It would be helpful if you mentioned your friend s field of experience, or maybe if he s just starting his work life. But in general I believe a company must look for people in the US to fill any given role before they bring someone in from another country. For example, a company might need some kind of technical expert who speaks Chinese (your friend) in order to work with their big Chinese client, and they can t find (or attract) people with the skills and the language. So they sponsor a work visa for him, meaning the US allows him to move here for that specific job. If he gets laid off later, he has a limited time to find another work sponsorship or he must return to China.If your friend lacks any kind of experience he might still look for jobs dealing with customer service or translation or maybe even teaching Chinese. But as another responder said, especially in tough times there are lots of Chinese-Americans speaking both languages natively to fill most of those jobs.
That is his skill? He can speak?!There are LOTS of Chinese Americans who can also speak who are on unemployment right now. American jobs should go to Americans.
Better check the immigration laws friend. Hiring a person from another country is not as easy as you may think w/o breaking a bunch of rules in the process...