Recently, reports have emerged that Meta is planning a new round of large-scale layoffs, potentially affecting up to 20% or more of its total workforce. Based on Meta's latest disclosure of 79,000 global employees, nearly 16,000 positions may be at risk of being cut. This news has quickly shaken the market.
It serves as a reminder to many young individuals preparing to develop their careers in the United States: the current employment environment in the U.S. is tightening significantly. Especially for international students, the real fear behind layoffs is not just the potential loss of a job, but the disruption of the path to staying in the U.S. itself.
Meta's layoffs are not an isolated incident.
The reason this news has particularly shocked the market is that Meta's workforce reduction has been evident for some time. In November 2022, Meta announced layoffs of approximately 11,000 employees; in March 2023, the company announced an additional layoff of about 10,000 employees, cumulatively affecting over 20,000 individuals.
Moreover, Meta is not an exception. In recent years, news of layoffs, downsizing, and team reductions has emerged from large technology companies and other leading enterprises.
At the same time, data from the New York Federal Reserve indicates that by the fourth quarter of 2025, the unemployment rate for recent college graduates in the U.S. has risen to approximately 5.7%, with the underemployment rate reaching 42.5%, the highest level since 2020. This indicates that the current job market is facing not only a reduction in available positions but also an increasing difficulty for young graduates to find truly matching, stable, and sustainable employment.
The Passive Position of International Students
Is that the traditional path to staying in the U.S. is becoming more difficult.
For many international students, the conventional path to developing a career in the U.S. has always been: studying in the U.S. on an F-1 visa, entering the workforce through OPT after graduation, and then striving to secure an H-1B visa, followed by gradually resolving long-term residency issues.
In the past, this path was seen as the default option by many; however, now, with job reductions, cautious hiring practices, and repeated layoffs, every step of this path is becoming more challenging. More realistically, the rules surrounding H-1B visas and OPT policies are tightening.
The originally interconnected path, once any step encounters issues, can disrupt all subsequent arrangements. Essentially, the path that international students rely on the most to stay in the U.S. is narrowing.
Once Faced with Layoffs
The Risk to Status Immediately Amplifies
For many local employees in the U.S., layoffs are often just a professional fluctuation; however, for international students, layoffs can immediately touch upon issues of immigration status. The H-1B visa is essentially employer-dependent; once employment is terminated, applicants typically have a maximum grace period of 60 days to find a new employer, change their status, or arrange for departure.
This means that for many international students, layoffs are never just about losing a job; they can also mean a forced interruption of their plans to stay in the U.S. Jobs can be found again, but the window for maintaining status will not wait indefinitely.
Because of this, in the current environment of increasing layoffs, job reductions, and tightening visa pathways, more and more families of international students are beginning to turn their attention to long-term immigration solutions that do not rely on employers.
In the Current Environment
Why EB-5 is Worth Focusing On
For applicants with long-term development needs in the U.S., the EB-5 program in the current environment is one of the immigration pathways worth focusing on. Its significance lies not only in obtaining U.S. residency but also in striving for more certainty and control over future educational, internship, employment, and residency arrangements.
Especially under the current policy window, rural EB-5 offers advantages such as no waiting period, dual submission, and priority processing, which can help applicants secure immigration planning opportunities earlier and leave more room for future development in the U.S.
If you would like to further understand the changes in U.S. immigration policies, as well as the application logic and planning focus of EB-5 in the current environment, please feel free to contact WorldWay for one-on-one consultation, or attend the offline seminars on U.S. immigration hosted by WorldWay in Beijing, Shenzhen, and Shanghai from March 20 to 21.
For inquiries in mainland China: 400-138-2929, Hong Kong customer service center: (852)2802 8798