Getting permanent residency or achieving a green card status is one of the most sought-after things in the USA. Every year lakhs of people apply for employment-based green cards and less than five percent of them receive it. As a result, either people have to work on short-term H-1B visas or jump through countless bureaucratic hoops and paperwork to retain their jobs in the USA. Recently, a Google techie of Indian origin spoke about the restrictive nature of H-1B visas and how they limit talented professionals from reaching their full potential or enjoying the liberties that green card holders or regular citizens get.
Swaroop Ramaswamy shared a photo of the mail sent by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services that carried his green card and wrote, “After 3505 days in this country, 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 3,505 days amount to almost 10 years of wait. Green card allows one to get almost all benefits of being a citizen, except the right to vote in federal elections. Additionally, a green card holder can apply for US citizenship after spending five years as a permanent resident.
In follow-up posts, Ramaswamy spoke about the “restrictive” nature of H-1B visas and wrote, “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 added, “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.”
The H-1B visa is a temporary visa given to skilled workers employed by US companies or employers. It is typically valid for only three years and needs to be renewed by embassies and consulates in a lengthy process. Jobs that need at least a bachelor’s degree as a qualification are eligible for H-1B visa sponsorship. The status of an H-1B visa entirely depends on a person’s employment status which often results in worker exploitation at the hands of employers.
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