US VISA – What To Do If You Lose Your Job?

You got your U.S. VISA, you started your job. But for some reason, you’ll have to leave the company. What happens next? Can you stay in the USA? Or do you have to leave? Can you work for another company? Can you transfer your VISA?

hello everybody and welcome back to another exciting immigrant story from the united states and another great topic and information if you would like to move to the united states uh the best options visa categories you know how you can do things uh quickly etc

also for immigration to the united states of course one question that always came up and it is it is really hot it’s a hot topic it’s about wait a minute but not what happens if imagine that case you received a visa you got your sponsorship you moved to the united states you started working no matter what category you have and then for all of a sudden you get laid off or even worse you get fired or whatever for what reason or you quit your job and you say like i’m done and i don’t want to work for this company anymore what happens in this case boom right here right now at gousa.live

i am explaining everything to you and from experience i can tell you what you have to expect what you have to be prepared for and what the reality looks like so imagine or not it also happened to me and it’s definitely not the nicest or easiest uh thing because you really need to think ahead you need to plan if you think about this already that you have like mixed feelings about the position you have etc and you really need to be uh aware of this situation so what’s happening first of all let’s say you got a visa it doesn’t matter if you’re on an h1b or if working authorization you have a j1 visa trainee category or whatever

right if you lose your job no matter what it really doesn’t matter if you quit if you get laid off if you get fired you know it doesn’t matter then obviously you have to leave the united states of america within four weeks that is hardcore policy what does it mean now listen very careful is it is really very brutal and it shows how the dependency works how powerful actually the sponsor is in this position because any company knows any sponsor knows if they are going to lay off if they drop it basically your right to stay in the united states is also gone.

you cannot stay and live in the united states it is required that you have a job and that you have a sponsor who is supporting you and if you don’t have this you need to find in the four weeks you have another company and another job so that’s rule number one or you have to leave the united states now that happened to me i remember first of all once it happened to me at the very beginning when i decided i’m looking for another company.

so if you didn’t hear my story yet what happened at my first company and the lawyer was not able to give me the right visa applications or the right path and that lawyer really sucked and I was told as you know after 16 months or whatever like look I don’t have the qualifications I have to pack my and move back to Europe um and I invested 250 dollars by the house movement my entire family right but if you haven’t heard this story I recommend going to my website gousa.live or check out my other podcasts in which I’m talking about this

so this can be very shocking but realities you have to leave the reason is why i also say i would recommend you leaving and not staying if you cannot find another job in the us in that short period of time is if you break that rule or that law then so to speak your name is marked in the system and even so if you would leave at a later time right then it’s actually required to leave you will have some serious problems if you would like to re-enter because your name is in the system and once you try to fly back or whatever they basically will bounce you back and say like wait a minute.

we have a problem here because you know you uh followed not the rules the policies or the law and that’s why you are done you cannot re-enter even if you would have other job opportunities in the u.s so what what it really means for you is it’s a tough situation and you have only those two options option number one you find in that short period of time which is four weeks a new sponsor and a new company with a new job that means you really have to hurry up you really have to like go on this like mission impossible right and make sure you are going to succeed

if you don’t well then you have option number two that’s the only option you have you have to leave the united states now you can say look i’m flying back to my home country that’s so totally up to you or you go somewhere else and you stay there and here comes now a funny part is a very interesting part also the situation might not be very funny i have to say that i was in those shoes once in the telly also how i mastered it but uh fact is basically when this happens and let’s assume you cannot find another job in that short period of time and you move somewhere else outside of the united states.

