Team Blitz India
AN Indian-origin techie took to X (formerly Twitter) to share his harrowing experience of obtaining a Green Card after living in the US for over nine years. He highlighted the drawbacks of the H-1B visa system, describing it as “incredibly restrictive”.
The Indian techie’s case is among hundreds of thousands of highly skilled professionals from India who are facing extremely long wait times, potentially decades, to gain permanent residency in the United States.
The techie, who works with an internet giant, explained his Green Card ordeal in a long chain of posts after getting permanent residency status after a wait of 3,505 days. “After 3,505 days in this country [US], I’m finally a ‘permanent resident’. I can travel without constantly having to worry about my visa stamp or my I-94 date or a million other things,” the Indian techie wrote on X.
He has now deleted the thread and made his X account private after his post went viral and the issue “blew up”.
Despite his long wait, he counted himself as a “fortunate” person. He said he was very fortunate as countless talented engineers and researchers have been working in the US for years without Green Cards.
“I’m very fortunate. Countless talented engineers and researchers have been working here without green cards on “temporary” H1-B visas. The green card wait for highly skilled employees from India is decades long and there is no end in sight,” he wrote on X. In his X thread, which he has now deleted, the Indian-origin techie calls the H-1B visa system “restrictive” and explains why he calls it so.
“A H-1B visa is incredibly restrictive. You need a new visa stamp every few years from the US consulate outside the country. If you don’t have one, you cannot enter the US.
I have never been able to attend a single conference because of this,” he said. He further listed usual situations that turned out to be problematic for people with H-1B visas.
Permanent residency in the US has remained a pipe dream for many Indians. To address the issue, multiple bills are being addressed in the Senate and Congress. However, immediate relief seems unlikely.
