Woman Trades Tennis Wins for Visa Whiffs, Packs Life in Two Suitcases
KEY POINTS
- •Luciana Pereyra moved to the US at 17 on a tennis scholarship to earn business degrees in Ohio.
- •She worked at Ohio State’s College of Nursing on an H-1B visa until job cuts in December 2025 ended her position.
- •After failing to find a new sponsor within 60 days, she returned to Peru in March 2026 to start a cashew butter business.
Luciana Pereyra, Peruvian tennis wiz turned Ohio State marketing specialist, moved to the US at 17 on a scholarship, earning a business degree and MBA with a coveted 4.0 GPA by 2023. She played varsity tennis thanks to pandemic-granted bonus time that apparently only athletes get. Job hunted through 2022 to 2025, but the kiss of death was confessing she needed H-1B visa sponsorship — cue the recruiter ghosting her faster than a tennis ball at match point. After Ohio State cut her job during winter break 2025, she faced a 60-day scramble to find a sponsor or haircut her American dream, which didn’t pan out because universities go on vacation just like the rest of us. With less luck than a tennis player with a broken racket, she returned home to Peru in March 2026, trading American apartments and volunteer gigs for two luggage bags and some cashew butter entrepreneurship.
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(1 of 3)Graduated with a 4.0, chased tennis glory, landed a job—until visa rules said, 'Nice try, see ya.' America’s like a funhouse mirror for talent: you can see your reflection, but good luck getting in.
Visa sponsorship: the only game where merit points count for zero and luck decides who sits at the table.
Apparently, earning degrees and chasing passions just gets you a first-class ticket back home via bureaucracy express.
Source: Businessinsider | Published: 9/6/2026 | Author: Faye Bradley
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