My visa to green card journey: 7.5 years
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My visa to green card journey: 7.5 years
Most people like me come to the United States on H-1Bs. Those cost 100K now (borne by employer).
I am Singaporean so I always had an alternative (H-1B1). Those are shorter, non-immigrant intent, but much easier to obtain (I don’t know of any qualified Singaporean who has ever been rejected.. other than some Singaporeans born in China who are subject to more scrutiny)
It was not easy to get new jobs on any visa between 2018 and 2024, and it’s even harder now.
In 2024, I switched to an O-1 visa (person of extraordinary ability), and in 2025 I had two green cards approved (EB-1A and EB-2 NIW). I applied for my own EB-1A, that’s the only employment green card you can ‘self-petition’ without an employer.
We arrived in Aug / Sept 2018, and received our physical green cards in March 2026.
Based on friends and family’s experience, I knew in 2018 that I was working with a 10 year timeline to get it done, ideally.
It required that I keep jobs for long enough (being laid off means you have to leave within 60 days, or file for a new visa within that time); have excellent immigration counsel (I always retained my own, separate from any employer-provided attorney, as I wanted someone who had my best interests).
It was 7 years of paperwork, flights back ‘home’, doing everything right, and finally having enough money and executive function to sort it all out.
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My visa to green card journey: 7.5 years
Most people like me come to the United States on H-1Bs. Those cost 100K now (borne by employer).
I am Singaporean so I always had an alternative (H-1B1). Those are shorter, non-immigrant intent, but much easier to obtain (I don’t know of any qualified Singaporean who has ever been rejected.. other than some Singaporeans born in China who are subject to more scrutiny)
It was not easy to get new jobs on any visa between 2018 and 2024, and it’s even harder now.
In 2024, I switched to an O-1 visa (person of extraordinary ability), and in 2025 I had two green cards approved (EB-1A and EB-2 NIW). I applied for my own EB-1A, that’s the only employment green card you can ‘self-petition’ without an employer.
We arrived in Aug / Sept 2018, and received our physical green cards in March 2026.
Based on friends and family’s experience, I knew in 2018 that I was working with a 10 year timeline to get it done, ideally.
It required that I keep jobs for long enough (being laid off means you have to leave within 60 days, or file for a new visa within that time); have excellent immigration counsel (I always retained my own, separate from any employer-provided attorney, as I wanted someone who had my best interests).
It was 7 years of paperwork, flights back ‘home’, doing everything right, and finally having enough money and executive function to sort it all out.
The very libertarian but very pro-immigration Cato Institute says that legal immigration to the U.S. is fundamentally like ‘getting an alcoholic beverage during the Prohibition’. It’s really hard.
There are carve-outs, for family, and specific types of employment. I was lucky to meet the criteria for ‘person of extraordinary ability’. (That paperwork was 6 lbs! I weighed it!)
All international immigration is extremely challenging. This one felt like a boss level. I spent the first five years studying and understanding how to fight it, and by 2024 I felt confident enough to file my own paperwork.
A few years ago, I would not have been able to do this (financially and mentally).
I was driven by the desire to stabilize a shared home for me and my wife, who have different passports. Many things about America do suck, but without America we don’t have a single shared place we can both legally live in. (Are there others potentially? Sure. But this is where we chose to be)
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The very libertarian but very pro-immigration Cato Institute says that legal immigration to the U.S. is fundamentally like ‘getting an alcoholic beverage during the Prohibition’. It’s really hard.
There are carve-outs, for family, and specific types of employment. I was lucky to meet the criteria for ‘person of extraordinary ability’. (That paperwork was 6 lbs! I weighed it!)
All international immigration is extremely challenging. This one felt like a boss level. I spent the first five years studying and understanding how to fight it, and by 2024 I felt confident enough to file my own paperwork.
A few years ago, I would not have been able to do this (financially and mentally).
I was driven by the desire to stabilize a shared home for me and my wife, who have different passports. Many things about America do suck, but without America we don’t have a single shared place we can both legally live in. (Are there others potentially? Sure. But this is where we chose to be)
During this whole time, my spouse was not allowed to work. We knew this going in. We agreed that she would go to college and complete grad school. The timing worked out well. Now that we no longer have any legal job restrictions, she is able to take any job she wants (and there are plenty in her field).
We enjoyed California resident tuition rates for six years of her college and grad school. It worked out to about the same as what I paid for my own education as a citizen of my own country. Far better quality too.
We lived a frugal life on one income: our little apartment in the Tenderloin, transit and walk everywhere. For most of the time, I had work that I liked and enjoyed and that compensated me meaningfully. Some days I felt like it was a struggle, other days it was clear why we chose the struggle.
