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According to a Forbes article, Twitter’s huge layoffs had put a lot of strain on employees who worked as foreign nationals in the United States, especially for H-1B visa holders. They currently have a 60-day limit under the law, and their immigration status is in jeopardy. The site added that finding a new employment for these sacked workers who are still in the country and have an H-1B visa is crucial to preserving their legal status.
Non-immigrant visas called H-1Bs allow foreign workers in specialty occupations to live and work in the US for a set amount of time. A foreign worker needs to be sponsored by an American employer in order to be eligible for such a visa. It’s interesting to note that Elon Musk, the new owner of Twitter, also immigrated to the US on an H-1B visa to work years ago, according to a Forbes report.
According to a study of US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) data by the National Foundation for American Policy, 625 to 670 of Twitter’s 7,500 employees, or about 8% of them, are in H-1B status. Uncertainty surrounds the number of foreign nationals who lost their jobs due to the microblogging platform’s major layoffs.
Working in the US on H-1B, L-1, or O-1 visas are foreign nationals. Each of these has its own set of rules. It should be mentioned that H-1B visa holders are granted a 60-day “grace period” after cancellation under USCIS regulations from 2017.
“Once employment is terminated, an H-1B visa holder enters a 60-day grace period during which he or she needs to leave the United States, seek a change of status, or have another employer file an H-1B petition or other immigration petition on their behalf,” Kevin Miner, a partner with Fragomen, told Forbes.
When there has been a “material change” to the terms and conditions of an accepted H-1B petition, such as when an H-1B employee’s employment has been terminated, the employers are obligated to notify US Citizenship and Immigration Services.
It also states that the business must pay the H-1B employee a wage that is at least as high as that received by similarly qualified employees.
