Things I wish I knew about US visas 13 years ago

Have you ever waited for a government agency to give you a visa and thought — I wonder how other people deal with this craziness? Well here’s a glimpse of my 13 years as a student and a professional navigating 9 different types of US visa situations.

Visa Basics, Crazy Stories about the #F1 #CPT #OPT #STEM-extension #H1-B #I-140 #H4-EAD #B1 and FAQs about things like how to work with lawyers.

If you know someone navigating US visas, you can share this with them.

Over the years, I’ve had some crazy stories with the US visa system. Each time I’ve navigated towards a more secure visa status. Here’s some behind the scenes advice on how to navigate this quirky system. All opinions are mine, and none of this constitutes legal advice. Overall, think of each stage encounter with the US visa system as a Tom and Jerry episode. And make no mistake- you are not Tom.

Images in this article are not mine.

There’s lots here. It could make for 10 newsletters. But I wanted to offer everything in a single place. So, I’ve divided this post into 3 sections, Visa basics, Crazy stories, and FAQs. Skip the basics if you’re already familiar but do read the crazy stories and FAQs.

Visa basics

Student visas, and getting started with work

Visa Statuses: #F1, #CPT (Curricular Practical Training), #OPT (Optional Practical Training)

I started off as a college student, on an F1 visa, in 2009. This F1 visa lets you start working after a year while you’re still in college, and then full-time after your studies. The working visa during college is called Curricular Practical Training (CPT), and the full-time post-college visa is called Optional Practical Training (OPT). You can basically use CPT visas to do multiple internships, then the OPT to join a company full-time after college. I finished my undergraduate engineering degree (bachelor’s) and a graduate degree (master’s) quickly to save money — in 4.5 years total. And got an OPT in 2013. I thought it would reflect well so I requested an OPT showing that I was a Master’s degree holder in engineering rather than getting the OPT under my undergraduate degree. You’ll read later how this got me in a dilemma later.

The OPT is granted right after college and doesn’t require anything but the approval from the USCIS administrator in your college to turn in all the paperwork in time to the USCIS office. Then you wait for a few months. When it arrives, it comes with a start date. You’re expected to have a job lined up and start working within the first 90 days of your OPT period or it expires and you’ve to leave the country. The OPT period is usually for 12 months. You’ll likely graduate college in May, and your OPT will start soon after. Thus by the following April, before 12 months are over, your employer can file for your working visa — the hallowed H1-B. More on this later.

You are eligible for a new OPT for every level of degree you finish in America. So you can work on OPT after finishing your undergraduate degree in the States. Then again on a new OPT once you finish your Masters degree. And again after a PhD. If you do a second graduate degree, you’re not eligible for a second OPT at the Master’s level. So, when I quit my aerospace engineering career to go get an MBA, I had to switch from H1-B back to F1 student visa status. Once the MBA was over, I had to switch back to an H1-B, without the benefit of an OPT tenure.

The United States has also got a clever designation for college majors that generate a lot of tax-paying jobs. It is called Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM). If you’re studying a scientific field like medicine, or engineering, or even financial engineering that requires specialized skills. Then you can get a Stem Extension on your OPT — which means you can stay in the US working on your OPT visa status for another 2 years. Essentially, this gets you two more chances at applying for the H1-B lottery in the next two years.

The H1-B. There is really a lottery to work in the US!

Yes. Welcome to the world of the #OPT and #H1-B.

The H1-B is a temporary work visa for high-skilled employment available to people for a total of 3+3 = 6 years. You’ll literally have to win a once-every-year lottery to get an H1-B visa in the first week of April.

The lottery is in place because there are a lot more foreign workers that want to work in the US, than there are allowed visas of this H1-B category. Each year, 85,000 new H1-B visas may be granted. Initially 65,000 visas are granted amongst all the applicants. Then there’s a second randomized selection of 20,000 awardees but only for applicants with an advanced degree (Masters or PhD). Bonus: 6,800 petitions are allocated just for Chile and Singapore citizens (rewards for good diplomacy).

Initially, this was a big enough limit that companies could hire international talent comfortably, but over time, the US started getting over 200,000 applicants on the very first day that the visa application opened each year, on April 1. American voters get very upset at the ideas of hundreds of thousands of foreigners taking American Specialized jobs each year, especially young college grads. So, Instead of expanding the number of visas allowed each year, which is a politically fraught topic, the laws now put your career up to the test of luck. Note, most lotteries are not worth playing, but the odds are in your favor for the H1-B lottery.

