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Apple and Google Asking Some Employees With H-1B Visas To Avoid International Travel (sfchronicle.com) 63

Posted by msmash from the time-for-caution dept.
Tech giants Google and Apple are asking some employees with H-1B visas to reconsider international travel, as their legal teams warned that visa processing delays could keep employees abroad for months, according to Business Insider. From a report: Law firms representing the tech giants sent memos advising staff who require visa stamps for reentry to stay in the U.S., warning that international travel could entangle them in visa screening delays following the introduction of a new social media screening requirement, according to the news agency. The policy subjects H-1B workers and their dependents to reviews of their social media histories.

"Please be aware that some US Embassies and Consulates are experiencing significant visa stamping appointment delays, currently reported as up to 12 months," BAL Immigration Law, which represents Google, said in a memo obtained by Business Insider. The law firm said the delays were affecting H-1B, H-4, F, J and M visas.
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Apple and Google Asking Some Employees With H-1B Visas To Avoid International Travel More

Apple and Google Asking Some Employees With H-1B Visas To Avoid International Travel

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  • Christ in a chicken basket. (Score:4, Insightful)

    by xevioso ( 598654 ) on Tuesday December 23, 2025 @12:07PM (#65877451)

    These tech companies bent over backwards to appease that clown in the half-a-white-house, and he responds by making it more difficult for the very employees that help them operate their company to come back to the US. The racism is on full display, and yet these tech companies are too chicken-shit to stand up to that clown and his literally evil minions.

    • They don't care as long as the stock price goes up.

    • Re:Christ in a chicken basket. (Score:5, Insightful)

      by SchroedingersCat ( 583063 ) on Tuesday December 23, 2025 @12:24PM (#65877509)
      Tech unemployment rate is pushing 5%, layoffs climbing to 200k surpassing prior years and record numbers of CS grads cannot find work. Tech companies are bending backwards because they have been abusing H1B program for years.

      • You do realize that the number of H-1B visas granted each year is capped, right? And that there are significant procedural hoops to jump through, and (now) very high fees.

        I'm all for a discussion about the balance of immigrant workers vs. US-based workers. People of goodwill can disagree on what that balance is. But you can't claim companies are "abusing" a program that is so strictly controlled by the government.

        • Re: Christ in a chicken basket. (Score:5, Interesting)

          by Richard Dick Head ( 803293 ) on Tuesday December 23, 2025 @12:41PM (#65877549) Homepage Journal
          Speaking from experience, the H1-B's generally don't go home, total headcount goes up every year, and once they naturalize they're not counted in the statistic. It this terrible tech economy, less is more

          • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

            by whoever57 ( 658626 )

            I am a former H1B holder that is now a citizen, however, I know other former H1B holders who have gone home, some of whom had citizenship or green cards.

            I also know Indian H1B holders who are considering a move home now, since they are unlikely to ever get a green card. Note that, if an Indian citizen moves home without getting citizenship, they won't be able to claim any Social Security payments when they hit retirement age.

            • H-1B is known as a "dual-intent" visa. People who obtain them may or may not stay and change status when their visa runs out. The usual transition is to permanent residency (green card) but it is not guaranteed. If you don't change status, you have to leave.

              Note that, if an Indian citizen moves home without getting citizenship, they won't be able to claim any Social Security payments when they hit retirement age.

              Not true. If someone from any other country works in the USA for long enough to obtain Social Security credits, then can claim and receive benefits from anywhere in the world. What they cannot do is claim and receive them while being present in the USA u

              • Not true. If someone from any other country works in the USA for long enough to obtain Social Security credits, then can claim and receive benefits from anywhere in the world.

                Sorry, but you are wrong about this:
                "1. Can I receive Social Security benefits if I am not a U.S. citizen and I live outside the United States?

