Feature

By Ambika Behal and Rupande Mehta

Coming to America: The Real Cost of a Work Permit

In Bollywood movies, everyone gets excited about visas that allow them to emigrate to and work in America. The “going to America” scene is teary and joyful, and later the returnees, already deemed Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) after a few months abroad, are suddenly wealthy and tremendously happy. Then they announce that they will obtain Green Cards soon and will be Americans someday. Yet there is something lacking in that story. The real holders of temporary visas are faceless numbers to the United States government and often have lonely stories to tell.

Temporary professional visas (H-1Bs) allow professionals to take up short-term employment in the United States in various fields—predominantly in engineering, computers and even medicine to a slightly lesser extent. For many foreigners, this visa is a way of gaining valuable work experience, as well as a step towards a Green Card and permanent immigration status sponsored by their employers.

Every year, the United States Immigration and Naturalization Services (INS) sets a quota restriction on the number of H-1Bs issued for domestic companies to employ foreigners who have completed their professional training in the U.S. or abroad. Rohit Sharma, an immigration lawyer from Oklahoma, notes that this year 65,000 H-1B visas were filed in August 2005.

A relatively large number of H-1Bs tend to find their ways into Indian hands. IT professionals have typically made the greatest use of them—and although there are many restrictions on these visas, the real trials are experienced by spouses who arrive with the H-1B holders. They are dependents, existing in their own numerical category: H-4.

“H-4 visa status does not allow the holder to work,” said Sharma, who explains the limited mobility and few civil liberties that are attached to this visa. Although holders can open a bank account, obtain a drivers license and enroll in community college, they are not eligible for a social security number (only a tax identification number) and cannot take up legal employment or attend other institution of higher education.

Sharma points out the difficulties in converting an H-4 visa to an H-1B. Spouses generally hold jobs in smaller towns where there are few opportunities for their partners. Additionally, there is a quota system, which means that the application for the H-1B is only open during part of the year. Ruchita, an M.B.A. degree holder from India, had a career with an advertising company in Mumbai before marrying and moving to Charlotte, North Carolina as an H-4 holder four years ago. While in India, she was told that finding a job in the United States would be easy, but she soon discovered otherwise.

Ruchita completed her Chartered Practicing Accountant (CPA) certification last year and found herself frustrated that she could not work, “I find it unfair,” she said. “A CPA is a kind of certification with value, so special quotas should be allocated to apply for a visa.” Now expecting her first child, she feels that the frustration at not being able to work and advance a career will be side-lined, at least for a little while.

Arriving in California from Madras (Chennai) about a year and a half ago, Laila still finds herself very frustrated. Prior to her marriage to a man with an H-1B for a job in software, Laila worked in a bank in India. Now, Laila misses her home, family, friends and way of life. “I go to the library a lot,” she notes when asked what she does to pass the time. She expects to be here for a few more years, and the thought of returning to India keeps her going. “For my husband’s career in software, India is much better—and raising children will be easier with my family around along with the fact that the education there is better,” she said, adding that she would likely be able to return to work and balance her own career at home.

Laila finds herself so discouraged about being confined to her home in California, that she has considered finding an employer who will hire here even though she is not legally allowed to work in the United States. “I have nothing to do but sit here by myself waiting around for my husband all day,” she said, “but then I get scared because of all the racism problems here, and I decide it is better not to risk taking up an illegal job.”

Small jobs paid in cash are available to those who are desperate to get out of the house and find a less lonely daily routine. In fact, missing her family and friends so much, Aditi finally managed to find a part-time job selling cellular phones from a stall in a local mall. Despite a stellar resume and a former career in public relations, the stall job was her only option for work in the United States. Aditi never felt settled here and her husband decided that returning to India was going to be a better career move; the couple has since returned home.

Ramia Sabherwal, an immigration attorney from India and practicing paralegal in California, said that she has seen a lot of domestic problems stemming from the frustrations of young couples on H-1Bs and H-4s. “There are cases where the husbands, with greater legal residency, threaten wives with a return ticket to India or a call to the immigration police if they don’t sign this postnuptial agreement; there is harassment, there is assault,” said Sabherwal. She also notes that there is added pressure because “families in India also expect women to come to America and take on the burden of a house as well as a career, but the women cannot legally work here.” Those who have family members here already often have an easier time settling down.

A new trend shows many younger couples willing to endure a few years in the United States before returning to India where a booming economy has created widespread opportunities. “Obviously this is on a case-by-case basis,” said Sabherwal, “but for the more recent, younger couples it has become easier to find well-paid work in India and appreciation of work experience in America.” The incentive of returning to an extended family, friends and a career is also a factor in the return-trips. This is a mere add-on to the fact that stringent new laws has made it more difficult to remain in the United States on the H-1B and H-4 visas and even more difficult to get a Green Card for permanent residency.

However, despite all the difficulties, many couples have stayed. Vidya, a Master of Commerce graduate from India, arrived on the H-4 eight years ago and is now a Green Card holder living in Texas. Having completed her CPA while on her H-4 visa, she has managed to set up her own practice. “I am balancing a career and children. You have to develop new habits….It’s a little hard,” she said. According to many H-4 visa holders however, establishing a career like this happens very rarely.

Anu, holder of the F-2 visa as the dependent of an F-1 student visa holder (“the lowest of the low”) has many friends and relatives who are in the United States on H-1B and H-4 visas. Feeling frustrated that she is unable to obtain a social security number and has not been able to pursue a career, she said she understands the position of the H-4 visa holders. “Leaving a career is hard,” she said, “and going from buying three pairs of shoes a month to three a year is difficult. Lack of family support and a social network is difficult to adjust to. We wouldn’t want to raise kids here.” After a year and a half, Anu and her husband are prepared to return home. “Although there are a few good things here, like being able to travel around without thinking so much about it, leaving a career and a certain lifestyle back home is very difficult.”

Complaints about the loneliness and monotony of the American lifestyle abound. Now that the American government is tightening visa permits for foreigners and many H-1B and H-4 visa-holding couples are returning with stories of their own, will fewer come? “America is nice to visit, but India is much better,” said Aditi after returning to an extended network of family and friends in India. But as Sabherwal said, like immigrants from any nation, those who choose to come and stay or leave do so on a case-by-case basis. It often depends on what they have, or don’t have, to return to.

Ambika Behal is a freelance writer based in Washington D.C.
Rupande Mehta is an MBA working as a consultant in New York. She plans to enroll in journalism school at NYU for Fall 2006.

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