A former Meta employee who spent 14 years building his career in the United States said he is relocating his family to India after losing his job in the company’s May layoffs, highlighting the immigration challenges faced by H-1B visa holders whose legal status is tied to their employment.
In a LinkedIn post that has gained attention on social media, the former employee said the expiration of his immigration status left him with little choice but to return to Hyderabad after weeks of searching for another job.
“Late to the game here but I was impacted by Meta’s last round of layoffs in May this year,” he wrote. “The clock has now run out on my immigration status here in the US so I have had to make the difficult decision to move my family back to India.”
The employee said he was seeking opportunities in India and asked members of his professional network to connect him with potential employers.
He described the past seven weeks as “an emotional roller coaster,” marked by optimism, uncertainty, anxiety and long periods of waiting while pursuing new opportunities.
“I have grown tired of my immigration status fore-shadowing every conversation,” he wrote, adding that several promising job opportunities could not move forward because of the limited time available under U.S. immigration rules.
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“My family is now wrapping up a life we built here in the US over the last 14 years and looking to start over in Hyderabad starting next week,” he wrote. “A lot of wonderful memories and friendships — these last couple of weeks have been gut-wrenching.”
The story gained wider attention after LayoffAI shared excerpts from the LinkedIn post on X, arguing that the case illustrates structural problems within the H-1B visa system.
“Meta cut him in May. The 60-day clock did the rest. His family starts over in Hyderabad next week,” the account wrote.
LayoffAI also noted that the employee had worked at Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Amazon and Meta, identifying the three companies among the largest H-1B sponsors in the United States. According to the post, the companies have collectively submitted more than 333,000 Labor Condition Application filings since fiscal year 2015.
The account concluded that “a temporary visa that runs 14 years is not temporary,” arguing that the layoff ultimately forced the employee to leave despite spending more than a decade in the United States.
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Under current U.S. immigration rules, most H-1B workers who lose their jobs are generally allowed a grace period of up to 60 days to secure new qualifying employment, change immigration status or depart the country. If they are unable to do so within that period, they risk falling out of lawful status.
The case has renewed discussion about the dependence of employment-based visa holders on their employers, particularly during periods of widespread layoffs across the technology sector. Immigration advocates have long argued that workers awaiting employment-based green cards remain vulnerable because lengthy processing backlogs can leave them tied to temporary visa status for many years.
For many Indian professionals, who account for the overwhelming majority of H-1B visa recipients, the combination of long green card queues and employer-dependent visas has become one of the most contentious issues in the U.S. immigration system.