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During this whole time, my spouse was not allowed to work. We knew this going in. We agreed that she would go to college and complete grad school. The timing worked out well. Now that we no longer have any legal job restrictions, she is able to take any job she wants (and there are plenty in her field).
We enjoyed California resident tuition rates for six years of her college and grad school. It worked out to about the same as what I paid for my own education as a citizen of my own country. Far better quality too.
We lived a frugal life on one income: our little apartment in the Tenderloin, transit and walk everywhere. For most of the time, I had work that I liked and enjoyed and that compensated me meaningfully. Some days I felt like it was a struggle, other days it was clear why we chose the struggle.
I built expertise and a reputation in a very short time. I already had a career before coming here, but coming here accelerated it in ways that I don’t think anywhere else could.
I was made to feel at home from the moment I landed, perhaps a function of (1) geography (2) industry. I was invited to serve at the highest levels of government without being a citizen; I felt valued regardless of my immigration status.
Of course, in learning about the immigration system I also learned about the severe injustice. I spent some time volunteering with queer Chinese asylum seekers who needed language support in immigration court. I learned that the benefits I obtained were hard fought by other Asian immigrants before me: a Chinese immigrant a hundred something years ago is the reason this country has the privilege of birthright citizenship.
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My visa to green card journey: 7.5 years
Most people like me come to the United States on H-1Bs. Those cost 100K now (borne by employer).
I am Singaporean so I always had an alternative (H-1B1). Those are shorter, non-immigrant intent, but much easier to obtain (I don’t know of any qualified Singaporean who has ever been rejected.. other than some Singaporeans born in China who are subject to more scrutiny)
It was not easy to get new jobs on any visa between 2018 and 2024, and it’s even harder now.
In 2024, I switched to an O-1 visa (person of extraordinary ability), and in 2025 I had two green cards approved (EB-1A and EB-2 NIW). I applied for my own EB-1A, that’s the only employment green card you can ‘self-petition’ without an employer.
We arrived in Aug / Sept 2018, and received our physical green cards in March 2026.
Based on friends and family’s experience, I knew in 2018 that I was working with a 10 year timeline to get it done, ideally.
It required that I keep jobs for long enough (being laid off means you have to leave within 60 days, or file for a new visa within that time); have excellent immigration counsel (I always retained my own, separate from any employer-provided attorney, as I wanted someone who had my best interests).
It was 7 years of paperwork, flights back ‘home’, doing everything right, and finally having enough money and executive function to sort it all out.
@skinnylatte@hachyderm.io Congratulations! Your story reminds me of my own journey to a green card back in the early 2000s. I was EB-2, but the process was pretty quick, perhaps because very few Japanese nationals applied for US permanent residency back then. I'd imagine it's much more difficult today...
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I built expertise and a reputation in a very short time. I already had a career before coming here, but coming here accelerated it in ways that I don’t think anywhere else could.
I was made to feel at home from the moment I landed, perhaps a function of (1) geography (2) industry. I was invited to serve at the highest levels of government without being a citizen; I felt valued regardless of my immigration status.
Of course, in learning about the immigration system I also learned about the severe injustice. I spent some time volunteering with queer Chinese asylum seekers who needed language support in immigration court. I learned that the benefits I obtained were hard fought by other Asian immigrants before me: a Chinese immigrant a hundred something years ago is the reason this country has the privilege of birthright citizenship.
Everywhere I went, I noticed how my relatively easy path today was paved by activists before me.
That just a decade and a bit ago, an old lady named Edith sued the government over taxes, and that’s the reason why my wife was able to come here as my wife.
I met so many queer immigrants in their 60s who, when they came here, could not find ways to stay: their American partners could not sponsor them. Now it’s a matter of fact, even if some want to remove it.
I traveled across California in my jobs, and met and saw people and places marked by tragedy. Not just one, not dozens, but hundreds of sites of massacres and ‘suspicious fires’ that wiped out entire communities of Chinese Americans who faced horrible erasure and violence on the west coast.
That even as I feel relatively ‘settled’ here today as part of a group that seems to have some power here in the Bay Area, it wasn’t always that way.
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@skinnylatte@hachyderm.io Congratulations! Your story reminds me of my own journey to a green card back in the early 2000s. I was EB-2, but the process was pretty quick, perhaps because very few Japanese nationals applied for US permanent residency back then. I'd imagine it's much more difficult today...
@daihard EB2 was current for a long time and then slipped for years for rest of world during and after covid. That was my first approach
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Everywhere I went, I noticed how my relatively easy path today was paved by activists before me.
