00:00:22.760 --> 00:00:24.440
[bells solo]

00:00:25.480 --> 00:00:26.640
[drums solo]

00:00:26.640 --> 00:00:28.320
The United States has the worst

00:00:28.320 --> 00:00:30.760
educational system known to science.

00:00:30.760 --> 00:00:33.360
Our graduates compete regularly at the

00:00:33.360 --> 00:00:35.080
level of third world countries.

00:00:35.080 --> 00:00:37.000
How come the scientific establishment of

00:00:37.000 --> 00:00:38.720
the United States doesn't collapse?

00:00:38.720 --> 00:00:41.360
[drums & techno music]
The day that we took two suitcases out

00:00:41.360 --> 00:00:44.440
of our home in Calcutta and boarded that

00:00:44.440 --> 00:00:46.840
flight, it was always a one way flight.

00:00:46.840 --> 00:00:48.480
There is no going back.

00:00:51.200 --> 00:00:54.880
I studied, I got a job, worked so hard so

00:00:54.880 --> 00:00:58.040
that we don't ever have to ask anybody for anything.

00:00:58.040 --> 00:01:00.400
America has a secret weapon.

00:01:00.400 --> 00:01:03.560
[Instrumental Music]
That secret weapon is the H-1B.

00:01:03.560 --> 00:01:05.840
And you know what the H-1B is?

00:01:05.840 --> 00:01:07.760
It's the genius visa.

00:01:19.480 --> 00:01:21.840
People come in with their bright ideas, but

00:01:21.840 --> 00:01:24.160
they are forced to work for somebody else.

00:01:24.160 --> 00:01:26.280
Every time I achieved something,

00:01:26.280 --> 00:01:28.040
was like glass ceiling

00:01:28.080 --> 00:01:30.120
The glass ceiling was always immigration.

00:01:30.440 --> 00:01:32.640
Without the H-1B, the scientific

00:01:32.640 --> 00:01:35.040
establishment of this country would collapse.

00:01:35.040 --> 00:01:36.800
Forget about Google.

00:01:36.800 --> 00:01:38.840
Forget about Silicon Valley.

00:01:47.240 --> 00:01:49.160
Get out of my country.

00:01:49.160 --> 00:01:52.560
No, this is my country, too.

00:01:52.560 --> 00:01:53.760
I'm an American.

00:01:54.480 --> 00:01:56.400
I'm an Indian American.

00:01:56.400 --> 00:01:58.840
I shouldn't be considered an outsider anymore.

00:01:59.680 --> 00:02:01.960
When we start getting comfortable, we

00:02:01.960 --> 00:02:05.200
remind ourselves, you are an Alien.

00:02:08.840 --> 00:02:10.560
We are a nation of immigrants.

00:02:10.560 --> 00:02:16.360
We all understand what this
country has become because talent

00:02:16.360 --> 00:02:19.120
from all around the world
wants to come here.

00:02:19.120 --> 00:02:21.880
People who are willing
to take risks, people who

00:02:21.880 --> 00:02:24.080
want to build on their dreams and make sure

00:02:24.080 --> 00:02:26.760
their kids have even
bigger dreams than they have.

00:02:33.440 --> 00:02:36.520
So this is a photo shoot I had for my arangetram.

00:02:42.240 --> 00:02:44.840
[flute solo]
These are my gurus, my teachers, music

00:02:44.840 --> 00:02:48.120
teachers, and this is my dance guru.

00:02:48.120 --> 00:02:52.240
[instrumental music]
I still pursue both music and dance to this day.

00:02:52.240 --> 00:02:56.040
Yeah, I started music in 2008, officially, but

00:02:56.040 --> 00:02:58.680
my mom was kind of my first teacher.

00:02:58.680 --> 00:03:01.840
Younger cultures need the olden cultures to

00:03:01.840 --> 00:03:04.560
tell them what it is to live

00:03:04.560 --> 00:03:07.440
the concepts to the current day lifestyle.

00:03:07.440 --> 00:03:10.480
It was given to us from
ancients and ancients place

00:03:10.480 --> 00:03:12.280
It was given to us from
ancients and ancients place

00:03:12.280 --> 00:03:15.320
as to how to dress up and wrap yourself.

00:03:15.320 --> 00:03:19.200
And they say all the world starts here, and

00:03:19.200 --> 00:03:21.600
then, you know, it sort of contains, and then

00:03:21.600 --> 00:03:23.960
you have to be able to ascend it up. Yeah.

00:03:23.960 --> 00:03:24.920
So there's nothing wrong.

00:03:24.920 --> 00:03:26.960
I go out this way to Barnes and Noble.

00:03:26.960 --> 00:03:28.840
I go to hospital over the weekends.

00:03:28.840 --> 00:03:31.400
[flute solo]
I tell them, hey, this is me over the weekends.

00:03:31.400 --> 00:03:32.640
And they respect it.

00:03:32.640 --> 00:03:33.760
This is Indian.