For the 2019–2020 lottery season, 201,011 petitions were received. Since 65,000 are designated for the visa cap, there’s a little less than 32 percent chance of selection. If you have a Master’s degree of PhD, then you get a second chance for the 20,000 spots. Assume 100,000 people in the applicants have such an advanced degree, you get another 20% chance. So you have about 32% + 20% chance = over 50% chances makes this a lottery worth playing, since it is better than a coin toss. May the odds be ever in your favor.

If your H1-B gets approved, you don’t have to go through the lottery again for the next six years. I got my H1-B in 2014 with Gulfstream (see Crazy Story 1 below). I designed business jets at Gulfstream till 2016. This meant I had 3 years left of the 6 years available. I could have renew my H1-B for another 3 years, but instead I quit to go to business school.

I went on a holiday to Trinidad and Tobago and went to the embassy there to convert my H1-B back to an F1 visa. The consulate lady couldn’t believe I would do that. She confirmed “Are you sure you want to go back to a student status? You already have an H1-B!” So then I got back to F-1 status.

In the second year of the MBA, I started interning and teaching students etc., so I had to get a CPT again and after the degree I found myself in a dilemma. I had already gotten an OPT from my Master’s degree in Engineering. The US doesn’t give you another OPT for the same degree level. So, when I graduated with an MBA in 2018, I didn’t have the option of an OPT. I had to have an employer sponsor an H1-B straight from business school but because I had already won the H1-B lottery in 2014 (less than six years ago), I didn’t need to enter the lottery again but I had to have a job before I graduated. If I didn’t have an offer by the time I graduated with the MBA, I’d be out of status.

I’m very picky on the work I do, so, I got interesting job offers in the US and from BCG in London but I didn’t apply to boring jobs that would be easy to get as most people recommended.

My US H1-B after graduation had lots of crazy challenges, read Crazy Story 2 below to learn the value of good lawyers for this kind of petition.

Can one change jobs while on H1-B?

Yes. But you’ve got to navigate it thoughtfully.

The H1-B is granted so that your current employer can hire you. If you want to quit and move to another job, the new employer has to file another H1-B petition for you.

The process is that the new employer files an H1-B petition to hire you and the government acknowledges that they got the new H1-B application and are evaluating it. At this point you have a choice — you can move to the new employer assuming that your H1-B transfer will be approved. Or you can continue working for your first employer while you wait for confirmation that your H1-B transfer has been approved. Read Crazy Story 3 below for how this choice can have dramatic consequences.

The Greencard petition and the I-140

If you want to become a become a permanent resident in the US you need a literal Green Card and then can apply for citizenship. If you’re on an H1-B, your employer can apply for a Green Card for you.

Indians and Chinese people get special spots in the Green Card line. These spots appear over a decade after we apply for the Green Card. But you might remember that the H1-B quota is only for six years? Well, the only way to extend your H1-B visa status beyond 6 years, is to apply for a green card. Note, the Green Card application costs quite a bit of money, so employers will often wait till you’ve served them 5 years, and your H1-B visa is about to run out before they will agree to sponsor your Green Card application. This is a nasty trick to retain employees and if possible, you should discuss getting the Green Card filing done along with the H1-B filing as part of taking a job at a company. Instead of negotiating pay, negotiate your holidays, visa timelines and make sure the company will let you participate in drafting and reviewing it.

Crazy Stories

Five crazy stories below. Some might make you say “Oh My God!”

Crazy Story 1: Administrative processing and being called a weapons specialist

I was delighted and surprised that I won the H1-B lottery in the first attempt in October 2013. I flew to India in December 2013 to get the visa status on my passport changed from F1 to H1-B and this required an interview at the American Embassy.

Before I left for the India trip and embassy appointment, I set up a half-hour to chat with my manager about all this. He was American, and the Aerospace sector mostly doesn’t hire international people because of security regulations. I was the only Indian in the entire aircraft design team.

I managed visa expectations with my boss very carefully. I explained what my visa status was and how it was changing. Why something needed to be stamped back in an Embassy. What the process looked like? That it wouldn’t cost the company money. That there was a risk of delay and disruption. And offered that we might have to wait a couple months if my application doesn’t immediately get accepted. I asked if he was ok with me handling things if something goes wrong and discuss how to ensure it doesn’t affect my career, etc. I made sure my manager fully understood all these pieces and that I had things under control.

When I arrived in India, for my H1-B stamping appointment the Embassy agent in Delhi asked for my resume. I handed her a resume that showed I had two degrees — one in Aerospace Engineering, and a Master’s in Electro-Mechanical Engineering. She read that I had built drones, planes, and rocket engines while in college and now designed jets.

