For an Indian-origin woman, Tanvi Pisal, her decision to move to the US was envisioned as a pivotal step in her product design career. Instead, it transformed into a trial of endurance after she experienced the loss of two jobs within a few months, relocated across the nation for a position that lasted merely two weeks, and found herself under the pressure of immigration deadlines to continue residing in the country.
According to a Business Insider report, Pisal, a 29-year-old UX designer hailing from Pune, recounted how a series of layoffs transformed both her career trajectory and her perspective on employment within the US technology industry.
Tanvi Pisal’s H-1B visa application rejected
Pisal obtained her engineering degree in India before acquiring experience in software and user experience design.
Believing that the US offered more prospects in product design, she decided to pursue a master’s degree in Human-Computer Interaction at San José State University and moved to California in 2021.
While pursuing her studies, she undertook an internship at a healthcare technology startup located in the Bay Area, and later, upon graduating, she became a full-time employee of the company. She engaged in the STEM Optional Practical Training (OPT) program and aimed to advance her career in the United States via an H-1B visa. However, despite her employer’s support for her application, she was not chosen in the lottery.
Tanvi Pisal fired twice
As the technology sector started to adapt to swift developments in artificial intelligence and evolving business priorities, Pisal opened up about her expectation of workforce reductions and proactively began seeking other job opportunities prior to the elimination of her position in October 2025.
Within a few weeks, she obtained a new product design position with a recruiting firm located in New York City. Although the company necessitated her relocation, it did not offer any assistance for the move.
She disposed of the majority of her possessions in California, secured temporary accommodation, transported her belongings across the nation, and leased a shared apartment in New Jersey.
“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 mentioned, as per Business Insider.
However, merely two weeks after starting with her new employer, she was notified that her position had been terminated. “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.
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The unforeseen termination caused her to reevaluate her choice to relocate to the US. As stated by Pisal, the move and the subsequent return to California incurred approximately $6,000 in expenses, compelling her to sell furniture she had recently acquired, return household items, and abandon the plans she had envisioned for her new life.
“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.
As her STEM OPT work authorization was about to expire with a limited grace period to secure a new employer, Pisal heightened her job search activities. She invested several hours each day in applying for jobs, improving her portfolio, and working on AI-oriented design projects to enhance her profile.
Her hard work ultimately yielded results when she secured interviews with several employers, ultimately accepting a contract UX design position with a product team at a prominent technology firm in Silicon Valley in February.
Layoff experience still makes her anxious
Although she has resumed her work duties, Pisal said that the experience still influences her. She mentioned feeling anxious whenever unexpected meetings are scheduled on her calendar or when she receives unfamiliar emails, stating that the uncertainty caused by successive layoffs has left a lasting impression.
“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 stated.
In addition to her employment, Pisal is currently working towards a PhD in Business Administration, focusing on Human-Computer Interaction at Westcliff University, all while maintaining her student visa. She stated that this additional qualification is a strategic move to stay competitive in a technology job market that is becoming increasingly unpredictable.
Looking back on her experience, Pisal remarked that while the journey proved to be significantly more challenging than she had anticipated, the obstacles she faced ultimately enriched her perspective and imparted invaluable lessons that she would not exchange. “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 concluded.