00:03:33.760 --> 00:03:35.120
And I think there's nothing wrong to

00:03:35.120 --> 00:03:38.160
be what we are yet contribute.

00:03:39.240 --> 00:03:42.760
That's one of the beauties of being here and

00:03:42.760 --> 00:03:46.120
then also having such a rich cultural heritage.

00:03:46.120 --> 00:03:48.160
Okay, I'm ready.

00:03:48.160 --> 00:03:50.120
I even feel that sometimes these

00:03:50.120 --> 00:03:53.720
arts are taken for granted there.

00:03:53.720 --> 00:03:55.760
[drum solo]

00:03:55.760 --> 00:04:04.800
[ Drums solo ]
[ Lady singing in South Indian language ]

00:04:06.280 --> 00:04:09.920
You can’t be Indian in
your own India these days

00:04:09.920 --> 00:04:11.200
[water splashing]

00:04:11.200 --> 00:04:13.120
There’s a big divide between certain castes

00:04:13.120 --> 00:04:16.360
That actually segregate people

00:04:17.000 --> 00:04:18.800
That is why we moved

00:04:18.800 --> 00:04:20.040
[flute solo]

00:04:20.040 --> 00:04:23.680
[instrumental music]
Would be nice if they all
can continue to stay here.

00:04:23.680 --> 00:04:26.720
Yeah. because I think America
deserves better, you know, for

00:04:26.720 --> 00:04:30.000
all it offers, I think it deserves
better. Right? Yeah.

00:04:30.000 --> 00:04:32.720
We always wish good for this nation.

00:04:33.080 --> 00:04:35.840
[Clapping]

00:04:35.840 --> 00:04:37.920
[Public announcement]
Will you please stand for the Star Spangled

00:04:37.920 --> 00:04:40.840
being performed by Sita Vakkalanka

00:04:41.640 --> 00:04:47.280
O Say, can you see

00:04:49.280 --> 00:04:53.640
By the dawn's early light

00:04:53.640 --> 00:04:57.400
What so proudly we hailed

00:04:59.000 --> 00:05:04.000
At the twilight's last gleaming

00:05:06.480 --> 00:05:12.120
[speaking in Telugu language]
Sasi, will you dilute the Rasam?

00:05:12.960 --> 00:05:14.800
[Inaudible]

00:05:15.240 --> 00:05:17.080
[instrumental music]
Let me tell you about this doctor.

00:05:17.080 --> 00:05:19.720
His name is doctor Bhanu Vakkalanka.

00:05:19.720 --> 00:05:22.360
He sent me a letter and told me his story.

00:05:22.360 --> 00:05:25.760
Dr. Vakkalanka and his wife
came to the United states

00:05:25.760 --> 00:05:29.480
15 years ago in 2005, 15 years ago.

00:05:30.160 --> 00:05:34.240
Unfortunately, Doctor Vakkalanka
and his wife, Doctor Royyuru

00:05:34.240 --> 00:05:37.480
are two of thousands of doctors who are stuck

00:05:37.480 --> 00:05:41.720
in a bureaucratic backlog
called the green card backlog.

00:05:41.720 --> 00:05:46.400
[instrumental music]

00:05:56.200 --> 00:05:58.560
Now, their children, who were five and three

00:05:58.560 --> 00:06:00.800
when they arrived in the United States, are

00:06:00.800 --> 00:06:03.080
20 years old and 18 years old.

00:06:03.080 --> 00:06:05.000
They grew up in this country, but

00:06:05.000 --> 00:06:06.840
they're at the risk of aging out.

00:06:06.840 --> 00:06:10.120
In this bureaucratic system, if they reach the

00:06:10.120 --> 00:06:11.960
age of 21 and have not received a

00:06:11.960 --> 00:06:14.280
green card, they are subject to deportation.

00:06:14.280 --> 00:06:16.440
So I was helping proofread the letter that

00:06:16.440 --> 00:06:18.520
we sent in and I was like, wow,

00:06:18.520 --> 00:06:21.640
this is surprising that I'm aging out.

00:06:21.640 --> 00:06:23.680
I didn't know what aging out meant

00:06:23.680 --> 00:06:25.560
when Dick Durbin was presenting it.

00:06:25.560 --> 00:06:29.800
I was like, oh, aging out is kind of significant because

00:06:29.800 --> 00:06:34.080
I'm no longer like, with
my parents in the same boat.

00:06:34.080 --> 00:06:36.800
I'm like a separate person.

00:06:36.800 --> 00:06:39.720
[instrumental music]
And deportation is a very real possibility.

00:06:41.120 --> 00:06:43.360
She's going to be 21 in August,

00:06:43.360 --> 00:06:45.480
you know, which is four months away.

00:06:45.480 --> 00:06:48.320
But it's like day by day by day agony,

00:06:48.320 --> 00:06:50.840
you know, it's getting there, but not yet there.

00:06:50.840 --> 00:06:53.160
So we are now on that part.