and let’s say your first visa you received was valid for like let’s say 18 months and you only spend eight months on this visa you still have like 10 months left that means if you find another sponsor another company you can still use all those days you have not been using up on the previous visa that applies to any visa category so even if you let’s say have an h1b and that might happen to you which is valid for three years and let’s say in the first year you lose your job or you quit or you get fired or or whatever happens and you basically used up one year of this entire visa right and you leave you still have the two other years on this valid visa and nobody can steal this from you

it’s basically at this point the time stops you have been not using up those days and you can use it to a later time but you would need to leave and then when you’re outside of the united states you need to find another company that brings you back on board now i’m going to tell you what happened to me two times and how i mastered that situation the first situation was the falling i was working uh at a company later on which i did not like the economy was also very bad at that point everything was going down and it was very tricky to find even a company that was willing to sponsor you so at that point i also saw like wait a minute what should i do should i stay at that company

i just don’t like and torture myself and it was really not easy and also the location i have been it was in an area i really didn’t like very much and so i said like okay do i go through this torture the company didn’t want to let me go the company didn’t say anything like hey uh we don’t want to keep or whatever they have been happy that they had me on board because i brought the knowledge to the team but i was unhappy i was like no way and at this point i wanted to find other opportunities in the united states but economy was so bad

and i was not able to get anything like really it was almost a curse i felt like how can that be because usually i don’t have any problems finding a job but when the economy was so down like there was no company that wanted to hire anybody at that time so for me there was then one solution left basically i had i had two options i stay and go through this torture but i said no i don’t want to do that you know i’m not like this is this is in the first place? Wyhy?

i also wanted to change my life because i want to have a better life but unfortunately in a very short period of time that company i was working for it turned out to be well not a great fit for me let’s keep it this way and stuff like this is going to happen i tell you i guarantee you uh you might like one company but you might not like another one so i decided then and this was of course also tricky i decided to pack all my stuff and go back to europe i moved back to munich and to germany and said you know what if i cannot find a better company in the united states then temporary i have to move back and i did it so you have to keep in mind when you cancel everything you’re you’re signed up a lease or you have a house uh you might consider selling it or you might you know consider renting it

you have a car you have all those other assets that’s very pricey and especially moving or flying back from the united states with the uh family of five um it’s very pricey one ticket you know like 2k you burn immediately 10 20 000 euros with the move like easily okay so that’s what i did and what i did from the united states i was looking for other companies other job opportunities i found one in munich and they said hey come on boof we bring you here and you can start immediately and you want to do it want to give it a try and then i said troop you know made this decision and flew back to europe even if i had my h-1b visa

now i knew of course that my visa the time i did not spend is not gone and i also knew like well you know it’s not my my best option right now or the thing i really wanted to do but what can i do there is you know you have to always evaluate what’s the best situation so what i did was brutal i took my whole family that was after i think uh three years then and we bounced back when i was actually back in in munich and i was visiting friends in australia so everybody said so what are you doing here why are you here i thought you’re in the united states or you you don’t like it there you didn’t like it or you didn’t make it or whatever right

but i didn’t even try to explain because when you’re in this position as an immigrant people don’t even know they don’t even know requirements or how tough or rough it can be and if you follow the rules you know and the policies what the government is telling you of course that you are not read flagged at any point then it can be very very tough so i told everybody you know like the truth i said to them you know like it i couldn’t find any better opportunity at this point because economy was hit and i just did what i felt temporary was also the best for my family so everybody was like what the hell is going on

but anyways when i was in the united states and this is very important for you i guess for any immigrant whatever visa you have you have to understand that whatever visa time you obtained before you can keep it and it’s not lost and so i had another two years on the first h-1b visa and when i was basically a munich um i also realized very quickly i had a big reason why i moved to the united states and i was shocked by again i was already used the i would say the american way of life i was used the taxation and the benefits like whether the salary right and when i was in munich i was like guys the salary is isn’t there uh even so if i lost a job and that’s always my first choice first i go like what do you like the most money comes always second but

what do i like the most and you know what position fits the best and then when i was there i quickly realized uh this is financially really bad compared to what i had before it’s not going to work out long term and very quickly i said i have to move back as soon as possible to the united states but of course i said to myself look i hope the economy gets better and i keep going what i’m doing i get better in um in my industry and my skills and uh i will bounce back you know just like i need a little bit more time

