When he left his secure position at the Sundar Pichai-led company to join Amazon, a Google engineer found himself in a pickle. Three days before the engineer was scheduled to start working for the e-commerce giant, he received word that his job offer had been withdrawn. It is the worst situation a person can experience professionally because you leave one job for another only to not get that one as well.
Software engineer Tianyi Gao left Google to accept a new position at Amazon, only to find out later that his offer had been withdrawn. Gao’s problems are made worse because he only has 60 days to find new work or return to his native country because he is in the United States on an H1B visa.
Gao narrated his ordeal on Linkedin saying:
“Hi everyone, I was an SWE in Google. I got a support-check-in project from my manager, so I accepted an offer from Amazon as my backup plan. Unfortunately, after my resignation was approved, I was told the Amazon offer was rescinded this Wednesday, just 3 weekdays ahead of my day 1. I failed to either revoke my resignation or delay the process. Today is my last day at Google. I am a H1B visa holder and I have only 60 days to find another job.”
The recent layoffs at Meta, Amazon, Twitter and other major internet companies resulted in the employment of many H1-B visa holders in the US. Now that they have left their previous employer, there is a lot of pressure on them to find work within 60 days. They will be required to return to their native country if they cannot find employment within 60 days.
While this is happening, some businesses, including Meta, that have recently laid off workers are providing immigration support to foreign workers affected by the layoffs.
“I know this is especially difficult if you’re here on a visa. There’s a notice period before termination and some visa grace periods, which means everyone will have time to make plans and work through their immigration status. We have dedicated immigration specialists to help guide you based on what you and your family need,” Zuckerberg said in the blog post.