00:06:53.160 --> 00:06:54.360
August 20th.

00:06:54.360 --> 00:06:56.360
She cannot file her application.

00:06:56.360 --> 00:06:57.000
[Filmmaker Speaks]
- Because?

00:06:57.000 --> 00:07:00.200
Because she is 21 plus one day.

00:07:00.440 --> 00:07:04.840
[instrumental music]

00:07:15.040 --> 00:07:16.880
[Filmmaker Speaks]
How justified is it?

00:07:22.160 --> 00:07:23.200
It's not.

00:07:25.640 --> 00:07:29.000
That's where it's frustrating.

00:07:29.120 --> 00:07:32.480
[instrumental music]

00:07:41.480 --> 00:07:42.920
Your hands are tight.

00:07:43.440 --> 00:07:46.400
You know, with God, you can negotiate.

00:07:47.160 --> 00:07:48.720
Can you do that with people?

00:07:48.720 --> 00:07:50.280
[Bells Ringing]

00:08:03.240 --> 00:08:05.760
[Percussion music]
This is my 9th year main interest

00:08:05.760 --> 00:08:09.680
being family medicine with women's health as

00:08:09.680 --> 00:08:11.920
an integrated part of speciality.

00:08:13.840 --> 00:08:18.800
26% of the us nation's family physicians died,

00:08:18.800 --> 00:08:22.440
you know, during this frontline Covid situation.

00:08:22.440 --> 00:08:24.040
[Opening of door]
So being the frontliners, we were

00:08:24.040 --> 00:08:26.160
asked to volunteer in the ER.

00:08:26.160 --> 00:08:28.280
There were days where,
you know, I used to just

00:08:28.280 --> 00:08:30.800
distance myself, you know,
stay away from the kids.

00:08:30.800 --> 00:08:31.400
That was good.

00:08:31.400 --> 00:08:33.920
Yeah, I think we have like 21 patients.
- I know.

00:08:33.920 --> 00:08:34.760
I saw that.

00:08:34.800 --> 00:08:37.200
I saw that. Happy Monday.

00:08:37.200 --> 00:08:38.240
Happy Monday.

00:08:39.960 --> 00:08:42.680
Bhanu is a physician himself
and he has to go into

00:08:42.680 --> 00:08:46.280
the hospital and care and
see the Covid-19 patients too.

00:08:47.600 --> 00:08:51.640
You know, you're walking on a very thin line.

00:08:51.640 --> 00:08:53.640
Both of us are on H-1Bs.

00:08:53.640 --> 00:08:55.640
[Instrumental music]

00:09:52.200 --> 00:09:57.040
When there are lives that are dependent on your

00:09:57.040 --> 00:10:00.040
status, then that was the worry, you know?

00:10:00.040 --> 00:10:02.600
Yes, we could have died, but what will

00:10:02.600 --> 00:10:06.160
happen to the kids.
- Especially during COVID, Amma

00:10:06.160 --> 00:10:09.480
would let us know that if, in case,

00:10:09.480 --> 00:10:13.400
Yeah, if in case anything
happens to me, your status

00:10:13.400 --> 00:10:18.440
is jeopardized and that...
- She did to scare us into

00:10:18.440 --> 00:10:20.600
not going outside of the house, by the way.

00:10:20.600 --> 00:10:25.640
No, I mean, you can't give us anything.

00:10:25.640 --> 00:10:29.880
The bottom line is you're also
responsible, you know, because

00:10:29.880 --> 00:10:33.960
you are our children and
we are doctors who are

00:10:33.960 --> 00:10:36.960
standing and we see 20 patients a day.

00:10:36.960 --> 00:10:39.080
If you get me something, I'm going

00:10:39.080 --> 00:10:41.440
to infect that 20 people every day.

00:10:41.440 --> 00:10:42.960
And that's not right.

00:10:42.960 --> 00:10:45.360
So it's called responsibility.

00:10:46.080 --> 00:10:47.880
[Instrumental Music]
God forbid anything happens.

00:10:47.880 --> 00:10:52.240
But the fact that if something had happened to

00:10:52.240 --> 00:10:58.280
mom, that even if dad was still there, that,

00:10:58.280 --> 00:11:02.480
you know, he couldn't do much at that point

00:11:02.480 --> 00:11:04.800
because we're dependent on her visa.

00:11:04.800 --> 00:11:07.320
It's a brutal system, you know,

00:11:07.320 --> 00:11:09.120
I think it's a blinded system.

00:11:09.120 --> 00:11:12.360
[Instrumental Music]

00:11:15.480 --> 00:11:16.880
When did you guys get to know

00:11:16.880 --> 00:11:18.600
that you are on H4 visas?

00:11:20.120 --> 00:11:23.120
[Instrumental music]
Um, I knew that we weren't
permanent residents.

00:11:23.120 --> 00:11:24.200
Obviously not.

00:11:24.200 --> 00:11:25.680
I thought we were fine.
- Oh, okay.

