Indians laid off by Amazon seek new roles: ‘On H-1B visa, time is of the essence’

Raj Kansagra and Dixitha Kasturi are among those who lost their jobs. (Images: LinkedIn)

Indian professionals impacted by Amazon layoffs are speaking out online about the loss of their dream jobs, while trying to find new opportunities in the United States, where they are living on H-1B and student visas.

Raj Kansagra, who is based in California, said he was let go after six years at Amazon. He worked with the Alexa unit.

"We have seen Alexa grow from its early days and it's been an incredible journey," Kansagra wrote on LinkedIn. "I'm proud of what we built together."

He added that he was looking for opportunities in Backend Software Engineering (Product/Infra).

"I'm on an H1-B visa so time is of the essence to find something new," Kansagra said in his post.

Dixitha Kasturi, a Software Development Engineer, was associated with Alexa AI as part of her Optional Practical Training -- temporary employment that relates to an international student's major. She studied Applied Data Science at Syracuse University in New York, according to her LinkedIn profile.

"This (the layoff) brings me back to square one and I am now actively looking for SDE / Data Science roles," she posted on LinkedIn.

Another employee, Shivani Parate, sought opportunities as Software/Machine Learning Engineer.

"It is super hard for all of us and I am still trying to navigate through this, while constrained by the timeline of being on a visa," she said.

Saurabh Vaidya, who was an Applied Scientist at Amazon Alexa Privacy, wrote:  “Unfortunately, with my immigration status, I have limited time to search for and get a new role".

Amazon plans to cut as many as 10,000 jobs across its human resources, devices and retail teams, according to a New York Times report.

The company is confronted with slow growth in retail business and a withering economy, CNBC reported.

The layoffs at Amazon came close on the heels of big job cuts at Twitter and Facebook parent company Meta.

Twitter sacked roughly 50 percent of its 7,500-strong staff soon after Elon Musk took over the social network.

Meta said it would fire over 11,000 employees. CEO Mark Zuckerberg described the decisions as "the most difficult changes we've made in Meta's history".

Also read: 'With my immigration status...': Indian techie in US laid off by Amazon