and i did then the same procedure applied for jobs and whatever and of course i said also from my family you have to understand how difficult it is because for the kids you take them out from school uh they started speaking english and everything they have friends built up and then you take them out and then fall and sudden boof you’re gone and you live somewhere else right uh so that is definitely a hot topic and i can tell you’re not easy to deal with as an immigrant and especially once you cut loose all the connections you had at one location to build up and build up again you always want to make sure you have money uh pocket change cash because that’s the thing you really need when when you move right all the time

but long story short so if this happens to you as you can see in my experience a year later i got a really great opportunity that was back in texas dallas and you know company was also saying like hey do you need sponsorship i said i have everything all i need is from you guys the okay that you’re willing to sponsor me and a year later i said goodbye germany goodbye munich it was a wonderful experience to see how freaking expensive it is and how much taxes are pay and how much you get in germany really like i would say i don’t know

like robbed that that was definitely robbery you know and so anyways uh i found another opportunity and i bounced back to texas again the whole process killed everything and and you know canceled everything in german and munich and we have been in beautiful dallas so and from there i was then also much more aware of the fact how serious it can be if you would get into a similar situation but here comes now the next craziness you have to understand what happened so i was exactly one year something like this

but yeah over a year a little bit over here in dallas and the company i was working for was bought from another investor another company we have been in the feature film industry and for all of a sudden we we received information unfortunately because of budget issues you know like 45 of all the staff members we need to let go and we received the message everybody like oh my god you know i was also like hoping i hope i’m not one of them because i just moved back another another year ago and moving again but then i will get again into this crazy situation that i would need to find another job within four weeks but guess what

it really happened boom me another friend of mine who also was dependent on the visa and he was relocating basically from canada he said what the heck is this this is insane what are we doing now he was married at children and so on and i said to him look this is this is really crazy especially our industry is very tough but all i can tell you is relax and what what i think is economy is now much better and we will be able to find other opportunities so we have been you know getting home getting on our back on our feet writing applications networking finding other opportunities and we both made it and we found really in four weeks a different company that he was working at another one

i was working on another one that basically said yes we need you we need guys like you and you’re more than welcome and they offered me a fabulous job it was actually a really fantastic job it was for a boutique studio back in venice beach and it was it was a great experience so but as you can see it’s an adventure when you are an immigrant and as long as you don’t have your permanent residency the green card right then it can be a very slippery terrain you are walking on and you are dancing on because you kinda always live through this mercy of being employed it’s connected right and having this job and as long as you don’t have the permanent residency you’re in this slippery dangerous terrain

and yeah it it will have it can have stress points right if you lose your job etc and that’s why i recommend people all the time as an immigrant if you have the opportunity to switch quickly to a permanent residency do it as quickly as possible and you can also file for everything it wants so you don’t have to wait meaning it can be that you have been starting on a j visa because that brings you quickly to the us and then i would say immediately file for an h1b and if you like of course also the job position make sure that the company files for you also in as fast as possible for a green card now why is this important and why do i recommend it first of all back up yourself at multiple levels as good as possible you can file basically not you the sponsor always has to file for you and has to do those applications right

but as as more you you have a backup and the safety plan is more secure are you and there is one more thing you can have an application running for an h1b or any other visa category and you you also at the same time can have a green card application running and here comes the good news let’s assume you lose your job while uh an h1b application is running you it’s still at the jv’s or whatever and let’s say you have let’s say you have like also a green card application running while you lose your job as long as the green card application is in progress and the company is not quitting it okay is not saying like boom we are done or the sponsor you are good that is that is also very very important

uh that means when i’m talking about your good that means yes you cannot work at this company then anymore let’s say if you lose like the job right and the company says like nope we don’t want you to work anymore but if the company says look the green card application we don’t drop it which might not be the case you know this is also of course what you need to think about it but if the company says okay you know we started it we paid for it we just like you’re good we don’t want to build any blockers on top of it then you can at least lean back you can stay in the united states even if you can’t work at this point because you need to wait until you have a green card uh through