00:11:25.680 --> 00:11:28.880
Well, I knew that there was
an H because I had heard

00:11:28.880 --> 00:11:31.520
both H-1B and H-4 before, but I didn't know

00:11:31.520 --> 00:11:33.040
which one ours was.

00:11:33.040 --> 00:11:36.280
[Instrumental Music]

00:12:14.320 --> 00:12:16.760
In August before I turn 21,

00:12:16.760 --> 00:12:20.600
In the first two weeks, we're traveling to India to

00:12:20.600 --> 00:12:23.480
start my paperwork for applying for an F-1 visa.

00:12:23.480 --> 00:12:26.720
[Instrumental Music]

00:12:56.640 --> 00:12:59.080
[Light Instrumental Music]
You know, we are blessed to have each other.

00:12:59.080 --> 00:13:01.000
You know, that's the most important thing.

00:13:01.000 --> 00:13:02.360
And it's a wonderful family,

00:13:02.360 --> 00:13:06.360
wonderful support, and good kids. Yeah.

00:13:06.360 --> 00:13:08.600
So they will be good wherever they are.

00:13:08.600 --> 00:13:09.600
You know, they doesn't.

00:13:09.600 --> 00:13:12.720
They don't have to be in America. Yeah.

00:13:12.720 --> 00:13:16.240
But it'll be nice if you can stay closer to mom. Yes.

00:13:16.240 --> 00:13:17.840
She's done a really, really good

00:13:17.840 --> 00:13:20.200
job of, like, guarding me.

00:13:23.520 --> 00:13:25.640
I don't really see her break down.

00:13:27.080 --> 00:13:27.840
Yeah.

00:13:27.840 --> 00:13:30.920
Things will happen the
way that they're supposed to.

00:13:30.920 --> 00:13:34.440
And I'm not worried because, you know,

00:13:34.440 --> 00:13:36.520
my immediate worry is med schools.
- Yep.

00:13:36.520 --> 00:13:38.840
It's tough enough as it is getting into

00:13:38.840 --> 00:13:40.880
medical schools and then to have your, like,

00:13:40.880 --> 00:13:44.680
chances a little bit, you know, lowered.

00:13:44.680 --> 00:13:47.640
In terms of the medical schools in the US, I

00:13:47.640 --> 00:13:51.520
can only apply to 40%,
maybe even less than that.

00:13:51.520 --> 00:13:53.320
Like, I didn't even realize this

00:13:53.320 --> 00:13:54.600
until my dad mentioned it.

00:13:54.600 --> 00:13:58.560
That holds true for residency
programs. And fellowships.

00:13:58.560 --> 00:14:00.680
And so it's like a constant setback.

00:14:01.600 --> 00:14:03.520
I wouldn't say I feel the system has

00:14:03.520 --> 00:14:05.640
betrayed me, but I just feel like it's

00:14:05.640 --> 00:14:09.080
ridiculous that it's not recognized that.

00:14:09.080 --> 00:14:14.520
I mean, I'm part of this country and I'm working

00:14:14.520 --> 00:14:17.480
in order to be a bigger part of this country.

00:14:17.480 --> 00:14:20.680
Like, I'm planning to be a doctor, and that's

00:14:20.680 --> 00:14:23.320
an amazing profession, and I'll be dedicating a lot

00:14:23.320 --> 00:14:27.400
of time and effort to bettering this country.

00:14:27.400 --> 00:14:30.560
It'll be fine. Sita. Yeah.

00:14:31.440 --> 00:14:33.440
You know, there will be some turning points

00:14:33.440 --> 00:14:37.720
in everybody's lives, and I think probably it's

00:14:37.720 --> 00:14:39.760
just coming in as a tester, too, because

00:14:39.760 --> 00:14:44.520
you're very cool, content, you know, happy.

00:14:44.520 --> 00:14:48.240
This is a political, you know, hassle

00:14:48.240 --> 00:14:50.320
that I think immigrants like us have

00:14:50.320 --> 00:14:53.640
to go through despite whatever we do.

00:14:53.640 --> 00:14:56.320
How positively you contribute, it doesn't matter.

00:14:56.320 --> 00:14:59.160
And fellow Americans, you know, sadly recognize

00:14:59.160 --> 00:15:03.920
this, but the political system doesn't.

00:15:03.920 --> 00:15:06.120
The bureaucracy doesn't.

00:15:06.120 --> 00:15:07.240
There's a problem.

00:15:09.920 --> 00:15:12.120
Its a many immigrants' stories, right?

00:15:16.160 --> 00:15:18.480
You want to send your kid
to a medical school, and

00:15:18.480 --> 00:15:22.480
75% of the colleges refuse
to even consider you for an

00:15:22.480 --> 00:15:23.400
admission because you are a
foreign graduate or an alien.

00:15:23.400 --> 00:15:25.840
admission because you are a
foreign graduate or an alien.

