00:00My whole experience living in the US and then leaving it overnight feels like you've just
00:06woken up from a bad dream. H1B in itself is a process where you depend on a lottery to get
00:12the visa. So the visa isn't granted based on your merit or how hard you work, whether you're a good
00:18person or not. And even before the H1B, finding employers who would be willing to sponsor your
00:24H1B was also a lottery. I completed my master's in biotechnology from North Western University,
00:30after which I took up a role as a scientist at a cultivated meat startup. And I have been in
00:36the
00:36same industry ever since. I had a promise of a sponsorship. The startup I was working for did
00:41not have e-verification certification yet. And I was told that it's not a problem. But first my
00:48company backed out of giving me the H1B sponsorship because it was not possible to renew even
00:54my OPT, my F1 visa was also cut short. Definitely tried very desperately to stay in the US. I was
01:03frantically applying to jobs. The day that I was laid off was the day I discovered this job in
01:09Germany. And in the month of July, right when my OPT officially expired is when I received my Germany
01:15job offer. So I already had that option before I left the US. There was some turbulence these last
01:22few years because of which employers were less willing to sponsor candidates. H1B for example,
01:29the fee used to be a couple thousand dollars, five thousand dollars or ten between five thousand and
01:33ten thousand dollars. And now it's been spiked to a solid hundred thousand dollars. I'm in a long
01:38distance relationship with my boyfriend. I'm in a long distance relationship with my friends. So
01:43essentially all of the effort that went into building a life, all of that seemed to have been taken
01:48away in the blink of an eye. And now I'm fighting to rebuild this life again. I think the biggest
01:54sacrifice I made is the idea of the life I wanted. And I thought I had it in the US,
02:00but then it got
02:01lost. If I had the opportunity to relive my experience, I would 100% do it because I think
02:06it's made me a very resilient person. And at the same time, I gained so many things from this whole
02:12experience that seems to be so negative. I grew my social media to 37,000 followers and I grew this
02:19community. I got support from a lot of people. I experienced a different way of life in Germany.
02:26I would have missed out on these things had I not gone through everything that I did. But now that
02:31I've gone through this, I feel like I have more clarity than ever on what kind of a life I
02:36want
02:36and where I want to be. And that clarity only comes from the hardships.
