No vacancy at home: Worsening job market greets H-1B returnees

Employees laid off in the US over the past year at marquee names, including Meta, Amazon and Microsoft, are finding it hard to get jobs back home in India in what appears to be a prolonged winter for tech jobs mirroring the unprecedented slump in the locally listed $280-billion outsourcing industry - the biggest on the planet.

According to data from specialised staffing firm Xpheno, close to 7,300 people have returned to India from the US so far in 2026. This was 15,100 in 2025 and 9,700 in 2024.

Experts say returnees comprising fresh graduates, laid-off workers and professionals opting for India over hubs such as Dubai due to uncertainty in West Asia. Redeployment is slow because of limited openings and high salary expectations, though startups and GCCs are increasingly hiring fractional CXOs before expanding full-time leadership.


“The current trajectory of talent movement is set on a trajectory where the returnees' volume will exceed previous year's count. It would not be surprising if the recent H-1B move causes the returnee count to surpass that of outbound tech talent to the US,” said Kamal Karanth, co-founder, Xpheno.

According to data from Xpheno, Indian technology talent hiring is on the decline, hitting a 28-month low in June, with companies being conservative when it comes to hiring.

“Opportunities for returning overseas talent would hence be a challenge to spot and process amidst existing domestic talent in the hiring pipelines,” Karanth said.

Layoffs hit 6 figures

According to data from Layoffs.fyi, over 100,000 people were laid off in 2026 in the US across companies such as Meta, Amazon, and Microsoft. It is unclear how many of these employees are on skilled worker visas such as the H-1B.

“Assuming technology companies have roughly a 10% immigrant employee population, this could translate to 25,000 H-1B workers over the past year and a half,” estimated Boundless Immigration CEO Xiao Wang.

Two laid-off professionals ET spoke with said finding new jobs has been difficult, with one returning to India after 15 years in the US.

The job crunch comes at a time when AI is creating a massive shift in hiring.

Anand Joshi, co-founder, ExH1B, a platform that helps H-1B workers who want to return to India find jobs and other support, said that in the last five months, close to 500–600 people have signed up on the platform, but not all of them are planning to return. But those who have, finding a job is tougher than before, he said.

Neeti Sharma, CEO, Teamlease Digital, concurred that redeployment of these people will pose a challenge as many come at a higher salary band and possess similar skill sets to those in India, and will need to upskill to find a job.

Despite the tepid job market, experts pointed out that there are opportunities at least for a section of these workers.

GICs to the rescue

Those who have spent a decade or more in a single domain will be in demand by GCCs, and here US returnees who have worked in product companies have an edge, experts said.

There is also a growing demand for fractional CXOs across HR, finance, marketing and tech functions across startups and GCCs, which need leaders immediately. According to Teamlease’s Sharma, these numbers have increased threefold since 2020.

“Firms typically save 40-60% compared to hiring someone full time for the same level of expertise,” she said, and added that there is a shortage of experienced professionals who are willing to take on such roles. However, these roles only cover experienced professionals, and there are many who are fresh graduates or have less experience, where the competition is intense.

There are opportunities in Bengaluru and Hyderabad, which account for 65% of new GCCs over the last year, and in startup hubs like Bengaluru and Gurugram, Xpheno’s Karanth said. However, getting a salary equivalent to a US package will be tough. “For example, if talent is expecting a crore or above, the chances (of finding a role), or the time taken, could be more long drawn,” he added.