FC: INS says laid-off H1B visa holders don't have to exit the U.S.

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,42439,00.html

   New Life for Fired H-1B Workers
   by Swaroopa Iyengar
   2:00 a.m. Mar. 16, 2001 PST

   The Immigration and Naturalization Service appears to be giving a
   break to foreign tech employees with H-1B visas who have been laid
   off.

   This is coming as a pleasant surprise to just about everybody it
   affects.

   Acknowledging the "turbulent time in the tech industry," an INS
   official said her agency will not force H-1B visa holders to leave the
   country if they haven't found new employment within 10 days of being
   terminated.

   "We are going to let things slide," agency spokeswoman Eyleen Schmidt
   said.

   In fact, that 10-day deadline may not even exist at all. Nowhere in
   the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 -- and its amendments,
   which contain H-1B provisions -- is there any language that stipulates
   a timeframe in which a terminated employee must leave the country
   before the visa expires.

   Yet it has always been a common assumption among foreign tech workers
   that their stay in the United States would quickly end if they lost
   their jobs before their visa expired.

   [...]




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