I wanted her to approve it thinking I’m a valuable Rocket Scientist. Instead… She took my application thinking I’m a weapons specialist!

She lost the smile on her face; got up from her desk and said “I’ll be back”. She literally turned off the light at her desk, turned around and I heard her ask for “that document about weapons specialists” as she walked away from her desk. That wiped the smile off my face.

A few minutes later, she came back and said “I can’t approve your H1-B yet. We need to do further administrative processing here.” Please wait for 6 to 10 weeks to hear back.”

Six to Ten Weeks! I had a total of 3 weeks of vacation available. But thankfully, I had already managed expectations with my boss that Aerospace majors are often held back for “administrative processing.” That I would either be back in 2–3 weeks from India or be stuck for 3 months.

He had said “please don’t get stuck” as I was leaving for this Christmas vacation trip.

I had to now give him this bad news. I wrote in this email to my manager-

“Merry Christmas Ted. As a Christmas gift, could you please save my job as is? I’m stuck in India for another 2 months due to a visa issue. My renewal is going through “Further Administrative Processing” I promise I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

He replied very promptly —

“I wouldn’t be worried about your job going anywhere PJ, just how big your ‘In ‘ pile will be when you’re back. The people not in the meeting room always get all the work. Merry Christmas.”

The H1-B got approved after 10 weeks of harrowing waiting. I returned to the US and got back to work with renewed enthusiasm!

Crazy Story 2: Saving my visa from the lawyer’s typos

In 2018, I got contacted to come work as a product manager at a small tech company. The company really sold me on the job so I took it. I was also told they do international visas all the time, and I supplied all the documents requested for the H1-B visa and waited till I got the visa to start working.

A few weeks later I got news of an RFE (a Request for evidence). The USCIS sends you a Request for Evidence (RFE) when they are about to reject your visa petition but to give you a chance to substantiate your visa petition before they kick you out. You’ve got to take these RFE responses really seriously, since it may be your last shot at getting it approved.

I saw the email and immediately asked HR for a copy of the visa petition filing, the lawyer’s reasoning, and asked for a meeting the next morning with the company CEO. I got it for two days later, the CEO understood my anxiety but he shrugged and said he doesn’t know anything about visas. I asked to talk to the lawyer. The CEO pointed me to HR. I went to HR who was trying to just tell me to wait, that it’ll be fine. Thankfully, I was a few steps ahead.

I pulled out print-outs of the original H1-B petition that the lawyer had filed on my behalf and I had fully redlined it. IT WAS FULL OF TYPOS AND INACCURACIES. They lawyer had totally screwed up my case and misrepresented what a product manager does and how they use an engineering degree plus an MBA.

When I spoke to the company’s lawyer he blamed the RFE on my job title “Product Manager”. He explained the the official US handbook (O*NET) contains all the job-titles that the US considers for visas and it doesn’t have a product manager title. In fact, I learned that the O*NET handbook was last updated in 2010 and might be up for renewal anytime now. The RFE asked proof that my job required a college degree and special skills. It was funny because the job description demanded a technical degree and an MBA as pre-requisites for applying for the job.

I showed the HR guy my research. I had compiled response templates, and data from multiple peers who were product managers in similar companies. I had gotten a hold of their visa applications, and their RFEs and their successful RFE responses that got them the H1-B visa right after the MBA for “product manager” roles.

Astonished, the HR guy said “you seem to know what you’re talking about.” I said, “I am familiar with this process and if he doesn’t mind, I’d like to have my own lawyer look at the case. My Visa Lawyer is terrific, she had agreed to do a phone consultation that morning. I called her up while I was talking to the HR guy and she walked through all the mistakes that were made in my original filing. She laid out a strategy to refile and reframe my case. I asked if she’d be willing to take it over in front of the HR guy, who was looking impressed. She said ok. I hung up.

Then I asked the HR guy what he thinks. He said, let me get the CEO. The CEO came to the HR office, looked at the huge pile of papers I had brought with research and redlines and templates and said “Wow, you’re into this stuff eh?” I said earnestly “It is very important to me to not lose my visa. Do you mind if my lawyer takes over this case?” He just looked at the HR guy for agreement and said “Sure, if that will help you sleep better”.

I couldn’t believe it, but I had gotten a lawyer I trusted to take over the case while 3 other RFEs had arrived and were being handled by the incompetent person who had done my original filing. My case got resolved with a very strongly worded RFE response from my lawyer, who used most of the research material I compiled.

Of the other 3 RFEs that the HR & lawyer were dealing with, only 1 got successfully approved. I had thankfully gotten involved and salvaged my situation.

