A former techie at Metra who was fired in the latest round of firings in May said she had to make the difficult decision to leave the US, the country where she has lived for 14 years, because the immigration clock was ticking. Sridhar Vanka, who has been a technical program manager at Meta since 2022, announced on LinkedIn that he will relocate to Hyderabad, India and look for jobs as the clock on his immigration status in the US has now expired.“The last ~7 weeks have been an emotional roller coaster – optimism, hope, uncertainty, anxiety, heartbreak, and waiting – lots and lots of waiting. I’m tired of being shadowed by my former immigration status in every conversation. There were also some exciting opportunities that I couldn’t pursue due to the aforementioned immigration clock,” Venka wrote.“My family is now ending the life we have built here in the US over the last 14 years and are looking forward to starting over in Hyderabad next week. So many wonderful memories and friendships – these past few weeks have been heartbreaking,” the post said, revealing the struggle visa holders go through after losing a job – regardless of how long they have been living in the US.For example, in Venka’s case, he has had a long career in the US as he worked with Amazon and TCS before Meta.H-1B visa holders generally get up to 60 days to stay in the US if they are fired from their job or until their I-94 expires, whichever comes first. They must find a new job within this grace period to remain in the US. In many cases, visa holders switch to B1/B2 visa or F1 visa to extend their stay, but now it has become extremely difficult and not even viable for a senior level professional to go back to school.As a LinkedIn user asked Vanka why his employer didn’t apply for his green card, given how long he’s been working in the US, he said: “I think it’s a combination of the employer not investing enough in the employee + really long green card backlog. There’s no easy answer/lesson, unfortunately.”