That just a decade and a bit ago, an old lady named Edith sued the government over taxes, and that’s the reason why my wife was able to come here as my wife.
I met so many queer immigrants in their 60s who, when they came here, could not find ways to stay: their American partners could not sponsor them. Now it’s a matter of fact, even if some want to remove it.
I traveled across California in my jobs, and met and saw people and places marked by tragedy. Not just one, not dozens, but hundreds of sites of massacres and ‘suspicious fires’ that wiped out entire communities of Chinese Americans who faced horrible erasure and violence on the west coast.
That even as I feel relatively ‘settled’ here today as part of a group that seems to have some power here in the Bay Area, it wasn’t always that way.
So many things I did not choose, that also happened to me by lottery of birth.
I was born in a small country, that wasn’t India or China or Mexico, so I never realistically had the ‘10-100 year wait’ that others faced.
I have the passport of a rich country, so I was never once asked to show strong ties to my country of origin, or show bank statements, for any of my visas.
I had never been denied a visa.
Being married to someone who had the opposite experience in almost all of those, I was glad to be able to ‘share’ some of my privileges, but also mad to see the disparity and injustice.
In 2022, my visa was approved and hers was not: she couldn’t come home for months. It could have been up to a year or more, they said. They didn’t like that she had a brown name.
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So many things I did not choose, that also happened to me by lottery of birth.
I was born in a small country, that wasn’t India or China or Mexico, so I never realistically had the ‘10-100 year wait’ that others faced.
I have the passport of a rich country, so I was never once asked to show strong ties to my country of origin, or show bank statements, for any of my visas.
I had never been denied a visa.
Being married to someone who had the opposite experience in almost all of those, I was glad to be able to ‘share’ some of my privileges, but also mad to see the disparity and injustice.
In 2022, my visa was approved and hers was not: she couldn’t come home for months. It could have been up to a year or more, they said. They didn’t like that she had a brown name.
Every day on /r/USCIS, people share their hopes and joys: you also get a peek into the lives of people who face severe anxiety and stress. People married to people from other countries who have been separated for untold no of months or years. New changes to immigration policy that are designed to cause chaos and pain, rather than clarity and comfort.
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Every day on /r/USCIS, people share their hopes and joys: you also get a peek into the lives of people who face severe anxiety and stress. People married to people from other countries who have been separated for untold no of months or years. New changes to immigration policy that are designed to cause chaos and pain, rather than clarity and comfort.
There are many, many things wrong with America. But I suppose why I, and 11-15 million immigrants every year (‘legal’), and many more ‘not’, still find our way here is that this country feels like an unfinished story.
And it is one of very few that says to people who were not born here, that you can write whatever you want on it as well. *
* with caveats. And carve-outs.
-
Everywhere I went, I noticed how my relatively easy path today was paved by activists before me.
That just a decade and a bit ago, an old lady named Edith sued the government over taxes, and that’s the reason why my wife was able to come here as my wife.
I met so many queer immigrants in their 60s who, when they came here, could not find ways to stay: their American partners could not sponsor them. Now it’s a matter of fact, even if some want to remove it.
I traveled across California in my jobs, and met and saw people and places marked by tragedy. Not just one, not dozens, but hundreds of sites of massacres and ‘suspicious fires’ that wiped out entire communities of Chinese Americans who faced horrible erasure and violence on the west coast.
That even as I feel relatively ‘settled’ here today as part of a group that seems to have some power here in the Bay Area, it wasn’t always that way.
@skinnylatte Yeah... Californians generally know NOTHING about everything that went on to target, dehumanize, and outright cull its immigrants from Asia, the lynchmobs and riots, the sheer extent of it all, the laws against marriage and immigration, etc. It is as though all public mention stopped at Japanese-American internment camps, and never dared to get more curious, when, if there hadn't been such nonsense, the state would probably be 1/3rd Asian American, if not more so.
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There are many, many things wrong with America. But I suppose why I, and 11-15 million immigrants every year (‘legal’), and many more ‘not’, still find our way here is that this country feels like an unfinished story.
And it is one of very few that says to people who were not born here, that you can write whatever you want on it as well. *
* with caveats. And carve-outs.
@skinnylatte i appreciate you saying this against the backdrop of people saying that the US is, as the youth say, cooked
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There are many, many things wrong with America. But I suppose why I, and 11-15 million immigrants every year (‘legal’), and many more ‘not’, still find our way here is that this country feels like an unfinished story.
And it is one of very few that says to people who were not born here, that you can write whatever you want on it as well. *
* with caveats. And carve-outs.
I actually remember having a conversation with a friend a decade ago. She was also in her ‘just got a green card’ phase. There’s a period before that where it’s best you don’t leave the country.