00:15:25.840 --> 00:15:27.640
And she is kicked out just because she

00:15:27.640 --> 00:15:29.600
is a foreign graduate despite the fact that

00:15:29.600 --> 00:15:31.760
all her education was in the United States.

00:15:31.760 --> 00:15:32.760
Who is the loser?

00:15:32.760 --> 00:15:34.040
Is it the United States?

00:15:34.040 --> 00:15:35.520
Is the kid the loser?

00:15:35.520 --> 00:15:36.960
Probably both of them.

00:15:37.000 --> 00:15:38.440
[Car Blinkers sound on]

00:15:41.960 --> 00:15:45.920
[Instrumental Music]
This silly backlog of years and
years of going nowhere,

00:15:45.920 --> 00:15:48.800
waiting in the queue and waiting in the queue not

00:15:48.800 --> 00:15:52.120
only with somebody who doesn't
have one fourth of these

00:15:52.120 --> 00:15:56.320
qualifications, but actually being
pushed back in the queue because

00:15:56.320 --> 00:15:58.440
there are other people who came in as a mob

00:15:58.440 --> 00:16:00.880
who are trying to kind of throw you out because

00:16:00.880 --> 00:16:03.640
you are ten people or a
thousand people here who

00:16:03.640 --> 00:16:06.680
legally migrated to the
country who are trying to do

00:16:06.680 --> 00:16:10.320
everything by the rulebook and
who have done everything possible

00:16:10.320 --> 00:16:13.040
in order to be model citizens of this country.

00:16:13.040 --> 00:16:16.000
Any issues with trouble with breathing, chest pain?

00:16:16.000 --> 00:16:18.240
Coughing?
- No coughing.

00:16:18.240 --> 00:16:20.680
Okay, let me take a look at you then.

00:16:21.360 --> 00:16:22.640
Listen to you.

00:16:23.280 --> 00:16:27.320
[Heart beat sound]

00:16:29.800 --> 00:16:31.720
Scans are looking fairly stable.

00:16:32.360 --> 00:16:35.160
And, you know, maybe
there is a small increase in

00:16:35.160 --> 00:16:38.440
the size of your lung mass, but nothing much.

00:16:38.440 --> 00:16:40.560
And your tumor hasn't spread to

00:16:40.560 --> 00:16:42.120
any other parts of your body.

00:16:42.120 --> 00:16:44.320
Let me get you back to see me

00:16:44.320 --> 00:16:46.840
maybe in about a month from now.

00:16:46.840 --> 00:16:48.400
How is family doing?

00:16:48.400 --> 00:16:49.680
My family is doing good.

00:16:49.680 --> 00:16:51.640
Okay, good to hear that.

00:16:51.640 --> 00:16:55.080
I was planning to travel to Africa to see my

00:16:55.080 --> 00:16:56.840
My mom, my dad
- sure.

00:16:56.840 --> 00:17:00.440
My brothers, but I cancelled the trip.
- Oh, yeah.

00:17:00.440 --> 00:17:02.440
Because of the Covid-19.

00:17:02.440 --> 00:17:03.480
Yeah, sure.

00:17:03.480 --> 00:17:05.720
This is a tough year, no question about it.

00:17:06.280 --> 00:17:08.480
But I'm glad that you're able to kind of make

00:17:08.480 --> 00:17:12.560
your way to Africa every
year because, you know,

00:17:12.560 --> 00:17:14.920
I used to do that when I was living in England.

00:17:14.920 --> 00:17:17.360
Every year, me and my wife and my family, all of

00:17:17.360 --> 00:17:21.280
us would be traveling back to India to make the trip.

00:17:21.280 --> 00:17:23.600
And, you know, no matter where you.

00:17:23.600 --> 00:17:27.320
How many years you are here, it always feels

00:17:27.320 --> 00:17:29.320
different going back to
your mother country, right?

00:17:29.320 --> 00:17:31.160
Yes, yes
- Absolutely.

00:17:31.160 --> 00:17:33.680
I'm glad that you're introducing your children

00:17:33.680 --> 00:17:36.520
to their family because they need to

00:17:36.520 --> 00:17:38.600
understand the roots of their culture. Right.

00:17:38.600 --> 00:17:41.840
[Instrumental Music]

00:17:44.200 --> 00:17:46.480
[Instrumental Music]
I was at the University of Iowa hospitals,

00:17:46.480 --> 00:17:49.040
and I was in my final year fellowship.

00:17:49.040 --> 00:17:50.240
And then I go to India.

00:17:50.240 --> 00:17:51.920
When you go there, in order to

00:17:51.920 --> 00:17:55.080
attend the final rites of your parents.

00:17:55.080 --> 00:17:57.400
You have to go through this big line in the

00:17:57.400 --> 00:18:01.640
visa consulate in Hyderabad or
wherever, and they would try

00:18:01.640 --> 00:18:03.840
to kind of look at you and make a determination

00:18:03.840 --> 00:18:05.840
whether you are going to
be the next terrorist who

00:18:05.840 --> 00:18:08.360
is going to plant a bomb on the flight. Right.