                Generally, we cannot pay Retirement, Survivors, and Disability Insurance benefits to noncitizens after their sixth calendar month outside the United States."
                https://www.ssa.gov/internatio... [ssa.gov]

                There are exceptions:
                1. People who claim as a dependent of a US citizen (widow, etc.)
                2. Countries with which the US has a totalization agreement. THis includes the UK, for example

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by Teun ( 17872 )
            You just explained how the USA became what it is, not by First Nation people but by immigration.
          • US issues 700-900K family based green cards every year. These people also donâ(TM)t go back and worse they donâ(TM)t have a job so they use welfare. By comparison H1B issued is capped to around 70K per year and they contribute and likely forfeit their social security contributions.

        • There is no shortage of examples of such abuse [epi.org]. The enforcement has been lax and Labor Certification approvals were largely a rubber stamp. In the end, it puts foreign workers into precarious positions when labor market deteriorates or enforcement action like above happens.

          The balance of immigrant vs US-based workers would be nice but that balance was upset a long time ago. H1B lottery is one example. How can the lottery decide who qualifies for the job? Why temporary workers? If these workers are so spec

          • There is no shortage of examples of such abuse [epi.org]. The enforcement has been lax and Labor Certification approvals were largely a rubber stamp. In the end, it puts foreign workers into precarious positions when labor market deteriorates or enforcement action like above happens.

            Oh, you mean the companies abuse the foreign workers. Well, okay.

            How can the lottery decide who qualifies for the job?

            It doesn't have to. The workers are already qualified before they are put into the lottery.

      • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

        by swillden ( 191260 )

        Tech unemployment rate is pushing 5%, layoffs climbing to 200k surpassing prior years and record numbers of CS grads cannot find work. Tech companies are bending backwards because they have been abusing H1B program for years.

        The tech companies in the article are Apple and Google, and they do not abuse the program. I used to be a manager at Google, and know a lot of people who are or were managers at Apple. Those companies use H-1B to bring in highly-skilled engineers (my H-1B reports were all PhDs, and extremely good) and pay them market rates (by which I mean Silicon Valley market rates, i.e. $400k at the low end, climbing rapidly into seven figures for senior folks). Apple and Google also help their H-1B employees get to a

        • Troll, really, for a simple, factual statement? Sigh. Moderation on /. has gotten progressively more political and biased.

      • Tech unemployment rate is pushing 5%, layoffs climbing to 200k surpassing prior years and record numbers of CS grads cannot find work. Tech companies are bending backwards because they have been abusing H1B program for years.

        H1-B visas and AI are both impacting tech hiring. However, they are both relatively minor compared to primary economic factors, specifically the correction from the 2023 overhiring and the current depressed economy. The economy is far more important and when the overhiring correction finishes and the economy starts expanding again, H1-B visas and AI will be noise.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by shanen ( 462549 )

      Mod parent Funny for the Subject, but I think it justifies a YOB joke. The tech link is the low-tech creators of the robotic tool in question... Premise of the joke is that my own handwriting is getting worse as I age, and I'm significantly younger than the YOB. Comparing my signature now to my signature of a few decades ago? I'm glad I so rarely have to sign anything now.

      What if the YOB can't sign his own name in a recognizable way? Certainly can't use an autopen as much as he's screamed about that tool--s

      • What if the YOB can't sign his own name in a recognizable way? Certainly can't use an autopen as much as he's screamed about that tool

        Just going to apply a bit of Occam's Razor to this here.

        You are inventing a conspiracy in your mind because you still haven't figured out that this guy is the biggest hypocrite and liar in the known universe. I assure you he has no actual objection to using the autopen himself, as literally thousands of pieces of paper that require executive signature go through the White House every week. It's already been proven that he used it on pardons [pbs.org].

        If there isn't an automated way to affix the President's signatur

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by shanen ( 462549 )

          I was trying to justify the joke. Sounds to me like you're just being literal minded for the sake of... What?

          However, I wouldn't be surprised if the YOB claims (AKA lies), in public no less, that he never allows the autopen to be used except to repeat his signature on stuff that he really signed earlier. And no comprehension tests allowed, either. You certainly can't expect the YOB to understand all those complicated details and stuff just because he put his name on it.

