I spent 9 years in the US on 5 different visas. One Monday morning in 2015, I found out just how fragile that status really was.

I walked into the NYC startup I’d been working at for a year and felt something was off. Chairs were pulled into a circle. The announcement came: the company was shutting down. Everyone would get one final pay cheque in two weeks.

I looked around the room at the four of us on visas. This news hit differently. A job wasn’t just income, it was our ticket to continuing to live in the country. After that last cheque, we’d be in the grey area of not legally being able to stay in the US, or re-enter if we left.

Of course there were tears and disappointment. But layered on top was panic. One colleague skipped the commiserations and started interviewing immediately, flying to California days later and interviewing around the clock to line up multiple offers before the final pay cheque arrived. For all of us, the visa questions loomed:

• Would a company wait months for paperwork to clear before I could start?
• Would a hiring manager take on the extra complexity of sponsorship? (I can’t imagine adding $100k to this equation!)
• What should I do about upcoming travel plans, since I wouldn’t be able to re-enter the country?

I was lucky. I had savings, and managed to land a great job with a brilliant and understanding manager. But I spent four–five months unable to work, with no clear start date until two weeks before, living in limbo the entire time.

So when I see the $100k fee for new H-1B applications, I know it doesn’t apply to those already in the US today. But I can’t help think of the extra anxiety now facing anyone on visas at risk of layoffs or working at precarious startups, carrying not just the stress of job loss but the weight of whether they can stay in the country at all.

For anyone in that position: my heart goes out to you. And for everyone else: remember your colleagues on visas are often carrying an extra, invisible layer of uncertainty ❤️