Facing deportation, sacked workers on US visas say Meta abandoned them

The affected workers have now created a WhatsApp group to share their concerns. A majority of the about 300 people in the group are from India, the report said

Days after Meta laid off 11,000 of its global workforce, hundreds of them working for the Facebook parent company in the US say they feel helpless and abandoned by their employer, according to a report in BuzzFeed News. Tech giants like Meta rely heavily on work visas to hire employees who are largely from India and China.

Many of these sacked employees are immigrants, and they are more worried about being forced to leave the US if they fail to find another job in time. Others who were abroad at the time of the sacking appear unsure whether they will be able to return. The US law requires workers on visas to find a new job or leave the country within 60 days if they fail to do so.

The affected workers have now created a WhatsApp group to share their concerns. The report said that most of the about 300 people in the group are from India.

Announcing the layoffs in an email, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg promised immigration support to laid-off employees on work visas. But many said the dedicated email hotline Meta had set up to guide them failed to respond to their queries.

"There's no support. There's radio silence," one former Meta employee said.

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

BuzzFeed News said it granted anonymity to those who shared their problems with it.

Some former employees have hired or are in the process of hiring immigration lawyers on their own.

A Meta spokesperson told the publication that the company was "working to respond to inquiries" they have received, and they'll reach out to all impacted employees who've contacted the hotline in the coming days.