A former Meta technician who was laid off in the latest round of layoffs in May said that as immigration time loomed, he had to make the difficult decision to leave the United States, a country where he had lived for 14 years. Sridhar Vanka, who has been a technical project manager at Meta since 2022, announced on LinkedIn that he will be moving to Hyderabad, India to look for work as his time on his immigration status in the United States has expired.“The last seven weeks or so have been a roller coaster of emotions – optimism, hope, uncertainty, anxiety, heartbreak and waiting – lots and lots of waiting. I’m tired of my immigration status presaging every conversation. I was also denied access to some exciting opportunities due to the aforementioned immigration clock,” Wanka wrote.“My family is now wrapping up the life they have built in the US over the past 14 years and looking to start over in Hyderabad starting next week. Lots of great memories and friendships – the past few weeks have been heartbreaking,” the post added, revealing the difficulties visa holders experience once they lose their job – regardless of how long they have been in the US.Take Vanka, for example. He has spent a long career in the United States, working at Amazon and TCS before joining Meta.one H-1B visa If fired or if the I-94 expires (whichever comes first), the holder can generally remain in the United States for up to 60 days. They must find new jobs during this grace period to stay in the United States. In many cases, visa holders would switch to B1/B2 visas or F1 visas to extend their stay, but now it has become extremely difficult and unfeasible for high-level professionals to return to school.One Linkedin user asked Vanka why his employer hadn’t applied for a green card, considering how long he’d been working in the U.S., and he said: “I guess it’s a combination of the employer not investing enough in their employees to make this happen, plus the green card backlog being long. Unfortunately, there are no easy answers/lessons.”