00:18:08.360 --> 00:18:11.200
And my visa got stuck for two months.

00:18:11.200 --> 00:18:13.480
My visa was the only visa that was held back.

00:18:13.480 --> 00:18:15.440
I couldn't travel back with the family.

00:18:15.440 --> 00:18:17.520
You keep making phone calls to these visa

00:18:17.520 --> 00:18:21.120
offices and consulates,
and you get completely stonewalled.

00:18:21.120 --> 00:18:22.480
There is no response from there.

00:18:22.480 --> 00:18:24.760
[Instrumental Music]
Ten Years I didn’t go to India

00:18:24.760 --> 00:18:27.560
I hated going to India because I was

00:18:27.560 --> 00:18:29.480
unsure would I be able to come back?

00:18:29.480 --> 00:18:31.360
Would I have to leave my kids and my

00:18:31.360 --> 00:18:34.240
wife back in the United States?

00:18:34.240 --> 00:18:36.160
You know, and my manager,
I still remember, you know, he said,

00:18:36.160 --> 00:18:38.680
you're better off as an
illegal immigrant, you know,

00:18:38.680 --> 00:18:40.800
rather than being a legal immigrant.

00:18:40.800 --> 00:18:42.200
And I said, what do I have to do?

00:18:42.200 --> 00:18:43.280
And he says, yeah, just go

00:18:43.280 --> 00:18:45.520
across Mexico and then come back.
- Sad.

00:18:45.520 --> 00:18:46.600
It's really sad.

00:18:49.320 --> 00:18:52.640
[Chorus Singing]

00:18:52.640 --> 00:18:54.440
A daughter being separated from

00:18:54.440 --> 00:18:56.840
her parents, that's a lot.

00:18:56.840 --> 00:18:58.360
A lot to digest.

00:18:58.360 --> 00:19:00.760
And, I mean, we see it every day, but, you

00:19:00.760 --> 00:19:02.960
know, I never thought
that it could be me who's

00:19:02.960 --> 00:19:05.560
going through that or them
who’s going through that.

00:19:06.160 --> 00:19:13.360
I didn't want to cry again.

00:19:13.360 --> 00:19:15.440
It was to, you know,
ensure that I'm not any more

00:19:15.440 --> 00:19:17.760
stressed than I could be right now.

00:19:17.760 --> 00:19:20.480
I almost feel bad that they had

00:19:20.480 --> 00:19:21.880
to deal with all the stress.

00:19:21.880 --> 00:19:24.520
And now that things are,
you know, getting closer

00:19:24.520 --> 00:19:27.080
to the time that I turn 21, I think

00:19:27.080 --> 00:19:34.240
that everything is starting to feel really real. Yeah.

00:19:34.240 --> 00:19:36.000
[Piano Solo]
See, I'm getting a baby one.

00:19:37.040 --> 00:19:39.000
Sita said she's going to take this.

00:19:39.000 --> 00:19:41.000
I'm going to transplant this, this summer.

00:19:43.440 --> 00:19:45.320
Those are daffodils, but the tulips are,
- Oh

00:19:49.000 --> 00:19:50.360
this is home for me.

00:19:51.000 --> 00:19:52.800
Hopefully in the future, I can come

00:19:52.800 --> 00:19:54.600
back and, you know, live here,

00:19:54.600 --> 00:19:59.000
that's my dream.

00:19:59.000 --> 00:20:02.960
Today, tomorrow, and into the next century.

00:20:03.560 --> 00:20:07.080
Our nation is the enduring
dream of every immigrant.

00:20:07.080 --> 00:20:09.360
Whoever set foot on these shores and

00:20:09.360 --> 00:20:12.640
the millions still struggling to be free.

00:20:12.640 --> 00:20:16.240
This nation, this idea called America, was

00:20:16.240 --> 00:20:19.240
and always will be a new world.

00:20:19.240 --> 00:20:22.040
[Sound of Bells]

00:20:22.040 --> 00:20:25.800
I first started growing herbs, but over time,

00:20:25.800 --> 00:20:30.640
I've really grown fond of house plants.

00:20:30.640 --> 00:20:32.520
And especially during the pandemic.

00:20:33.120 --> 00:20:34.920
I've seen how our houseplants have

00:20:34.920 --> 00:20:37.120
actually benefited from us being home.

00:20:37.640 --> 00:20:40.920
This plant in particular,
actually the fiddle leaf fig

00:20:40.920 --> 00:20:43.320
I used to notice in houses, and I used

00:20:43.320 --> 00:20:45.280
to always see how tall they were.

00:20:45.280 --> 00:20:47.480
And I used to think, if you have a fiddle leaf

00:20:47.480 --> 00:20:50.920
fig, that means you've
lived here for a long time.

00:20:50.920 --> 00:20:54.200
So I've always wondered,
if I had a fiddle leaf fig, would

00:20:54.200 --> 00:20:56.960
it even grow tall enough
while I live in the US?