but you don’t need to leave like in a hurry and like okay you have to get out because otherwise everything will be jeopardized right so very very important and i would have other fantastic stories to tell you one quick very short also friend of mine was a cgi artist he lived in canada and it was really bad it was really bad uh it was that company i was also leaving uh on my own and what happened was that the other artist from canada was also dependent on the visa but also on the green card application and it was really strange because like he wanted to be there

he wanted to stay there and his screen card was already gone through everything and and the company only needed to sign at the very end so he was waiting already for like one and a half years and at the very end like two weeks before like they just needed to sign it they said you know what we changed our mind we don’t want you to have you here anymore and they laid him off and at the same time they also said sorry we don’t want to sign anymore your green card and it was already done so this was the worst experience i’ve ever seen but that also brought up some goosebumps and was a big reminder how dependent you will be from a sponsor because of course they hold all the power right and i felt like this was really very very unfair to this poor guy and his family and he ended up

he had to move back to canada there was no more other option but here comes karma right but i wanted to tell you how it ended can you believe it he always played in the green card lottery and believe it or not he won the green card in the lottery and then a year a year later he moved back to california i was visiting him in manhattan beach and we we laughed about it but it is as you can see crazy stories um immigration i have to say so can be very tough uh it is something where you need to have a thick skin you need to be smart you need to be driven you need to fight for your stuff and you need to be also i think good in negotiation and understanding in what situations you can get to okay that’s very very important but anyways i hope that this kind of like crazyness

what i did also with my entire family is uh you know explaining you a little bit in what situations you can really get in the practical life right i mean that’s what it all matters and if you don’t know me yet if you didn’t subscribe to my podcast please do so now you find all my other podcasts and youtube videos and my channel of course also uh on my website which is go usa dot life again this is bernard go usa.life and as you can hear my nice accent i am an austrian immigrant who moved with my entire family in a very short period of time to the united states

so i also recommend you if you would like to move quickly to the united states of america please watch my free webinar you can find it at my home page go here’s a go usa.life you can just sign up with your email you know you know and your name and you get immediately the link sent to this webinar take your time it’s one hour but it clarifies a lot of things and i’m going to explain in a very easy way how i moved with my entire family in a very quick and easy way to the united states with no special education as you know i’m a graphic designer so i do computer graphics that’s that’s about it so nothing crazy right but you will also figure out step by step how i did it but also

how you can apply all that for yourself for your family you know and how you can move also quickly and last but not least even with all those obstacles you have i can definitely tell you look if you really want to move to the united states if you feel like you want to fulfill your dream then don’t listen to all the naysayers who will try to drag you down or tell you like look at you you don’t have the qualification or who do you think you are and you know you’re a loser you will never make it to the united states what you think and and so on just like

ignore all that because you know if you would listen to all this crap all day long uh it would it’s not good it’s not healthy and it it doesn’t support you it will not bring you anywhere so faith is all out and also think about it it is your life and it’s not the life from anybody else it’s what you want your partner wants or your family it’s this is the most important and if the country you’re living right now is not the right fit for you if you’re unhappy if you feel like oh you’re at the right spot or you also feel like you don’t get the career and job opportunities or you don’t make enough money

or whatever it is right we as immigrants uh we have one thing in common and this unites us it’s that all those things kind of happen to you or are happening right now to you what happened to me years ago where i felt like i want to change my life i want to do something different and i loved always the united states still love the u.s and i can tell you i never regretted moving to the us i’m very thankful and grateful for what this country gave me the opportunities

i had what i was able to achieve here in the united states and you know of course there are i always want to say that pros and cons you have to evaluate by yourself but if you truly want to change your life trust me you can do this and i’m more than happy to help and support you as well and also you find more videos and practical videos uh with a lot of help

how you can actually proceed to this uh and and and proceed with a plan and really really do it like i would say step by step in a practical way so enough talking thanks for listening thanks for watching i hope you get always some value out of it and i wish you already all the best for now to move to the united states and again if you want to find more information please visit my website go go usa.life and subscribe to my podcast and my youtube

that being said all the best and stay healthy and i hope to see you all soon here in the united states of america take care bye bye

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