Indian-origin woman without an H-1B visa was laid off twice in three months before being hired by a Silicon Valley tech giant, says ‘still in survival mode’ |

Back-to-back layoffs

The whole ordeal, packing up her life twice a month, cost her around $6,000

“I could see that AI was disrupting SaaS companies like mine,” said Pisal. Thus, around June 2025 she anticipated the layoffs and began applying for other full-time roles. While she thought she’d have more time, she was soon laid off in October of the same year. A month later, she received an offer for a product design position at a New York City recruiting company, where she would be designing their mobile app.The company asked her to relocate to New York and she did so without any relocation assistance from them. “On short notice, I found a shared apartment in Newport, New Jersey. At $1,800 a month, it was all I could afford. I commuted an hour each way for 12-hour office shifts,” she shared.But her world turned upside down when she was laid off from the company just two weeks after starting. “I remember walking out of the office that day and sitting on the snow-covered sidewalk, wondering whether coming to the US had been the right decision,” she said.All her investment into relocating to NYC went to waste. She returned the things she could, sold her desk and asked her roommates to use up her groceries. The whole ordeal, packing up her life twice a month, cost her around $6,000 and in December 2025 she was back in California.

Reapplying and trying

Pisal is focusing on her studies, enrolling in a PhD program in business administration at Westcliff University

“At that point, I thought, “The worst has happened.” I’d lost everything. My STEM OPT was about to expire, and I had 60 days to figure out a way to stay in the US before I’d have to return to India. So I decided I might as well give it one last try,” she said.She spent three hours every day on LinkedIn Easy Apply, then targeted applications before building AI-powered design projects to strengthen her portfolio. “I landed an interview on January 5. From that week on, I had at least two interviews each week,” said Pisal.Soon, she interviewed for a UX designer role with a product team at Apple in Silicon Valley. After two interviews, they gave her a contract role in February. “Although I’ve settled into my new apartment in San José and am enjoying my new job, I still haven’t recovered from the trauma of the back-to-back layoffs. I’m always scared. Every time I get an email or am called into an unscheduled meeting, I feel anxious. I need to know what it’s about beforehand,” she shared.Alongside, Pisal is focusing on her studies, enrolling in a PhD program in business administration at Westcliff University, with a concentration in human-computer interaction. This allows her to stay in US on a student visa. “I don’t really have a plan for the future right now, given how volatile the immigration situation is. I’m just taking it one day at a time, easing back into a routine and trying to live my life normally,” she added.