What GitLab H1B Employees Should Do After the Layoffs

The single most important date for you right now is your last day of employment — not your notification date, not your last day in the office, not the end of your severance period. USCIS gives nonimmigrant workers in valid status (H1B, H1B1, E-3, L-1, O-1, TN) a discretionary grace period of up to 60 consecutive calendar days or until the end of your authorized validity period, whichever is shorter.

A few specifics that trip people up at GitLab:

• **Severance does not extend the clock.** GitLab has historically paid severance to laid-off employees, but for H1B purposes, the moment you are off payroll is the moment the 60 days begin. If GitLab is paying you through, say, July 15 but your last day of employment is May 30, your clock starts May 30.
• **PTO payout doesn't extend it either.** A lump-sum PTO payout is not 'employment.'
• **Garden leave is a gray area.** If GitLab keeps you on payroll in an inactive status (rare for them, but possible), confirm with an immigration attorney whether USCIS would treat that as continued employment.
• **The 60 days are calendar days, not business days.** Weekends and holidays count.

Within those 60 days, you need one of the following filed (not just prepared — filed and receipted): a new H1B transfer petition with a new employer, a change of status to another visa category (B-2, F-1, H-4, O-1, etc.), or departure from the U.S.

GitLab's workforce is concentrated in engineering, product, sales engineering, and developer relations — all roles with strong external demand. Here's how each pathway actually plays out for someone with your profile:

H1B Transfer (highest probability path). You can start work for a new employer the moment USCIS receives your H1B transfer petition — you don't need to wait for approval. Premium processing (15 business days, currently $2,805) is almost always worth it because it gives you certainty before your 60 days run out. Many engineering-heavy companies (Stripe, Datadog, Cloudflare, Snowflake, Anthropic, Databricks, most of the AI/infra startup tier) have mature H1B transfer pipelines and will sponsor without drama.

Cap-exempt employers. Universities, non-profit research orgs affiliated with universities, and government research orgs can file H1B petitions year-round with no cap. If you have a research background, this is an underused option.

O-1A (extraordinary ability). Realistic if you have a strong engineering track record: open-source contributions (relevant given GitLab's profile), patents, conference talks, technical blog readership, press mentions, or work on widely-used systems. This is faster than people assume — a strong case can be assembled in 4-6 weeks.

Change of status to F-1. A real option if you have grad school admission lined up, but you cannot work on F-1 until you've completed one academic year (CPT) or graduated (OPT). Treat this as a 'reset' option, not a bridge.

Change of status to H-4. If your spouse holds H1B, you can switch to H-4 dependent status. If their I-140 has been approved for more than 180 days, you'll likely qualify for an H-4 EAD and can keep working.

B-2 visitor status. A last-resort buffer if you need more than 60 days to wrap up affairs in the U.S. before departing. You cannot work on B-2, and filing it does not extend H1B eligibility — but it does keep you in lawful status.

In the first 7 days after notification, focus exclusively on the actions that have hard deadlines or compounding effects:

1. Get every immigration document from GitLab HR in writing. Request copies of: all I-797 approval notices (current and prior), your LCA, your I-140 if one was filed, PERM documents if applicable, and your priority date. GitLab uses Fragomen or a similar firm for immigration; ask HR for the direct attorney contact. 2. Confirm your exact last day of employment in writing. Email HR and get a written reply. This is the date your 60-day clock starts. 3. Pull your full work history into a resume and LinkedIn profile. Mark yourself open to work on LinkedIn (the recruiter-only setting if you want to stay discreet). 4. Make a list of 30-50 target companies that are known H1B sponsors. Use myvisajobs.com or h1bdata.info to verify recent sponsorship activity. Prioritize companies that have filed H1B transfers (not just cap-subject petitions) in the last 12 months — they have the process dialed in. 5. Talk to an immigration attorney once. Many offer free 20-minute consultations for laid-off H1B workers. You want a sanity check on your specific situation, especially if you have an approved I-140, a pending green card, or family considerations. 6. Do NOT leave the U.S. If you exit the country during your 60-day grace period without a new H1B approval and a valid visa stamp, you generally cannot re-enter on your old H1B.

Weeks 2-4 are about volume and parallelism. The single biggest mistake laid-off H1B workers make is running a sequential job search — one company at a time, one round at a time. You don't have that luxury.

• **Apply to 10-20 roles per week.** Yes, that many. Most will not convert. You want 3-5 active interview pipelines running simultaneously by week 3.
• **Be explicit about your H1B status in initial conversations.** Tell recruiters: 'I'm currently on H1B with [X] days remaining in my grace period. I need an employer who can file a transfer petition, ideally with premium processing.' Companies that sponsor will engage; companies that don't will self-select out, saving you time.
• **Leverage GitLab alumni.** GitLab's all-remote culture and public handbook have built a strong alumni network. Search LinkedIn for 'ex-GitLab' or former colleagues now at sponsoring companies. Warm intros convert 5-10x better than cold applications.
• **Negotiate start dates around USCIS timelines.** If a company wants you to start in 3 weeks but premium processing takes 15 business days, build that into your offer conversation. Don't accept a start date that's impossible without portability risk.
• **Keep severance paperwork in a folder.** You may need to show it later for tax or immigration purposes.

After hundreds of layoff cycles, the same handful of errors keep showing up:

• **Treating the 60 days as 60 *business* days.** It's calendar days. Weekends and holidays count.
• **Waiting for severance to end before job searching.** Severance is income; it is not status. Start your job search the day you're notified.
• **Accepting an offer from a company that 'doesn't sponsor but might make an exception.'** They won't. Companies either have the legal/HR infrastructure to file an H1B transfer, or they don't.
• **Leaving the country to 'clear your head.'** Re-entry on a laid-off H1B is risky and frequently denied at the port of entry.
• **Filing a B-2 change of status as a first move.** Filing too early can trigger a USCIS request that essentially asks 'why aren't you leaving?' Save it for if you genuinely need it.
• **Forgetting about your I-140.** If you have an approved I-140 that's more than 180 days old, you retain your priority date even after leaving GitLab. This is enormously valuable for your future green card timeline — don't lose track of the receipt number.
• **Not getting the H1B transfer filed before day 60.** It doesn't need to be approved by day 60. It needs to be *receipted* by USCIS by day 60.

If GitLab or a prior employer filed an I-140 on your behalf and it was approved, you have meaningful additional protections that most laid-off workers don't realize:

• **Priority date portability.** Your priority date follows you to any future employer who files a new PERM/I-140 for you. This is huge if you're from a backlogged country (India, China) where priority dates can be years old.
• **H1B extensions beyond the 6-year limit.** With an approved I-140 that's at least 365 days old, you can extend H1B in 3-year increments past the 6-year cap, indefinitely, until your green card is processed.
• **H-4 EAD eligibility for your spouse.** If your I-140 is approved (regardless of priority date), your H-4 spouse can apply for an EAD.

Make sure GitLab does not request withdrawal of your I-140 within 180 days of approval — that would forfeit the portability benefit. If you're past the 180-day mark, you're safe.