Laid-off Meta Workers on H-1B Visas Say Company's Offered Immigration Help 'Complete Bogus,' Left Them Hanging

Hundreds of laid-off Meta employees who are H-1B visa holders are panicking because the firm set up an email hotline to assist them, but no one is responding to help them.

The laid-off employees are afraid they will have to leave the U.S. if they do not find a new job soon. Others who were out of the country when the layoffs happened do not know if they can go back to their U.S. homes, Yahoo reported.

One of the former Meta employees on a visa who emailed the hotline multiple times after being laid off told BuzzFeed News: "There's no support. There's radio silence."

On Wednesday, Meta laid off more than 11,000 employees, or 13% of its workforce. This was the first time that the company laid off a big number of employees in its 18-year history.

Tech businesses in the U.S., such as Meta, hire thousands of individuals each year, many from India and China, using U.S. work visas. However, under U.S. law, if a worker with a specific visa loses his or her employment, they have 60 days to find another job or leave the country.

Former Meta Workers on H-1B Visa React to Company's Massive Layoff

After Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that the company was letting go of over 11,000 workers, axed Meta employees took to social media to talk about how they found out they were fired on Wednesday. Many members of Meta's recruiting team were laid off after Zuckerberg said the firm would no longer be hiring.

Brianna Sgro, who used to work as a recruiter for Meta, wrote on LinkedIn: "I'm sad, hurt, unsure, disappointed, and now unemployed." She added that she was excited and full of faith as she started to work at her dream company a year ago.

According to her, she had been dreaming of working with Facebook or Google and her dream will come to an end. However, she noted that "although all of these things come to an end today, I am so thankful to experience them."

According to Business Insider, even though they were laid off, many employees expressed gratitude for being able to work in a company like Meta.

Mark Zuckerberg Offers Immigration Help to Laid-off Employees on H-1B Visa

In an email sent to workers to announce the layoffs, Mark Zuckerberg said he had decided to reduce their team size by around 13% by letting go of over 11,000 employees.

He noted that they were taking several other initiatives to make the company leaner and more effective, such as lowering unnecessary spending and extending their hiring freeze until the end of Q1.

"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," he said.

Zuckerberg noted that "there is no good way to lay off people" but the company hopes to get all the relevant information to those impacted as soon as possible and then do whatever it can to support them through this.

"Immigration support" is among the measures being put in place by the company in the U.S. The H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows American companies to hire foreign workers in specialist positions that require technical or theoretical expertise.

H-1B visa holders can work and stay in the U.S. for a total of three years, which can be extended for an additional three years, NDTV reported.

Zuckerberg promised immigration support to axed workers on visas, adding that the company had dedicated immigration specialists to help guide them. However, former employees said they were unaware of these "immigration specialists."

"Even though publicly they have been stating they're providing immigration support, that's complete bogus... There's no way we can get a job in 60 days this close to the holiday season," said an axed employee on a visa.

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Bert Hoover

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