For H4 Visa Holders from India, the X Visa All-important

WASHINGTON, DC: For H4 visa holders from India in the United States, the X visa granted by India assumes more importance than the current immigration proposals now being debated on Capitol Hill.

 

Even as the immigration reforms proposals continue to roil on Capitol Hill, with the Senate considering it, and the House expected to bring its own version later this week, for one category of visa holders in this country, there is mounting excitement and frustration, considering from which country of origin he or she is: the H4 visa holders, given to spouses of H1B work visa holders.

 

RELATED STORY: The H4 visa conundrum

For H4 visa holders, who are not allowed to work in this country, and languish for years in that position, it not only affects the financial well- being of the couple as they entrench their roots here and expand, start a family, but takes a toll also emotionally and spiritually on the visa holder. The anguish deepens when H4 visa holders see new students from India graduate from universities here and get jobs, while they themselves may have doctoral degrees from prestigious universities from back home, but are not allowed to work.

 

A lucky few of the H4 visa holders do enroll into universities themselves, and then convert their visa to a F1 student visa, followed by a H1B work visa, but with the lottery system in place this year, it is anybody’s guess as to how many of those valiant enough to have tried to change their status through that route, had to face the terrible luck of finally not getting the H1B visa after not being selected in the lottery process. For them, it would have meant going back on an H4 visa.

 

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Thursday, May 30, 2013 - 12:30am