Chinese Workers Abandon Silicon Valley for Riches Back Home

I don't think this is just Chinese workers, although it's a more noticeable phenomenon just because of the numbers involved.

Many of my European colleagues have expressed a desire to move back to Europe soon (<3 years, much less for many of them). It's a mix of a number of things (for many, family is a big component), but really the biggest one is that they don't feel that the opportunities the US offers are worth the sacrifices they have to make anymore. A particular sacrifice that comes to mind is their spouse being able to work - the Green Card process has been a shit show lately.

In fact, many of them are realizing that the "American Tech Dream" that was sold to them did not live up to expectations - particularly when it comes to things like being able to afford a house, education for children, healthcare, etc. in the Bay Area.

I've been in tech, in Silicon Valley, for 8 years, and this feels like it's really influenced by the Trump presidency (the moment Trump got elected, I have a few friends who left the US). But it's probably been brewing for longer than that, and I was just paying less attention to it at the beginning of my career.

FWIW I'm European and intend on leaving the US in <2 years for similar reasons (namely, that I can have a much better standard of life in Europe, be closer to my family, and do work that is as meaningful).

"Many of my European colleagues have expressed a desire to move back to Europe soon (...) A particular sacrifice that comes to mind is their spouse being able to work - the Green Card process has been a shit show lately"

As another European immigrant, I can give you my perspective. Initially I was apprehensive about my wife not being able to work.

In practice, it was less than a year from the moment she arrived until she got an EAD card (work authorization after reaching a certain stage in the green card application). Certainly a sacrifice, but looking back it was worth it.

The green card process took ~1.5 years in total (received it early 2017), which pales in comparison to what people from China and (especially) India have to go through. Did it become much worse in the last year?

Yes. Current waiting times for the final step of the process is 12+ months (it was ~2 months before the current administration according to lawyers). I am currently 2.5+ years in, and late spring/early summer would be the best case scenario according to the lawyers handling it. Same for several of my coworkers. I work at a large, well known tech company.

It's never been 2 months for 485 maybe apart from exceptional cases. 6 months was possible though.