          I actually think the hand bruising is

    • The main concern is the "arrest and deport everyone now, ask questions later" attitude of the current administration. It does not matter if someone is here legally or not to this administration. Case in point, ICE arrested Hyundai employees in Georgia who were working in the US legally. They were helping to build the Hyundai factory. That factory would mean jobs for the local community but is now delayed because Hyundai recalled their employees.

  • FAFO (Score:2, Troll)

    by stooo ( 2202012 )

    1) Choose fascism.
    2) Get F*cked. Everybody gets F*cked.

    • Lol they sure get angry when you take their pork and barrel away

    • Don't self censor just say fuck or don't say it at all.

    • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

      by noshellswill ( 598066 )
      "1) Choose fascism." Choose Franco instead of Stalin: choose Mussolini instead of Mao: choose Pinochet instead of Pol Pot. No, you cannot accuse "cherry-picking", because collectivist klans/cultures ALWAYS end in horrific tyranny. Find your own examples, beside Jonestown and the Spanish Inquisition.

      2) Produce useful items , marry your sweetheart & raise a family. Spend years rebuilding a 1959 Plymouth Fury with Hurst 4-speed ! Live a life of Enlightenment culture and Western civilizati

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by stooo ( 2202012 )

        I'm German.
        I know very well what utter destruction is the inevitable consequence of fascism.
        My family did not spend 1959 rebuilding a nice plymouth, but rebuilding a very broken country from just rubble....

  • My understanding of some of them in my company they HAVE to by LAW return back for about a month per year. If they stayed in the USA the entire year they would be in violation. My understanding is that departments heavy in H1B holders just have to staff accordingly knowing that their staff is going to be on a mandatory month long "PTO" sometime though the year.

    • My understanding of some of them in my company they HAVE to by LAW return back for about a month per year. If they stayed in the USA the entire year they would be in violation. My understanding is that departments heavy in H1B holders just have to staff accordingly knowing that their staff is going to be on a mandatory month long "PTO" sometime though the year.

      I never saw any such requirement for the H-1Bs I managed. I think maybe you're confusing H-1B with another status -- though I did some searching and I couldn't figure out what it might be. H-A and H-2B visas are seasonal, so they go home at the end of the season, but that's the closest I could find.

      Many H-1B visa holders do return home regularly, but that's because they want to visit friends and family, and H-1B allows them the freedom to travel back and forth without restriction (at least, normally it

      • I think the poster above you might be confusing things with the requirement that they reapply back in their home country? My understanding is that if they wish to renew, they must do it at an embassy or consulate in their home country, they can't do it in the US itself.

        • I think the poster above you might be confusing things with the requirement that they reapply back in their home country? My understanding is that if they wish to renew, they must do it at an embassy or consulate in their home country, they can't do it in the US itself.

          Maybe. I never saw that... but that's the sort of thing that can easily be worked around if you have good legal representation, and Google has very good immigration lawyers.

      • "... department with a lot of H-1Bs ..." Why does your department hire H1-Bs. Is it only because they are cheaper than citizens. Or do you have a deeper hate  against ... straight white male native  Christians ? Does the huge hiring of Indian C -suites directly imply that racism ?

        • "... department with a lot of H-1Bs ..." Why does your department hire H1-Bs.

          I don't know about other places, but Google hires a lot of H-1Bs because when you're trying to hire the top hundredth of one percent of talent, and you need tens of thousands of such people, the US just doesn't produce enough. Not because the US is bad at producing top software engineering talent, but because the US is only 4% of the world's population. Expanding the scope to include the whole world lets you find a lot more smart people.

          The distribution at Google seems to be (from where I sat) about 1/3

    • Do you have any reference for your understanding? Because I can't find anything of the sort, and I know several H-1Bs working for us definitely haven't returned home, and we do have some high priced immigration attorneys on staff (as would Google or Apple), so I suspect they would know if this is a requirement.

  • Not only H1B visa holders (Score:3)

    by RUs1729 ( 10049396 ) on Tuesday December 23, 2025 @04:38PM (#65878099)
    Even permanent residents and naturalized citizens might be at risk.

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