Waiting for an Employment-Based Green Card | Hacker News Reader

Waiting for an Employment-Based Green Card

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46 pointsuser_00114 comments

This story is pretty much the same across the board. My application was selected for a random audit which meant that it was stalled for undetermined amount of time. Yep, indeterminate. I had no idea what was gonna happen next or how long I had to wait.

So rather than wait for >10 years for green card, I moved back and did what i always wanted to do - Start a startup. Starting my own company back India is definitely better time spent than twiddling my thumbs and waiting for the green card to come through.

Living back in India is jarring but totally worth the freedom to do what i want.

Actually, as an executive of a company that opens a subsidiary in the states (in case your startup is a success and decide to expand there) you can apply for the L-1A visa which can fast-track you to get the green card (we are talking 6-9 months instead of 8 years).

There are other options available to you as a director/executive, so definitely check with an immigration lawyer if you ever want to go back.

Thanks! Will do.

I guess the main intention of the current US immigration system is to keep the immigration balanced based on origin. Personally I understand that it is unfair and very frustrating for you, but on the other hand to keep America great there needs to be a balanced immigration system to avoid clusterization in the country.

Meanwhile illegal immigrants to the country have been put on a fast track path to citizenship. No diversity rules seem to have been applied there. A simple matter of petty politics?

"keep America great"

"avoid clusterization"

Care to elaborate more on what exactly you mean by those phrases?

It is not clear what is causing more than 18 years delay for this person... I have an relative who came from India on a H1B visa 15 years ago and he brought his family, got a green card through work and after 5 years they all got a US citizenship a long time ago.

Depends on lots of factors, maybe 15 years ago the green card backlog wasn't high or the category under which he would have applied - if EB-1, it is quick as in 6 months, EB-2 - 7 - 8 years (India) etc.

Yeah, 15 years ago it was easy to get a green card. The situation is nothing like that today. India & China have it especially bad because of a lot of applicants and hence long, long waitlists.

If it's changing so much my first instinct would be that I'm not standing in the right lane and look for another one. E.g. aren't you supposed to get a green card if you overcome a certain amount of US local investment? As an experienced businessman maybe that's a better way. Or maybe a politician could grand you a green card if you do enough favours for him (that's how I assume it works in some countries). The most obvious way often is not the right way.

Yes, if you invest at least $1,000,000 and employ more than 10 people for two years you will be eligible to the EB-5 visa. It seems a good way to get a green card if you have the money.

For context, India requires 12 years of lawful residence before naturalization.

Is it an injustice that I have to wait so long to be a citizen of India?

There's a difference between citizenship and permanent residency.

Becoming a permanent resident is mainly about not having to worry about immigration status anymore, but doesn't necessarily give you the same civil rights (namely with voting or running for office).

As far as I can tell permanent residency in India is only available to persons of Indian origin or former citizens of India.

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