As someone who was in many countries a week at the time, I asked: was it worth it? She said yes
All through my last year of literally not being able to leave (again, there are carve-outs for emergencies), I asked: is this going to be worth it?
I think that in 2017, when I first met my wife, I couldn’t have imagined what our life together would look like. At the time, it looked like endless cohabitation and visa runs to each other’s countries.
Today, in 2026: I think it was worth it.
It was very difficult, but it was worth it.
She’s about to graduate and become a psychotherapist; she’s had world class training.
I’m about to start another company. Being here, as a permanent resident, will also change the form and shape of the type of company that I’m able to build this time.
Most of all, it is very common for us to see queer people of color in their 60s, 70s and 80s and beyond. It is easy for me to see what type of lives they have built; what is possible for me.
Without coming here, I would have imagined that being an older queer person meant sadness and isolation, not joy and community (and legal recognition).
-
I actually remember having a conversation with a friend a decade ago. She was also in her ‘just got a green card’ phase. There’s a period before that where it’s best you don’t leave the country.
As someone who was in many countries a week at the time, I asked: was it worth it? She said yes
All through my last year of literally not being able to leave (again, there are carve-outs for emergencies), I asked: is this going to be worth it?
I think that in 2017, when I first met my wife, I couldn’t have imagined what our life together would look like. At the time, it looked like endless cohabitation and visa runs to each other’s countries.
Today, in 2026: I think it was worth it.
It was very difficult, but it was worth it.
She’s about to graduate and become a psychotherapist; she’s had world class training.
I’m about to start another company. Being here, as a permanent resident, will also change the form and shape of the type of company that I’m able to build this time.
Most of all, it is very common for us to see queer people of color in their 60s, 70s and 80s and beyond. It is easy for me to see what type of lives they have built; what is possible for me.
Without coming here, I would have imagined that being an older queer person meant sadness and isolation, not joy and community (and legal recognition).
Congratulations, Adrianna
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I actually remember having a conversation with a friend a decade ago. She was also in her ‘just got a green card’ phase. There’s a period before that where it’s best you don’t leave the country.
As someone who was in many countries a week at the time, I asked: was it worth it? She said yes
All through my last year of literally not being able to leave (again, there are carve-outs for emergencies), I asked: is this going to be worth it?
I think that in 2017, when I first met my wife, I couldn’t have imagined what our life together would look like. At the time, it looked like endless cohabitation and visa runs to each other’s countries.
Today, in 2026: I think it was worth it.
It was very difficult, but it was worth it.
She’s about to graduate and become a psychotherapist; she’s had world class training.
I’m about to start another company. Being here, as a permanent resident, will also change the form and shape of the type of company that I’m able to build this time.
Most of all, it is very common for us to see queer people of color in their 60s, 70s and 80s and beyond. It is easy for me to see what type of lives they have built; what is possible for me.
Without coming here, I would have imagined that being an older queer person meant sadness and isolation, not joy and community (and legal recognition).
I have an aunt who moved to New York City 40 years ago and never left. I asked her what she thought about leaving Singapore / coming to NYC.
She said, in Singapore I would have had all of that and in New York I have all of *this*. It’s never the same. But my family is here, so this is where I am. Of course I think of what I left behind but that’s not real, that’s not my actual life. My life is here now.
She told me this in 2012. When I first contemplated moving here (it took me 6 more years to do it)
We’re on the opposite ends of this country. I saw her recently in New York City.
At some point she just said, I like that nobody gets in my business here. I don’t think I can go back to Singapore for that reason.
I laughed, and said, same, auntie
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My visa to green card journey: 7.5 years
Most people like me come to the United States on H-1Bs. Those cost 100K now (borne by employer).
I am Singaporean so I always had an alternative (H-1B1). Those are shorter, non-immigrant intent, but much easier to obtain (I don’t know of any qualified Singaporean who has ever been rejected.. other than some Singaporeans born in China who are subject to more scrutiny)
It was not easy to get new jobs on any visa between 2018 and 2024, and it’s even harder now.
In 2024, I switched to an O-1 visa (person of extraordinary ability), and in 2025 I had two green cards approved (EB-1A and EB-2 NIW). I applied for my own EB-1A, that’s the only employment green card you can ‘self-petition’ without an employer.
We arrived in Aug / Sept 2018, and received our physical green cards in March 2026.
Based on friends and family’s experience, I knew in 2018 that I was working with a 10 year timeline to get it done, ideally.
It required that I keep jobs for long enough (being laid off means you have to leave within 60 days, or file for a new visa within that time); have excellent immigration counsel (I always retained my own, separate from any employer-provided attorney, as I wanted someone who had my best interests).
