Getting The Results You Should Expect When Hiring An Immigration Attorney

Are visa holders trapped at Twitter?

On Behalf of | Dec 9, 2022 | Immigration Law

You’ve likely heard the recent news that Elon Musk purchased Twitter, the social media platform. He was previously – and is still – the boss at Tesla, the electric car company.

In any case, once Musk took over Twitter, he quickly informed workers that he had a new vision for what the company would be. Many of them were then given 36 hours to decide if they wanted to be part of this in the future, or if they would like to quit their jobs. Thousands of people quit, many people who use Twitter deleted their accounts, and it has certainly been a chaotic turn of events.

However, the USCIS (United States Citizenship and Immigration Services) says that about 300 of the employees had come to Twitter by using an H-1B visa. This means that they were immigrants who came here due to the terms of their employment. They were only allowed to immigrate to the United States as long as they took the job that had been offered to them, which was their job at Twitter.

Can they actually quit?

Technically speaking, yes, these employees could quit their jobs just like those who were born in the United States to begin with.

But the problem with that is that the H-1B visa only gives you 60 days to find a new employment situation. If someone who was working at Twitter isn’t able to find a new job in two months, then they have to leave or they risk overstaying their visa and being deported.

This has raised some concerns that the 300 international workers at Twitter may not be able to quit, even if they do not want to be part of the business any longer. They took the job based on the old management group, but that doesn’t mean that they can just walk away because the company was sold. They have to quickly search for new jobs or they may have to continue working at Twitter for as long as they would like to stay in the U.S.

This illustrates some of the complications with employment immigration. If it’s something that you are considering, you must be sure that you know about all of your legal options.