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Thirteen years in the US, Amazon job, but forced to return to India: How layoff story exposes risks of H-1B visa holders
Soumi Chanda, after 13 years in the US and working at Amazon, returned to Kolkata in 2025 when she lost her job and couldn't find another.
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An H-1B visa that once felt like a breakthrough became the reason Soumi Chanda had to leave the US after she lost her job. After spending nearly 13 years in America, building a career and eventually working at Amazon, Chanda returned to Kolkata in 2025 when she could not find another job within the 60-day window available to her after being laid off, according to a report by Business Insider.
Chanda, who grew up in Kolkata, arrived in the US in December 2013 on an F-1 student visa after receiving a scholarship to pursue an MBA at Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington. Her early years in the US were marked by the difficulties international students can face when looking for work because of visa restrictions.
From student visa to H-1B and Amazon
Chanda arrived in the US in December 2013 at the age of 20 after receiving a scholarship to pursue an MBA at Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington. She was on an F-1 student visa.
After graduating, finding qualifying paid work proved difficult. She took an unpaid marketing position at a nonprofit before eventually joining US Bank through a leadership rotational program. When that program ended, she asked the bank to sponsor her for an H-1B visa but was turned down.
She later joined a small genetic-testing startup focused on DNA testing for dogs and cats. The company's CEO, Lisa Shaffer, promoted her within months and advocated for her to stay when Neogen acquired the company.
Neogen eventually sponsored Chanda for an H-1B. She was selected in the lottery on her first attempt in 2021, an outcome she described to Business Insider as “pure luck.”
A few years later, Amazon acquired her H-1B sponsorship and she moved roughly 280 miles from Spokane to Seattle for the job. By then, she said, the US had become home.
Amazon layoff left her with 60 days
That stability ended in 2025 when Amazon laid her off.
Chanda told Business Insider that she discussed severance with the company but quickly realized how difficult it could be to find another employer within the 60-day window. Despite having Amazon on her résumé, she said she did not receive a single interview during the month following her layoff.
After 30 days without another job lined up, she began preparing to leave the US.
Also read: US bars these 5 companies from H-1B program: What happens to existing workers and their Green Cards?
The move involved far more than a flight home. Chanda had two cats and spent about $5,000 on paperwork to take them to India. She paid another $6,000 to break her lease early and sold or disposed of belongings she could not take with her.
According to Business Insider, the total cost of the move was about $18,000, including veterinary expenses, paperwork, flights and other relocation costs.
‘The security I'd worked so long to build’
Chanda returned to India in September 2025. The transition was difficult because, unlike earlier visits, there was no return flight waiting for her.
She has since started building a pet-sitting business called Puchki in Kolkata, partly inspired by the difficulty she faced finding reliable care for her cats after returning to India.
Chanda said she would still like to visit the US to see relatives and friends but does not want to live there again. She told Business Insider that the uncertainty surrounding her immigration status had been constant.
Chanda said she had effectively supported her mother and sister since her father died when she was 17, making the loss of her US job and home about more than furniture, a lease or a flight.
For Chanda, the H-1B lottery once represented a chance to secure her future in America. Four years later, losing the job tied to that status meant rebuilding that future somewhere else.