It was 7 years of paperwork, flights back ‘home’, doing everything right, and finally having enough money and executive function to sort it all out.
@skinnylatte congratulations!
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I have an aunt who moved to New York City 40 years ago and never left. I asked her what she thought about leaving Singapore / coming to NYC.
She said, in Singapore I would have had all of that and in New York I have all of *this*. It’s never the same. But my family is here, so this is where I am. Of course I think of what I left behind but that’s not real, that’s not my actual life. My life is here now.
She told me this in 2012. When I first contemplated moving here (it took me 6 more years to do it)
We’re on the opposite ends of this country. I saw her recently in New York City.
At some point she just said, I like that nobody gets in my business here. I don’t think I can go back to Singapore for that reason.
I laughed, and said, same, auntie
-
My visa to green card journey: 7.5 years
Most people like me come to the United States on H-1Bs. Those cost 100K now (borne by employer).
I am Singaporean so I always had an alternative (H-1B1). Those are shorter, non-immigrant intent, but much easier to obtain (I don’t know of any qualified Singaporean who has ever been rejected.. other than some Singaporeans born in China who are subject to more scrutiny)
It was not easy to get new jobs on any visa between 2018 and 2024, and it’s even harder now.
In 2024, I switched to an O-1 visa (person of extraordinary ability), and in 2025 I had two green cards approved (EB-1A and EB-2 NIW). I applied for my own EB-1A, that’s the only employment green card you can ‘self-petition’ without an employer.
We arrived in Aug / Sept 2018, and received our physical green cards in March 2026.
Based on friends and family’s experience, I knew in 2018 that I was working with a 10 year timeline to get it done, ideally.
It required that I keep jobs for long enough (being laid off means you have to leave within 60 days, or file for a new visa within that time); have excellent immigration counsel (I always retained my own, separate from any employer-provided attorney, as I wanted someone who had my best interests).
It was 7 years of paperwork, flights back ‘home’, doing everything right, and finally having enough money and executive function to sort it all out.
@skinnylatte
Congratulations! 🥳
I’m glad you’re here. 🫂 -
My visa to green card journey: 7.5 years
Most people like me come to the United States on H-1Bs. Those cost 100K now (borne by employer).
I am Singaporean so I always had an alternative (H-1B1). Those are shorter, non-immigrant intent, but much easier to obtain (I don’t know of any qualified Singaporean who has ever been rejected.. other than some Singaporeans born in China who are subject to more scrutiny)
It was not easy to get new jobs on any visa between 2018 and 2024, and it’s even harder now.
In 2024, I switched to an O-1 visa (person of extraordinary ability), and in 2025 I had two green cards approved (EB-1A and EB-2 NIW). I applied for my own EB-1A, that’s the only employment green card you can ‘self-petition’ without an employer.
We arrived in Aug / Sept 2018, and received our physical green cards in March 2026.
Based on friends and family’s experience, I knew in 2018 that I was working with a 10 year timeline to get it done, ideally.
It required that I keep jobs for long enough (being laid off means you have to leave within 60 days, or file for a new visa within that time); have excellent immigration counsel (I always retained my own, separate from any employer-provided attorney, as I wanted someone who had my best interests).
It was 7 years of paperwork, flights back ‘home’, doing everything right, and finally having enough money and executive function to sort it all out.
@skinnylatte Congrats!!! 🎉🎉🎉
7.5 years is such an achievement, too. Our family's permanent residency took closer to that 10 year estimate. It's such a hard system to get through, even with all sorts of privileges.
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I actually remember having a conversation with a friend a decade ago. She was also in her ‘just got a green card’ phase. There’s a period before that where it’s best you don’t leave the country.
As someone who was in many countries a week at the time, I asked: was it worth it? She said yes
All through my last year of literally not being able to leave (again, there are carve-outs for emergencies), I asked: is this going to be worth it?
I think that in 2017, when I first met my wife, I couldn’t have imagined what our life together would look like. At the time, it looked like endless cohabitation and visa runs to each other’s countries.
Today, in 2026: I think it was worth it.
It was very difficult, but it was worth it.
She’s about to graduate and become a psychotherapist; she’s had world class training.
I’m about to start another company. Being here, as a permanent resident, will also change the form and shape of the type of company that I’m able to build this time.
Most of all, it is very common for us to see queer people of color in their 60s, 70s and 80s and beyond. It is easy for me to see what type of lives they have built; what is possible for me.
Without coming here, I would have imagined that being an older queer person meant sadness and isolation, not joy and community (and legal recognition).
@skinnylatte good luck on the new biz!