Impacted Indian workers turn to LinkedIn as they have limited time to find a new job. The H-1B visa that permits foreigners to work in the US offers only a 60-day grace period to find a new employer.

By India Today Tech: Amazon recently laid off nearly 10,000 employees across departments, including Alexa and Luna cloud gaming. Some of the impacted workers, especially those from India, are now turning to the jobs-focused platform LinkedIn in search of a new employer to sponsor their H-1B visas that permits foreigners to work in the US. Many of these impacted workers claim that the sudden layoffs affect their “immigration status”, and they now have only 60 days to find a new job. Not only is this relevant to former Amazonians from India, but to ex-employees of other tech giants like Twitter and Meta, which also laid off a substantial portion of their workforce owing to the global financial situation.

Since Amazon announced mass layoffs last week, many have shared and reposted posts about impacted workers on LinkedIn. Saurabh Vaidya, a former Applied Scientist at Amazon Alexa Privacy, wrote, “My entire #datascience team at Amazon Alexa was laid off. Working at Alexa Privacy has been nothing short of a dream job, and I’m really grateful to have gotten the opportunity to work as an Applied Scientist. Unfortunately, with my immigration status, I have limited time to search for and get a new role. For that reason, I am immediately looking for any of the following roles”.

Another former employee, Ashis Kumar Sahoo from the Amazon Luna team, said on LinkedIn that the layoff is “difficult” considering the H-1B visa has “a limited grace period”. Bharathi Chandrasekaran, a software development engineer at the company, said she was a part of the Alexa AI – Local Information team. “As a non-immigrant visa holder, I have limited time to look out for new opportunities. If your organisation is currently hiring, or you know any recruiters who can help, please feel free to DM me or tag them in the comments”, her post reads.

As posts started coming over the week, others from and outside Amazon stepped forward to reshare posts for more visibility. A user working at Samsung wrote, “Its so heartbreaking to see my entire feed filled with Amazon Layoffs. People have been laid off across Amazon Alexa, Amazon Luna, Amazon Robotics, Amazon Lab126 and more”. Bhaskar Reddy, a Software Development Manager at Amazon Luna shared that his team has been impacted by the layoffs. He further asked recruiters from Seatle to step forward if they are looking for strong developers.

David Limp – Senior Vice President of Amazon Devices and Services, also penned down a note about impacted workers on an Amazon press forum. He said that Amazon has promised to support the transition by offering a package that includes a separation payment, transitional benefits, and external job placement support.

Before Amazon’s mass layoffs, Facebook parent Meta slashed around 11,000 jobs last week. Earlier in October, Twitter fired 50 per cent of staff, though mass layoffs and resignations at the company still continue.