Dear Reader: Where you work they may have policies that employees can’t work with the immigration lawyers directly. But from my experience, you must politely try to do whatever is in your power to strengthen your RFE response. Ask to work with your lawyers. Help them get things right. Do research on their behalf if you need to.

Crazy Story 3: Transfer Fail and a long honeymoon in Europe

Once you’ve got an H1-B visa approved for a certain job at a certain company. There’s a relief that seeps in that discourages most people from switching jobs too often. But I decided to accept an offer from Twilio sometime after I got the H1-B visa at my previous role at the small tech company. But I had to move to Europe for a few months while it all got worked out.

As soon as I received confirmation that the USCIS had received my petition to work at Twilio, I moved from New York to San Francisco. This is allowed.

If you start working for your new employer based on the H1-B petition receipt, you take the risk that if your visa transfer petition is rejected, then you’re out of status and have to leave the country. It happens rarely, but it happened to me.

I worked at Twilio for 6 months when my fabulous manager at Twilio told me that my visa transfer failed and the lawyers are asking him to let me go. I took the news quite calmly, I had known of the risk of course. My manager was quite uncertain what happens next. I asked for a meeting the next morning and spent the night researching.

Essentially, I was left with no option but to leave the country, and reapply for a H1-B. I could either chill at home in India while the new visa petition happened over the next 3 months. Or I could try to work from a Twilio office in another country.

I asked Twilio’s HR team to explain my options. They recommended I should wait it out for the three months it might take for another H1-B approval. Twilio didn’t have an India office then, so I couldn’t work from India because there would be no way to pay me. But I asked what would happen if the next H1-B petition also got rejected like the last one? She didn’t want to say it, but Twilio would basically have to let me go if I was gone for months and they couldn’t get me a visa.

This was obviously not ideal.

I met with the immigrated team over a hot cup of Starbucks. Very softly, I urged them to let me get a visa and work out of our European office in Estonia (which had the fastest visa approval time). I offered other options, like the Singapore office, or wherever and let me work while the US visa played out. Twilio is amazing. They agreed. I moved to Europe with my wife for a few months while the lawyers worked on getting me a new H1-B.

I spent an incredible time getting cultured in Europe, while this stressful thing played out. It was mostly because the Twilio culture is wonderfully supportive of employees- my managers, leadership, HR, everyone, is amazing. BUT also because I came prepared with the exact option that would work best for my situation. I persisted.

Crazy Story 4: Learning about marriage waiting for the H4-EAD

The happiest event ever was when I got married to my lovely partner, Rich, in May 2019. She’s fantastic. She left a bombastic career as a TV producer, anchor, and crisis communications strategist in Mumbai and moved to SF after the wedding. I assured her that she’ll have the license to work in the US very soon, and invited her to settle in. But getting her a working visa was spectacularly challenging.

Once you’re married, you have to think about your career along with your spouse’s career. Remember that if you’re on a certain visa, your spouse is likely eligible to come to the US with you. But he/she may not be eligible to work. This might really disrupt your partner’s career and consequently, might really disrupt your relationship and both your happiness.

H1-B spouses can come to the states on an H4 visa. The H4 Visa holder can work if they get an Employment Authorization Document (EAD). But they are only eligible for employment authorization if the H1-B holder (you) have a Green Card filing and priority date- or an approved form I-140.

In 2019, after I got married, Twilio started my I-140 paperwork so that we would both be eligible for the Green Card together. My I-140 got approved after the twists and turns you saw in Story 2 by October 2020.

Then we could finally apply for Richie’s EAD. These EADs are supposed to be approved in 2–3 months. But citing COVID and the inability to get biometric information in person due to lockdowns, the USCIS has delayed EAD approvals for up to 13 months lately. There was a class action lawsuit about this delay affecting H1-B 90,000 spouses in March 2021, and that has led to some simplification in the process.

But still no EAD for Rich.

Rich started a Master’s degree in 2020 and will be finishing it soon, because we had to wait for 22 months to finally get her H4-EAD. Dear Reader: make sure your spouse is prepared for the Tom & Jerry episodes of the US immigration before you ask them to move to this country.

While dealing with the wait, Rich found ways to channelize her creativity and energy by Volunteering. She saves lives at a non-profit called San Francisco Suicide prevention, volunteers to coach people on topics of Diversity and Inclusion, and bakes delicious goodies each week.

It’s hard for a power woman like my wife to be told she “Cannot legally work”. This experience taught me a lot about married life.

