The H-1B visa layoff cost that Soumi Chanda ultimately bore ran to an estimated $18,000, but the financial reckoning came on top of something harder to price: thirteen years of a life constructed, piece by careful piece, in the United States, dismantled inside sixty days. Her account, confirmed by Business Insider, lands at a moment when the policy environment around the H-1B programme has shifted sharply, with a $100,000 fee on certain new petitions now renewed for a further year.
From Kolkata to Seattle: the visa journey behind the layoff
Chanda grew up in Kolkata and moved to the United States in December 2013 on an F-1 student visa, aged 20, after being offered a scholarship from Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington. An MBA followed, then a second master’s degree pursued alongside a leadership rotational programme at US Bank. When that programme ended, US Bank declined to sponsor an H-1B petition. Finding a willing employer in Spokane proved difficult; she often found herself explaining the mechanics of international hiring to prospective employers.
The breakthrough came through a small genetic-testing startup, where the former chief executive, Lisa Shaffer, promoted Chanda within months of her joining. When Neogen acquired the startup, Shaffer advocated for Chanda to be retained. ‘She was immediately found to be head and shoulders above anyone else in her department,’ Shaffer told Business Insider. Neogen ultimately sponsored the H-1B petition, and Chanda was picked in the lottery on her first attempt in 2021. Amazon later acquired her H-1B sponsorship, and she moved roughly 280 miles west from Spokane to Seattle.
Then came the layoff. The conversation, she recalled, was calm and professional. She discussed severance and signed without negotiating. Sixty days to leave the country felt impossible from the outset.
The H-1B visa layoff cost: $18,000 and sixty days
The financial breakdown is unsparing. Chanda spent roughly $5,000 on paperwork to fly her two cats internationally and $6,000 to break her Seattle lease early. Agent fees, last-minute airfare, vet visits, and USDA and Indian customs documentation for the cats added further costs. A friend flew from India to help her move. All told, the estimated total came to $18,000.
She sold a couch and a television, paid extra to dispose of everything else, and spent days researching which flights would accept her cats. Even with Amazon on her résumé, she did not receive a single interview in the first thirty days after the layoff. Once that window had passed with nothing lined up, preparing to leave became the only realistic plan.
The personal dimension compounded the material one. Chanda’s father had died when she was 17, and she had effectively supported her mother and sister ever since. Losing the security she had built was not just about furniture and lease agreements; it was the foundation on which people who depended on her had also rested.
The policy backdrop: a $100,000 fee and a collapsing pipeline
Chanda’s departure coincided with a widening public debate about H-1B reform. The $100,000 fee for certain new H-1B petitions was first imposed on 19 September 2025, according to a White House fact sheet. The effect on application volumes was immediate and measurable. Between that September 2025 proclamation and 15 February 2026, the Department of Homeland Security collected fees for only 85 qualifying H-1B applications, and processed 87 per cent fewer applications for H-1B visas subject to the fee compared with the year before, according to IEEE Spectrum.
The fee has since been extended. On 18 September 2026, President Trump signed a proclamation renewing the $100,000 requirement for an additional twelve months, through 21 September 2027, according to CUPA-HR. For workers already holding H-1B status, the fee does not apply directly, but the chilling effect on employer willingness to sponsor or transfer petitions at all is the sharper practical concern. Chanda found that reality for herself: even a strong CV, with tenure at a recognisable name, yielded no interviews in the thirty days that counted most.
What comes next
Chanda returned to India last September. The readjustment was disorienting, she said; unlike previous short visits, there was no return flight. Caring for her cats provided continuity through the hardest weeks. A couple of months ago she began building Puchki, a pet-sitting brand, inspired by her own difficulty finding the kind of reliable care in Kolkata that she had been able to access in the United States.
She would still like to visit the US to see her aunt, uncle, and friends, she said, but does not want to live there again. The visa uncertainty was constant, and the broader political climate added to that discomfort. Europe is the destination that appeals to her most for any future move. For other international students and workers, her advice is direct: get involved in everything a university offers, because that kind of community becomes rarer once you are working; and if you come from a culture that prizes humility, learn to speak plainly about what you have accomplished, because no one else will do it for you. With the $100,000 H-1B fee now locked in through September 2027, the structural conditions that shaped her experience are not receding.