Companies in the city and suburbs of Chicago are attempting to lure thousands of foreign H-1B workers who were laid off by the technology giants to fill up their vacant positions. Recently, a collaboration of P33 and World Business Chicago formed a job portal named Chicago H-1B Connect Coalition.
More than 35 firms in the Chicago area are interested to hire H-1B visa workers in speciality occupations such as software engineering. The portal contains more than 900 job vacancies.
The job listing website is the first of its kind and will bolster the state’s capacity to emerge as a technology hub.
Job seekers can visit gotechchicago.com/h1b and find job opportunities as per their skills and experiences. More companies are expected to join the bandwagon soon. The job listings will be added and updated daily.
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Companies that are part of this coalition are the Commercial Club of Chicago, 1871, the Chicago Chamber of Commerce, MATTER, a few reputed Fortune 500 companies and other well-founded startups to retain valuable international talent. The portal will also help companies such as Caterpillar Inc., Vivid Seat Inc., TransUnion and several other companies in Illinois to fill up their vacancies.
The laid-off H1-B visa holders from STEM industries, especially technologies have only 60 days to pinpoint a new employer who is willing to transfer or sponsor work visas. Failure to get a sponsor will force them to change their H-1B visa status or leave the U.S. Till now, it was incredibly difficult for the laid-off employees to identify professional opportunities that would allow them to transfer or sponsor work visas. Chicago is the first city to come up with this initiative to support and attract H-1B professionals.
CEO of P33 Brad Henderson quoted that these employees must consider the welcoming city of Chicago and the booming technology industry. He is proud that the city leaders have taken the first step towards making the collaborative effort in such a short span of time.
Layoffs.fyi notes that over 1,57,000 tech workers lost their jobs in 2022 and the trend is not slowing down soon anytime. The times are especially challenging for foreign workers on H-1 B status threatens immigration as well as family status.
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CEO and president of World Business Chicago, Michael Fassnacht, considers this initiative as a shining commitment of the city to be a welcoming and inclusive destination for immigrants which will further solidify Chicago’s stance as a premier business hub.
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Source: CISION PR Newswire
