Fact check: How many H-1B Indian tech workers have left the US in 2024 due to job loss?

1. Summary of the results

Based on the analyses provided, no specific number of H-1B Indian tech workers who left the US in 2024 due to job loss is available from any of the sources examined. The analyses consistently indicate that while there is substantial discussion about the challenges facing H-1B visa holders, concrete departure statistics for 2024 are not documented in these sources.

However, the analyses do reveal significant context about the scale of the issue:

• Nearly 80,000 Indian workers on H-1B and L-1 visas have faced job losses since late 2022 ^[1]
• One in six Indian professionals on H-1B visas, or someone they know, has been served a deportation notice within the 60-day grace period after losing their job ^[2]
• 191,000 H-1B visas were issued to Indian professionals during fiscal year 2023, increasing to roughly 207,000 in FY 2024 ^[3]

The sources highlight that H-1B visa holders face significant challenges including job losses, visa restrictions, and the impact of tech layoffs ^[4], but actual departure numbers remain undocumented.

2. Missing context/alternative viewpoints

The original question focuses solely on departures due to job loss, but the analyses reveal several important missing perspectives:

Economic and Policy Context:

• The Heritage Foundation analysis discusses claims that American-born graduates are being pushed out of high-paying tech jobs and that companies favor cheaper foreign workers over US-born staff ^[5]
• There is ongoing controversy surrounding the H-1B program's structural failures and what some call the "high-skill illusion" ^[5]

Beneficiaries of Different Narratives:

• Tech companies benefit from maintaining access to H-1B workers as a source of potentially lower-cost skilled labor
• Immigration advocacy organizations benefit from highlighting deportation risks and job losses to push for policy reforms
• Anti-immigration groups benefit from emphasizing displacement of American workers to support restrictions

Broader Immigration Dynamics:

• The question doesn't account for H-1B workers who may have transitioned to other visa categories, obtained permanent residency, or found new employment within their grace period
• Trump administration policies have created additional uncertainty with wage-based system changes that some describe as "effectively banning Indians" ^[3]

3. Potential misinformation/bias in the original statement

The original question, while straightforward, contains several implicit assumptions that could lead to misleading conclusions:

Assumption of Departure: The question assumes that job loss automatically leads to departure from the US, but the analyses show that workers have a 60-day grace period to find new employment ^[2], and many may successfully transition without leaving.

Narrow Focus on 2024: By focusing only on 2024, the question misses the broader context that job losses have been occurring since late 2022 ^[1], suggesting this is part of a longer-term trend rather than a 2024-specific phenomenon.

Tech Worker Specificity: The question specifically asks about "tech workers," but the analyses discuss H-1B visa holders more broadly, and the available data doesn't always distinguish between tech and non-tech sectors.

Lack of Baseline Context: Without understanding the total population of H-1B Indian tech workers in the US, any departure number would lack meaningful context about the scale of the impact.

The absence of specific departure statistics in multiple comprehensive analyses suggests that either this data is not being systematically tracked or is not being made publicly available, which itself represents important missing information for understanding the true scope of this issue.