{"id":39198,"date":"2025-09-24T14:51:02","date_gmt":"2025-09-24T19:51:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.indianeagle.com\/travelbeats\/?p=39198"},"modified":"2025-09-24T16:04:47","modified_gmt":"2025-09-24T21:04:47","slug":"how-i-got-us-green-card-a-success-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.indianeagle.com\/travelbeats\/how-i-got-us-green-card-a-success-story\/","title":{"rendered":"Finally I Got Green Card and H1B Visa Clock Stopped Ticking; this Indian in USA Shares his 14-year Journey"},"content":{"rendered":"

Many Indians, both students and professionals, travel to the US with cheap flight tickets<\/a><\/span>, two checked bags, dreams, aspirations, and a common goal \u2013 the most coveted Green Card<\/strong>. Their \u2018American Dream is synonymous with achieving lawful permanent residency in the US. But not everyone has good luck with it despite taking calculated steps and offering prayers to visa temples. Over 1 million Indians, a majority being from the employment-based visa categories, are still stuck in the Green Card backlog, as per the USCIS stats.<\/p>\n

However, \u201cthe American Dream \u2013 whatever it truly means \u2013 stays alive,\u201d says Rajavasanth Rajasegar, who recently shared his 14-year-journey from F1 visa to Green Card on LinkedIn intending to rekindle hopes with the underlying message, \u201cThere is delay but no denial\u201d. Like many others, he had had a fair share of uncertainty and anxiety while navigating the US immigration<\/a><\/span> system until the \u201cvisa clock\u201d stopped ticking for him.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"How
PC: Rajavasanth Rajasegar @ LinkedIn<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Rajavasanth Rajasegar, an Assistant Professor at Colorado School of Mines, boarded a flight to Chicago<\/a><\/span> in 2011 with the F1 visa stamp on his dreams<\/strong>. He studied mechanical engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. In the pre-Trump era, his transition from the US student visa to OPT (STEM) to an H-1B visa was smooth and streamlined. There was no looking back after he became a faculty at his alma mater in 2013. \u201cI have been fortunate to have a privileged path,\u201d he wrote in his success story of receiving a US Green Card.<\/p>\n

The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) was like home to him as a graduate research and teaching assistance for almost 8 years<\/strong>. He had a fully-funded tenure at UIUC. Thereafter, he spent five years of postdoctoral research at Sandia National Laboratories, America\u2019s premier DOE science & engineering lab for national security and technology innovation. It broadened his first-hand knowledge of mechanical engineering and helped him get a tenure-track position of assistant professor in the same discipline at Colorado School of Mines in January 2024.<\/p>\n

He credits his alma maters, mentors, and family for their \u201cincredible support\u201d throughout his journey from an F1 visa to becoming a permanent US resident. Despite the smooth transition, he was not immune to usual US visa worries. \u201cThe visa clock always loomed in the background. I still remember asking my manager in FEB 2020 \u2013 Can we start H1B just in case?\u201d he wrote in the LinkedIn post.<\/p>\n

Like HiCounselor CEO Aditya Sharma who got his Green Card faster<\/a><\/span> in the EB1A category, Rajavasanth Rajasegar chose the EB1A path hoping for the best and the worst at the same time. His Green Card petition in the EB1A category (for foreign nationals of extraordinary ability or international acclaims in science, arts, education, business, or athletics) stumbled over few bumps, including a surprise RFE (request for evidence) questioning the merit of his work.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Two years of adjustment, patience, and paperwork for additional documentation supported by his mentors put an end to his wait for Green Card<\/strong>. \u201cFinally, I became a permanent resident. That visa clock does not exist today,\u201d he wrote. He concluded his \u2018Green Card journey\u2019 story from a non-immigrant to an immigrant, wishing \u201cthe American Dream stays alive and accessible for the students and professionals who, like me, come here not just for themselves, but to contribute to the future of USA.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Many Indians, both students and professionals, travel to the US with cheap flight tickets, two checked bags, dreams, aspirations, and a common goal \u2013 the most coveted Green Card. Their \u2018American Dream is synonymous with achieving lawful permanent residency in the US. But not everyone has good luck with it despite taking calculated steps and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":39202,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[368,344],"class_list":{"0":"post-39198","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-features","8":"tag-green-card","9":"tag-immigration"},"aioseo_notices":[],"yoast_head":"\nFinally I Got Green Card and H1B Visa Clock Stopped Ticking; this Indian in USA Shares<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.indianeagle.com\/travelbeats\/how-i-got-us-green-card-a-success-story\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Finally I Got Green Card and H1B Visa Clock Stopped Ticking; this Indian in USA Shares\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Many Indians, both students and professionals, travel to the US with cheap flight tickets, two checked bags, dreams, aspirations, and a common goal \u2013 the most coveted Green Card. 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