Tesla lays off over 16,000 employees; many face H-1B visa deadline: ’Feels like a bad dream’

Elon Musk's Tesla reportedly laid off nearly 16,000 employees, amounting to more than 10 per cent of its global workforce. The layoff has affected many Indian and Chinese employees who are now grappling with the tight H-1B visa deadline.

H-1B is a non-immigrant US work visa popular among immigrant engineers. This visa has a deadline of 60 days for the immigrants to secure new employment.

The internet is flooding with posts from fired Tesla workers, both immigrants and US citizens, all actively seeking new job opportunities.

Also read: Donald Trump's Truth Social applied for H-1B visa he once called ‘very bad’ for the US — a case of politics vs business?

Among those laid off is an engineer from Mumbai, who, in his LinkedIn post, revealed that he worked in the electric vehicle maker's office in the United States for over six years.

He said that being laid off "feels like a bad dream".

"It feels like a bad dream that I am no longer in Tesla as I have given so much of my time and sacrifice my sleep to this organisation from last more than five years," he wrote in a LinkedIn post.

Also read: Elon Musk's Tesla sues Indian battery maker ‘Tesla Power’ over trademark infringement, reigniting tensions

Another Indian LinkedIn user, in a post, said that his sister, who worked at Musk's Tesla for 7 years, was laid off last Friday.

"She tried to enter the office and her card was deactivated," the post read. "She is not alone. On 15th April, Tesla laid-off 16,000 employees. Then 15 days later, they laid-off another 500 employees."

“It's a clear reminder of the human cost behind corporate decisions,” the post read.

Also read: Tesla lays off more staff in software, service teams; plans to cut over 6,700 jobs

According to tech publication Electrek, Tesla has laid off staff from the software, service and engineering departments.

Last month, the company announced its plans to lay off over 6,700 employees from its facilities in Nevada, Texas, California, and New York.

The decision comes as the company faces numerous challenges, such as declining sales and an intensified price war among automakers, exacerbated by high-interest rates dampening the adoption rate of electric vehicles.