Massively Frank and personal post saving ninja . I cant relate to the work visa part but definitely get the feeling of grief and worrying about 'going backwards'

Although voluntary in my case I had the same feelings when I left my old employer after 17 years and it took me 2 and a half years during covid of analysing and over analysing what may or may not happen if I jumped to finally pull the trigger

As I said on my previous post that worry is probably part of what make you a high achiever. You'll be fine . I've finally at the age of 43 learnt to accept that careers aren't linear and also that 'failing' (massive emphasis on the inverted commas in your case as redundancy is not a failure it's often pure chance) is ok. If you never fail you've never really gone outside your comfort zone

Once again, I am so sorry about this experience. It's so sad to read that your dreams have fallen apart despite putting everything on your side. I could say you've had bad luck, but it could possibly be that you've just had good luck instead, it just that you don't know it yet.