Thread regarding Cisco Systems Inc. layoffs

LR victims

Is there any data on upcoming layoffs that shows the breakdown between H-1B workers and U.S. citizens, especially by skill set?

Despite having similar qualifications, many U.S. citizens are being laid off while H-1B workers are retained—not necessarily due to better skills, but often because their visa dependency makes them more willing to work longer hours under pressure.

In many cases, H-1B employees are no longer in the same roles or using the technologies listed in their original green card applications—yet their green card process continues without re-evaluation.

These programs were intended to address real talent shortages, not to create a second-tier workforce or displace qualified American workers.

Isn’t it time this was looked at more closely?

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| 2321 views | | 17 replies (last June 5, 2025) | Reply
Post ID: @OP+1jwmf5ztt

17 replies (most recent on top)

...they get so much pressure to perform that. They'll never say no to any assignment...

This differs from anything that's happened in the past decades in the US how? I've seen many projects schedules for a few people for 1-3 months and the teams get bloated to many times their original size and overran by years. Multiply the time overrun by the increase in bodies plus all the costs of stalling the larger program that project is part of and you get a sense of the kinds of overruns that Cisco doesn't bat an eye at but would destroy any company in a low margin market. The funny thing is after many years of failure in the US some of these programs were shipped to India in the hopes they might be able to make them work when the teams in the US could not. You train them on this and then blame them for following Cisco culture?

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Post ID: @wv+1jwmf5ztt

Large Tech companies like Cisco want H1B. Sanjay and Ram are going to work there. Butts off because the entire three generations of family they brought along with them is depending on them being employed. If they both work for a big consulting company based out of India, they get so much pressure to perform that. They'll never say no to any assignment. It's modern day exploitation. Meanwhile, the H1B community is driving up rents and property prices across the US.

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Post ID: @vf+1jwmf5ztt

@ny this forum people mainly discuss about blue badge people, nothing to be confused about.

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Post ID: @nz+1jwmf5ztt

I think people are confused between blue badge employee that are on H1B visa (or on L1 visa) vs the red badge contractors from vendors. Majority of the contractors from vendors are on H1B by those vendors of course. They were treated very different.

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Post ID: @ny+1jwmf5ztt

After the CEP program, thousands of H1Bs took over the jobs of greencards and citizens. In 2024 layoff, out of 10,000 at least couple thousand took over the green card and citizens. It looks like H1B is majority in Cisco and managing the whole show in the field. No one change or do anything

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Post ID: @kk+1jwmf5ztt

@aa if you are a crna, how in the he-l did you end up on this forum?

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Post ID: @ee+1jwmf5ztt

The Great Replacement Theory... Another conspiracy theory that turned out to be true. Profits that tunnel more money to the top 1%.

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Post ID: @cp+1jwmf5ztt

H1B will never go away because the only real opposition is from the lower tiers of tech workers who will never set aside their differences on other divisive topics to form a unified front

Dems are Repubs in tech would rather scratch each other's eyes out over culture war issues than unify against H1B

and no, there will never be an effective tech workers union

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Post ID: @cn+1jwmf5ztt

The LR round is being decided by advanced AI logic.

Cisco has implanted new AI chips in the original AGS+ workhorse.

The AI-AGS+. Funded by LR'd proceeds.

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Post ID: @cd+1jwmf5ztt

Last August Cisco said it would lay off 5,600 employees in phases where they spent 70-80% in the first round. Say 75% were laid off in the first phase and that's 4200 of which around 63 would be H-1Bs if evenly distributed (H-1Bs are around 1.5% of Cisco.) Cisco claimed to have had just over 90,000 employees at the time which means the H-1B part would represent about 0.07% of the company being laid off. If this is overwhelming you seek help.

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Post ID: @c7+1jwmf5ztt

@bq [C] in job title is for Consultants not cookies lol

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Post ID: @br+1jwmf5ztt

Scrape the corporate directory site. Run weekly. Look at department and locale. Have ChatGPT make assumptions on names for US employees if they’re likely non-US in origin. The internal directory leaks lots of data, super admin ids, and other interesting bits and bobs. Easy to figure out where jobs are moving.

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Post ID: @bq+1jwmf5ztt

In 1972, a crack commando unit was sent to prison by a military court for a crime they didn’t commit. These men promptly escaped from a maximum security stockade to the Los Angeles underground. Today, still wanted by the government, they survive as soldiers of fortune. If you have a problem, If no one else can help and if you can find them. Maybe you can hire, The A-Team.

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Post ID: @bp+1jwmf5ztt

I was the only H-1B on my team, and I still got laid off . So the idea that H-1Bs are somehow “protected” or “never laid off” is just false. And for those who don’t understand how the green card process works, if a U.S. citizen with the same job title is laid off, a company is legally blocked from filing a green card for an H-1B worker in that role for at least 6 months. Now imagine that happening during a wave of mass layoffs, green cards get delayed indefinitely and you only get 6 years on H1b . That’s not privilege.

People say H-1Bs are kept because they are cheaper” or “more compliant.” That’s an oversimplification that ignores reality. Many of us are paid competitive salaries because companies must meet prevailing wage requirements.
H-1B visas were created to fill genuine talent gaps, not displace U.S. workers. But instead of holding companies accountable for how they misuse the system or pushing for immigration reform that protects everyone, people direct their frustration at the workers stuck inside it. That’s not only misinformed, it’s lazy.
If you truly care about fairness in hiring and retention, focus your energy on fixing the system, not scapegoating the people trying to survive within it.

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Post ID: @bn+1jwmf5ztt

Cisco knows how to hide h1bs as contractors or consultants. Good luck getting any useful data

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Post ID: @ak+1jwmf5ztt

I'm a crna and got replaced by new grades in anesthesia in Pittsburgh in 2020. While the healthcare facilty thought that my replacement would save them on hrly wage and retirement the joke is in them because most of the new hires didn't even survive for 2 yes. Now the facilty has to psy outrageous wages to contracted Crna s. Karma is real. And so us age discrimination

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Post ID: @aa+1jwmf5ztt

bullsh-t post.

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Post ID: @a7+1jwmf5ztt

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