00:20:56.960 --> 00:20:59.720
Because I don't know how
long I will live in the US.

00:20:59.720 --> 00:21:01.520
So my decision to buy a fiddle

00:21:01.520 --> 00:21:04.560
leaf fig was a leap of faith.

00:21:04.560 --> 00:21:07.200
I'm a community clinical psychologist and

00:21:07.200 --> 00:21:09.040
an Indian immigrant in the US.

00:21:09.040 --> 00:21:10.720
In the green card backlog, my

00:21:10.720 --> 00:21:14.520
specialty was trauma and migration.

00:21:15.120 --> 00:21:17.080
[Light Instrumental Music]
I studied in India.

00:21:17.080 --> 00:21:19.320
I moved in 2007.

00:21:19.320 --> 00:21:20.680
This was the country where I became

00:21:20.680 --> 00:21:21.680
a grown up.

00:21:24.600 --> 00:21:27.480
During COVID times, World Health
Organization has talked about it

00:21:27.480 --> 00:21:29.640
as well, that anxiety and depression are

00:21:29.640 --> 00:21:32.440
the second underlying health issues.

00:21:33.720 --> 00:21:36.320
I was working as a therapist when

00:21:36.320 --> 00:21:39.600
the pandemic related shutdowns just started.

00:21:39.600 --> 00:21:42.240
My visa was up for renewal.

00:21:42.240 --> 00:21:45.800
I submitted my visa renewal paperwork

00:21:45.800 --> 00:21:48.960
in April and September 2020.

00:21:48.960 --> 00:21:51.080
My visa was supposed to run out,

00:21:51.080 --> 00:21:53.040
and so was my work authorization.

00:21:53.040 --> 00:21:55.880
And September 2020 just came and went.

00:21:55.880 --> 00:22:00.240
And it's, in fact, February 2021.

00:22:01.120 --> 00:22:03.080
I still don't have my paperwork.

00:22:03.080 --> 00:22:05.840
So all my colleagues were full.

00:22:05.840 --> 00:22:08.760
Everybody was like, booked, booked, booked.

00:22:08.760 --> 00:22:13.360
And in that period, my clients lost me as

00:22:13.360 --> 00:22:17.920
a therapist, and I lost my right to work.

00:22:18.520 --> 00:22:20.600
I lost my H-4EAD.

00:22:20.960 --> 00:22:25.320
[Instrumental Music]

00:23:09.240 --> 00:23:11.480
[USCIS automated voice message]
Thank you for calling US citizenship

00:23:18.280 --> 00:23:19.960
We are experiencing high call

00:23:19.960 --> 00:23:21.320
volume and long wait times.

00:23:21.320 --> 00:23:23.440
To speak with the representative, please have

00:23:23.440 --> 00:23:26.320
your alien registration number,
receipt number, and

00:23:26.320 --> 00:23:28.360
copies of your paperwork available.

00:23:28.360 --> 00:23:31.200
Please be prepared to write
down important information.

00:23:32.680 --> 00:23:35.520
[USCIS Recorded Music Playing]

00:23:37.040 --> 00:23:40.880
Your wait time for a USCIS specialist is,

00:23:40.880 --> 00:23:45.720
I have spent sometimes half
an hour, sometimes 45 minutes.

00:23:45.720 --> 00:23:48.720
Besides getting an online status that says

00:23:48.720 --> 00:23:51.440
they've received my paperwork,
there's no movement.

00:23:51.440 --> 00:23:53.400
My keys, my phone.

00:23:55.760 --> 00:23:58.840
When I changed to my spousal visa, it

00:23:58.840 --> 00:24:02.120
didn't matter who I was, what I do.

00:24:02.120 --> 00:24:03.640
It's not only you're known as the

00:24:03.640 --> 00:24:05.320
spousal, but you're not supposed to work.

00:24:05.320 --> 00:24:08.080
You're forced into financial dependence.

00:24:08.600 --> 00:24:10.840
I have noticed, at least in my generation, that a

00:24:10.840 --> 00:24:16.040
lot of women work
really hard to not be dependent

00:24:17.280 --> 00:24:19.640
and trying to not be like your parents.

00:24:19.640 --> 00:24:22.000
[Car Leaving]

00:24:23.200 --> 00:24:28.120
[Instrumental Music]

00:24:41.280 --> 00:24:44.000
I think, for me, a lot of pain comes from just.

00:24:44.000 --> 00:24:45.480
I find it hard to say it, but

00:24:45.480 --> 00:24:47.920
the sense of worthlessness that you sometimes.

00:24:49.400 --> 00:24:50.880
You sometimes just experience.

00:24:53.320 --> 00:24:56.280
When we start getting
comfortable, we remind

00:24:56.280 --> 00:25:02.280
ourselves, look, you are an Alien.

00:25:02.280 --> 00:25:03.440
Instrumental Music]
And that's what we're called.

