Catherwood LibraryILR School

As unemployment rates continue to rise, foreign professionals are getting nervous. Those laid off are forced to scramble for temporary visas, or find other ways to remain in the country legally, at the risk of being forced onto a one-way flight home. Many professionals are preemptively seeking new and more stable employment, fearing the consequences of ending up on the unemployment list. Stuart Andersen, director of the National Foundation for American Policy, worries that an outflow of foreign professionals and entrepeneurs could give other countries the advantage in technological innovation. Although comprehensive statistics are lacking, most immigration firms agree that the problem of laid-off foreign workers is worse than it has been in quite some time. The general consensus maintains that the problem began in the financial sector, but has begun to spread to manufacturing and technology as well. The demand for work visas is expected to decline in 2009.