10+ year green card wait - do you really think you'll get it?
Over the past few years I've met many tech workers from India who are in the eternal waiting line to get a green card. I have also met others who are hoping to get in line. To me this is crazy!!! For those who are not aware, the formula is as follows: you come to the US to do a masters in a technical field. That gives you a work permit that lasts 3 years (opt). Within those three years you convince your employer to file your H1 visa. In an ideal scenario you're in H1 for under 5 years. Within that time your employer files for your green card. Because there are caps for each country on green cards through employer sponsorship, Indians have to wait for many years. By many, I mean 10, 15, 20... A long f@cking time. I'm not writing this to debate whether the process and wait are fair or not. That's a different discussion. My question to you is: is the wait worth it? You came here at 25 full of hopes and dreams, and the way things are, you won't get the green card until you're in your late 40s or 50s... Is it really worth it? Do you think you'll eventually get it? I'm trying to understand why people put themselves through such a stressful situation. #workvisa #h1b
Your employer can file your gc since your day 1 at the company. You do not need H1b; they can file while you are on opt.
The time estimate is wrong actually. Its more like 30+ years :)
Options i am considering 1. Join a tier 2 company and start with PhD, if you are technically a geek 2. Join HaaS or some full time MBA which you can do on H-1. Then apply for a managerial position wherein the company has to file for EB-1 3. Earn enough to make a lavish house/side business/farmland in some tech city in india, So that you can go back in a a decade or so.
4-5 years for PhD + 1 year for H1 + 1.5 years for getting I-140. Say you’ll have priority date 6.5 from now. EB-1 is backlogged and wait time is 5 years. Now imagine what will happen to EB-1 backlogs within those 6 years 😅
That’s at-least the best n optimal option dude. PhD is still best option than being on EB-2. I don’t think there is any other way to the idea of “ Permanent American Dream”. What other options do you see that are ethically correct?
I’ll continue from where you left off. After getting I-140, people start to weigh the pros and cons of staying in US but 💰 💵 keeps many from exploring alternate path or goin back and continue with their life cycle of marriage, kids etc while Other folks start venting through social media and lobbying for movement of backlog. Folks who have applied from 2009-2010 are hoping it may get approved any time and hangin by a thread. Folks who applied after 2010 are probably in their 30s who may have family and hence don’t want to let go that fat tech paycheck. Nobody in their right frame of mind is expecting to get a green-card but I circumstances are limiting their actions.
I am very curious as to what the new H1Bs/ students, let’s say from 2019/2020 have to say. Knowing the long time, what’s the “motivating factor” for them to join this queue. How are they deciding whether the wait is worth it or not.
New H-1b here. Nobody who files I-140 expects to get GC from India. Wait is pointless. Its just that temporary solutions can still keep the situation afloat. Once H-4 EAD goes away, people will just leave. Until then, car still moves on at snail's pace
Agree with Punjabi22, I recently got H1B and probably gonna continue for few more years till I feel I have enough money to return to India. Other idea I have is to switch to big tech companies and relocate to India office after few years. I don’t think I’ll ever get GC in this birth. Is child sponsoring parents thing still valid or canceled by current govt?
Why do you need a GC. Keep renewing H1b based on i140, changes companies is a bit of a pain, but manageable compared to the pain of moving to a new country. Overall things are just fine
Actually NO. You slowly start investing yourself in this country - job, family, kids, kids' school, maybe a home as well. Then one fine day, you receive an RFE for specialty occupation for yourself or maybe your spouse, or maybe one of you is laid off. Then you look back and evaluate why did you invest all of yourself when nothing was certain right from the beggining.
You’re right. Can’t go back to your home country while having everything set for your kids in a place. I’m no father but I can feel it.
You should add an option “I know I won’t get it ever and I don’t care as it doesn’t make a difference “.
Here is one more option other than the two that I am pursuing...I don’t want it anymore. Screw the GC. If they can’t see our worth then why waste our time? No one is aging backwards here.
Our worth = f(money earned due to our contribution) Feel free to go crazy with functions definition, but hope the point is clear. The company does not give a shit where the talent comes from, they care about talent, period. Still, most of this talent seems to be coming from non-immigrant visa holders. Otherwise why would companies spend so much money hiring us when they could get citizens with way less hassle. So while the companies don’t care where talent ultimately comes from, it is in the country’s interest to allow immigration.
What’s the problem with going back to India in 4-5 years ? Crack a FAANG there no tension of immigration at all just enjoy there for fuck sake it makes me crazy how people are obsessed with becoming a citizen
+1
Calm down. Not everyone is. Some have an entire life here so it can be difficult. Please also don’t say they should not have started a life. That’s naive.
Once you figure out if it’s worth it, go tell future Indian students not to come. That’s the only way to lessen the pain. Otherwise it keeps getting worse and worse.
No one would listen to your advise. People in India are still very excited to move to U.S regardless of the visa situation. Giving suggestions would only backfire. Let them explore.
And once them come, they will scream the same. It’s not fair. Remove cap. We deserve this. I am entitled blah blah.