Crazy Story 5: Getting a National Interest Exemption to get back to the US

In May 2021, Rich and I were in India visiting family. There was a huge Covid surge in India and the US banned people from entering the country from India. India also banned outgoing international flights.

Stuck, I had to figure out a creative way to get back in to the country. In fact I had been building products at Twilio that helped the government do Contact Tracing and Vaccine Distribution. So based on this work, I applied as a person of National interest to be granted an exemption from the ban. The US issued a National Interest Exemption for Rich and me and we had the easiest immigration process in the airport when we landed. I wrote about how you can get a National Interest Exemption in detail here.

Some FAQs

Q1: How to work with the lawyers who are filing your visa petition?

Be involved, be as helpful as possible, organize documents, write long, exact responses to all their questions and be careful of not annoying the lawyers or they’ll cut communications with you. The lawyers work for the company. They get paid by the company. You’re a faceless person to the lawyer. Their goal is to finish off the applications and move as quickly as possible to maximize earnings.

Most managers are concerned with a hundred things. They rely on their HR teams to deals with all the Visa stuff. The HR teams rely on the Global Immigration teams (if there is one). The Immigration folks at a company rely on the outsourced Law Firm that handles all the visa petition. To ALL these people, your visa is just added paperwork that must be completed. BUT — it is generally much more meaningful to you; your career and your stay in the US is dependent on this paperwork being filed correctly, and your visas being in perfect order.

Since it is much more important to you, you’re naturally very sensitive to how seriously people are taking this filing and you can seem annoying based on your persistent emails asking about progress. Which is why most companies don’t allow the employee (the applicant of the visa) to talk to the Lawyers they have hired to file the visa.

In fact, the Company Must pay for the H1-B visa filing costs, it is illegal for them to ask the employee to pay for it. Since lawyers charge a lot, any time they have to spend answering you might cost the company money. Thus, it is normal that for the initial visa filing, you just get a list of docs needed by the lawyers, you send it over to them ASAP and wait to hear whether things got filed and then wait for an approved visa.

But I would highly recommend discussing with your manager how you can help the lawyers. Ask that you simply want to read things and catch any typos before submission. And if there’s an RFE — then you’ve got full reason to get fully involved as I narrated in Crazy Story 2.

Q2: How to deal with RFEs?

Insist nicely and get deeply involved. Most large law-firms treat visa application petitions as if its a McDonald’s order. They just flip the same burger, copy paste your name on the application and submit it. If it gets approved, great, if not you might get a Request for Evidence (RFE). Lawyers treat RFEs with a little more care, but they still don’t care as much as you do. You’ve got to ask for a copy of the visa petition that was submitted on your behalf, a copy of the RFE, and then a copy of any similar RFEs that the lawyers have responded to in the past. You also have to ask for the data on how many of the lawyer’s past dealings with similar RFEs have successfully gotten a visa, and how many failed.

If you get an RFE — it behooves you to reach out to your college buddies, and search online and ask if other people applying for similar jobs have dealt with RFEs too.

If for example, the RFE is asking for proof that your job requires a college degree. Compile a list of 30 people with a similar job title who have your college degree. Then simply send a neatly compiled doc with a table of contents to the lawyer. It might take you 10 hours to do it, you might need to lose a night’s sleep. But do it and send it to the lawyer and ask if they found it useful. If they don’t reply, no problem ask again after a few days if they plan to use any of the research you did or would like you to research any other piece.

If the RFE is asking for proof that your job requires special skills. Then copy your job description and work through each part of your job description and show how you use different courses that you studied in college to do that work.

Q3: How to strategize visa timings, Green Card steps, job offers and other complexities?

If you already have a degree while you’re recruiting, try to get your employer to file for an H1-B by April 1, even if you can’t start working for them till you graduate in May. This might give you two chances instead of one chance on a 12 month OPT.

You have to pick up a sense of what the process is and keep searching till you’ve got a handle on it. Google for flowcharts and the answers you’re seeking and always confirm things with an immigration lawyer.

Q4: Picking a college and choosing between STEM and non-STEM degrees?

Pick the degree that gets you the STEM OPT. the Additional 2 years to apply for the H1-B are remarkably useful. Too many people lose the lottery each year and have to leave the US even though their employers are eager to have them.

The Summary:

You have to get deeply involved. You have to care. You have to constantly educate yourself about the visa options and processes to make sure you can help your lawyers, and navigate these United States of America. They’re United, but you’re officially considered an “Alien” in this land.

Remember how Jerry always won the day — he was creative, and persistent.

All the best for the US visa journey folks. Comment with your own crazy stories. And, if you know someone navigating US visas, you can share this with them.

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