,000 tech layoffs.
