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

Saurabh Vaidya joined Amazon in June 2020 as an intern. (Image credit: Saurabh Vaidya/LinkedIn)

A number of Indians have been affected by the layoffs announced by Amazon as the company targets round 10,000 job cuts. The online retail giant on Wednesday said it has laid off some employees in its devices group, news agency Reuters said. The Jeff Bezos-owned company still targeted around 10,000 job cuts, including in its retail division and human resources.

Saurabh Vaidya, who was an Applied Scientist at Amazon Alexa Privacy in Greater Seattle, is among those who are urgently looking for a new job after being sacked. “Unfortunately, with my immigration status, I have limited time to search for and get a new role,” he wrote on LinkedIn.

Vaidya joined Amazon in June 2020 as an intern.

His entire team has been laid off, he said.

“It's with a heavy heart that I announce that I have been impacted by the Amazon #techlayoffs... Working at Alexa Privacy has been nothing short of a dream job and I'm really grateful to have gotten the opportunity to work as an Applied Scientist.”

Many other employees like Vaidya have taken to LinkedIn, desperately looking for new jobs.

With 10,000 employees being laid off, around three per cent of Amazon’s 3 lakh-plus corporate workforce would be reduced. The company has offered voluntary buyouts to some human-resources staff, Reuters reported, quoting a source familiar with Amazon's job-cut plans.

Following the layoff news, shares pared losses and closed down about 2%.

Meta, Twitter, Stripe, Lyft, Coinbase and Apple are other companies that have announced layoffs and hiring freezes in the face of sluggish consumer spending, higher interest rates and surging inflation worldwide.