Indian professionals eye greener pastures amid Green Card delays: Study | Hyderabad News

Hyderabad: The prolonged wait for US green cards is prompting many Indian professionals to consider moving to other countries, including Canada, Australia and destinations closer to India, such as Singapore, reveals a study.According to the study, titled ‘The Green Card Drag: How Highly Skilled Asian Indian Immigrants Experience the US Immigration System’, despite the uncertainty, stress and anxiety associated with their immigration status, most participants did not want to return to India permanently. They said they would consider returning only temporarily, to visit family or go on vacation.

Several interviewees spoke about exploring options outside the US. “I think about moving to Canada. At least there, the green card process is much better, and my employer has an office in Vancouver too. Canada has a point-based immigration system which is a much better and easier path for people to get permanent residence outside the US,” said Srinivas, a systems engineer who was interviewed as part of the study.Akshay, a consultant, said, “If the green card process doesn’t work out, then I would think of moving to Australia.”Similarly, Saagar, a senior consulting engineer, said, “I definitely will be interested in working close to India or somewhere like in Singapore or London in the future, maybe five years from now.”The study said the accounts of interviewees reflected the frustration H-1B visa holders experience with the US immigration system, which could prompt some skilled workers to move to countries with more favourable immigration pathways. Freedom was a key factor, it noted.When asked if they would ever return to India, most participants, both men and women, said they would do so only temporarily, to visit family or go on vacation. They felt their lives in India would be less desirable than their current lives in the US, with fewer job opportunities, lower incomes and a decline in their quality of life.However, the biggest difference they anticipated was the loss of freedom. Both men and women believed they would face more limitations and restrictions in India. While freedom was a major reason for wanting to stay in the US, the freedoms they valued differed. Men wanted greater autonomy at work, while women wanted freedom from gender-based expectations.“What happens is, an engineer [in India doesn’t] have much leeway…to do anything from your side, to touch up anything from your side. Majority of work is like executing and repeating. Here [in the US] you get to decide pretty much everything from scratch about what you want to do and how you want to do. There is a lot of creativity options over here,” said Rajesh, a computer scientist.For women, the freedom to make personal choices without pressure from family and society was more important. Aditi said her family, particularly her extended family in India, placed a lot of pressure on her. “My extended family would want me to be married. I didn’t want to be a part of that kind of discussion and wanted to step out and have a life on my own,” she said.