H-1B Visa-holders Face Uncertainty After Meta’s Mass Layoff

The H-1B visa-holders amongst Meta’s recently laid off staff now face incredible uncertainty. Amongst these are a significant number of Indian H-1B holders too, who have been affected by the mass layoffs. 

These H-1B visa holders are now faced with uncertainty over their immigration status after losing their jobs all of a sudden. 

Meta has offered some assistance to work visa-holders by announcing notice period before termination and some visa grace periods. The company’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that this will help these employees make plans and work through their immigration status.

Zuckerberg said that the company has brought onboard dedicated specialists to help guide the laid off work visa-holders and their family during the transition.

H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa for those applying to be employed by US-based companies in specialty occupations. Large tech companies including Meta, Google and Amazon have a huge number of Indians seeking H-1B visas every year. These visa holders can stay and work in the US for a period of three years and extend it by another three years. After this, they have to exit the US unless their hiring company sponsors them for a permanent residency (Green Card).

Meta said that it would provide three months of career support with an external vendor, including early access to unpublished job leads for laid off employees.

The company on Wednesday laid off 11,000 employees (roughly 13 per cent of its workforce). “We’ve cut costs across our business, including scaling back budgets, reducing perks, and shrinking our real estate footprint. We’re restructuring teams to increase our efficiency. But these measures alone won’t bring our expenses in line with our revenue growth, so I’ve also made the hard decision to let people go,” Zuckerberg said justifying the layoffs.

The social media behemoth has decidedly removed access to most Meta systems for people leaving on Wednesday given the amount of access to sensitive information. 

“I want to take accountability for these decisions and for how we got here. I know this is tough for everyone, and I’m especially sorry to those impacted,” Zuckerberg added.

Meta will pay 16 weeks of base pay and two additional weeks for every year of service, with no cap. Additionally, the company will also pay for all remaining PTO time.

For visa holders away from the US, Meta will provide similar support system but with separate processes that take into account local employment laws.