LOS ANGELES, Dec 14: With the US economy going from bad to worse, thousands of Pakistanis living in the United States, will be compelled to leave the country any time soon.

TK, a US citizen from Lahore and who had a multi-million-dollar IT business just two years back, sold his California-based mansion, packed up his business, laid-off his remaining employees and is now shifting to Dubai. “Right now the situation here is so depressing that venturing into any new thing will be fruitless,” TK told Dawn by phone.

“I am an American, all my children were born here, so it won’t be a problem for us to come back if we wanted to,” he said.

However, life for AA, originally from Quetta and lives in Florida, is not so good.

“I am on the verge of being laid off anytime,” AA told Dawn.

Desperate, AA has recently started a “calling card” business fearing losing his job. “I am just giving it a shot,” he said.

He said he was shifting his software company to India.

“The situation, after 9/11, has become so bad that resumes with Muslim names end up into waste bin. I have no hope of getting a decent job,” he said.

Z, another US citizen, originally from Karachi, working in a leading Santa Monica-based technological firm for the last 20 years, is fortunately in a better position.

But he told Dawn, after 9/11 his colleagues had become more reserved. “If your first name was Muhammad rest assured your resume will end up in the waste basket.”

XX, a former senior Suparco official, enjoying a six-digit annual salary in Irvine, CA, just 4-month back, is out of job. According to one of his close friends he and his family were barely surviving on his wife’s $900 salary.

AJK, also from Karachi, working in an Irvine-based company of a prominent Pakistani-American as system analyst said he had lost all hopes of getting a green card.

Working on H-1 visa, AJK said he had not even applied for a labour certification. He said if he were to initiated the process today it might take him almost six years — that too if all goes well.

K, originally from Lahore, working on a H-1 as systems programmer in a medical group of a leading Pakistani-American in Orange County, CA, said: “I know I only have five more years here. That’s why I am not even applying for a green card.”