'Was fully pregnant, worked...': H1B visa holders share ordeal of getting sacked by Twitter

Hundreds of employees have been laid off since Elon Musk took over as Twitter's new CEO. Many of those included H1B visa holders, whose immigration status is now jeopardised. Twitter employees on H1B visas are now racing against the clock to find new employment. They have 60 days to find a new employer who will sponsor them or leave the country.

One such example is Sujatha Krishnaswamy who worked as Technical Program Manager at the social media company. Taking to the social networking site LinkedIn, she described her ordeal in detail. Krishnaswamy wrote: "Earlier this year, while being fully pregnant I worked day and night to successfully deliver a critical user-facing privacy feature to meet Twitter’s regulatory obligations. I gave my heart and soul every day to meet Twitter’s Security and Privacy promises to users and regulators. I loved my work, my team and am really proud of the work I did during my time at Twitter. But unfortunately, my employer didn't love me back."

"It took 2 days for me to process what had just happened. Friday was my last day at Twitter. I am devastated is an understatement. My H1B visa is exacerbating my situation," she added.

She is desperately looking for a job and may have to leave the country if she cannot find a new sponsor within the next few days.

Meanwhile, software engineer Madhura Dighe is another who is facing the same challenges as Krishnaswamy. Again taking to LinkedIn, she wrote, “This is not easy to write, but here we go. I was amongst 50 per cent of the employees affected due to layoffs at Twitter. I got logged off company Gmail and slack in the evening along with my teammates. No communication whatsoever.”

“However hard it is to digest, I want to say; It was a true privilege to work with a talented, hardworking, and kind group of people at Twitter. My heart goes to all the fellow Tweeps impacted due to today's layoffs,” she added.

She also mentions in her post that she is actively looking for a new job.

According to a Forbes report, there are 625 to 670 Twitter employees in H-1B status, or about 8% of the company's 7,500 employees, based on a National Foundation for American Policy analysis of US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) data.

Also Read: Twitter asks some laid off workers to come back: Report