🎉 Today, I am incredibly relieved and excited to announce that I got my O-1A (Individuals with Extraordinary Ability) petition APPROVED and can continue to work in the U.S. on groundbreaking products with some of my favorite co-workers. As an undergraduate student on STEM OPT until a few weeks ago, I did not know that this was possible, and I thought I would be stuck trying to get an H-1B for a very long time. After three years of entering the lottery, this year was my final chance; I was all set to leave the country this Friday!

Yes, it has been a stressful six months filled with overflowing uncertainty and anxiety. Turns out, not getting selected in the H-1B lottery was a blessing in disguise. Getting the O-1A is proof that the U.S. does have space for me — after a lot of hurdles, planning, and 100 pages of paperwork, of course. I will continue to dedicate my work to make meaningful contributions to the U.S. economy. 🇺🇸

I am so thankful for all the people that helped along the way, including the wonderful people who wrote support letters on my behalf: Hadi Partovi, Brandon Bloom, Sidnei Stifelmann, Viraj Mody, Jillian B., Dr. Shivananda Koteshwar, James Reggio, Ray Fortna, Dan Chichester, Todd Heine, Lindsay Watt; the exceptional counsel at Ogletree Deakins; the counsel at Convoy Inc, and everyone else who gave me hope and sent love, support, ideas, and content to support my application. Special thanks to Soundarya Balasubramani 🌱 for pushing me to apply! We did it! Over the next few weeks, I will share how we made this happen and post about my story in more detail. Follow me for updates!

As any non-resident alien who comes to the U.S., I know you have to wait for some post-approval formalities before celebrating, which kept me from sharing this exciting news. The route to immigration freedom is mentally expensive, but we take it one step at a time. :)

#visas #immigration #o1a #h1b #thankyou