Oracle and Amazon file thousands of H-1B visas requests amid layoffs

Oracle laid off thousands of employees via email on Tuesday, informing them that their roles were being eliminated as part of a broader organizational change. The termination notice stated: “After careful consideration of Oracle’s current business needs, we have made the decision to eliminate your role as part of a broader organizational change.”

Affected workers were offered a severance package subject to the plan’s terms. At the same time, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services data show Oracle filed roughly 3,126 H-1B petitions for foreign workers in specialty occupations during fiscal years 2025 and 2026, including 436 petitions this year alone. Employers use H-1B petitions when they seek to hire foreign talent in fields such as technology. The timing drew sharp criticism on the anonymous employee forum Blind. One user called the petitions “a slap in our face” and urged others to read posts from laid-off U.S. citizen employees on LinkedIn. Another commenter observed that big tech companies often conduct massive layoffs then rehire at lower salaries.

A third wrote:

“Transnational corporations are disloyal to the American state and the nation.”

Amazon filed 2,675 H-1B petitions over the same period while cutting 16,000 corporate jobs in January and another 14,000 in October. Neither company responded to requests for comment.

Companies file H-1B petitions when they claim they cannot find U.S. workers with comparable skills, citing the need to stay competitive in technology development.

Critics argue the program disadvantages American employees. Oracle is chaired by Larry Ellison. The layoffs occurred amid a broader tech sector downturn, with 52,050 jobs cut in the first three months of 2026—a 40 percent increase from the prior year—largely attributed to artificial intelligence.