NEW YORK/PALO ALTO, U.S. -- Zhou was a data scientist at Facebook-owner Meta before he became one of the more than 11,000 employees laid off by the tech giant in early November. A master's degree from a top U.S. engineering school and more than five years of work experience have not helped the 30-year-old land a new job, even though he lined up more than a dozen interviews in the two weeks after being let go.
The clock is ticking for Zhou, who asked to be identified only by his last name. A Chinese national living in California's San Francisco Bay Area, he has only one year left on his H-1B working visa, and his application for permanent residency -- a green card, in common parlance -- has yet to be approved.
