NEW YORK/PALO ALTO, USA — Zhou was a data scientist at Facebook-owned Meta before becoming one of more than 11,000 employees laid off by the tech giant in early November. A master’s degree from a top US engineering school and more than five years of work experience haven’t helped the 30-year-old land a new job, even though he lined up more than a dozen interviews in the two weeks since he was released.
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 has just one year left on his H-1B work visa, and his application for permanent residence—a green card, in common parlance—has yet to be filed. has been approved.