00:25:03.440 --> 00:25:04.640
You're an Alien.

00:25:05.760 --> 00:25:08.840
A friend of mine happened to say, I

00:25:08.840 --> 00:25:11.480
can understand now why so many people in

00:25:11.480 --> 00:25:13.480
the backlog have died of heart attacks.

00:25:13.480 --> 00:25:15.440
Immigration is the first thing I think of in the

00:25:15.440 --> 00:25:17.640
morning and the last thing I think of at night.

00:25:29.400 --> 00:25:31.320
I started having, like, health issues.

00:25:31.320 --> 00:25:33.280
I started having trouble breathing and

00:25:33.280 --> 00:25:34.840
turned out to be anxiety.

00:25:35.440 --> 00:25:37.760
I know mental health, and I

00:25:37.760 --> 00:25:40.040
didn't realize how anxious I was.

00:25:41.600 --> 00:25:43.360
We didn't know this was a gamble.

00:25:44.840 --> 00:25:46.720
[Car Blinkers on]
Would we have done this had we known?

00:25:47.600 --> 00:25:50.440
We did all the amount of paperwork, all the

00:25:50.440 --> 00:25:53.080
hoop jumping that we do
because leaving India and

00:25:53.080 --> 00:25:56.720
coming so far away, you don't do.

00:25:56.720 --> 00:25:58.440
You can't gamble with that.

00:25:58.440 --> 00:26:00.200
You have to do the right things.

00:26:00.960 --> 00:26:03.880
And just to feel like fucking

00:26:03.880 --> 00:26:05.560
none of that mattered.

00:26:05.560 --> 00:26:07.080
None of that mattered.

00:26:07.160 --> 00:26:12.080
[Instrumental Music]

00:26:23.480 --> 00:26:25.760
[Instrumental Music]
You know, that political football, when you are

00:26:25.760 --> 00:26:29.160
the football, it's such a shitty feeling.

00:26:29.160 --> 00:26:32.480
I think what we go through
is absolutely a race issue.

00:26:32.480 --> 00:26:37.600
And this I've been even told by
members of Congress that if I

00:26:37.600 --> 00:26:41.200
was from a European country,
I would not have had to

00:26:41.200 --> 00:26:42.400
fight this hard

00:26:43.080 --> 00:26:46.240
to get my employment authorization renewed.

00:26:46.840 --> 00:26:49.520
It is my people who have to go through this.

00:26:49.520 --> 00:26:51.480
We have received hate.

00:26:51.480 --> 00:26:53.000
Indians are scamsters.

00:26:53.000 --> 00:26:54.880
Indians are coding monkeys.

00:26:54.880 --> 00:26:56.440
Even if I am a coding monkey.

00:26:56.440 --> 00:26:59.120
Excuse me, I get to live here.

00:26:59.120 --> 00:27:02.960
Yeah, so we decided that
we should have a go bag that has

00:27:02.960 --> 00:27:06.520
all the crucial things we
will take in case of a fire.

00:27:06.520 --> 00:27:08.840
And among the first few things
we decided to put

00:27:08.840 --> 00:27:12.640
in there were our, of course,
our immigration documents.

00:27:12.640 --> 00:27:16.520
These are all printouts that we couldn't rest on

00:27:16.520 --> 00:27:17.920
Just digital stuff.

00:27:17.920 --> 00:27:20.080
[Instrumental Music]
If I printed out everything that's digitally, it

00:27:20.080 --> 00:27:22.200
would be, like, three times more than this.

00:27:22.200 --> 00:27:24.120
Friends of ours talk about, like, these

00:27:24.120 --> 00:27:27.120
five pound, 20 pound bags that just

00:27:27.120 --> 00:27:30.200
have all their immigration
documents printed out.

00:27:30.200 --> 00:27:32.000
A few years ago, there was a case of

00:27:32.000 --> 00:27:34.520
an emergency landing,
and the air hostess is heard

00:27:34.520 --> 00:27:36.600
telling people to just run off the plane.

00:27:36.600 --> 00:27:38.800
And there were all these Indian immigrants

00:27:38.800 --> 00:27:41.040
reaching out for their overhead lockers.

00:27:41.040 --> 00:27:42.000
And I think those of us

00:27:42.000 --> 00:27:43.920
who are immigrants were just like

00:27:43.920 --> 00:27:46.720
They were reaching out for
their immigration documents.

00:27:46.720 --> 00:27:49.000
I see that. I hear it.

00:27:52.200 --> 00:27:54.360
when I lived in Baltimore, I was in grad school.

00:27:54.360 --> 00:27:57.040
I don't think we had a
way of dealing with our stress.

00:27:57.040 --> 00:27:59.240
This is one thing I learned in Seattle, herbal tea

00:27:59.240 --> 00:28:03.280
and it helps with stress and anxiety.

00:28:05.240 --> 00:28:07.920
[Instrumental Music]
Now, I'm very intentional about talking about

00:28:07.920 --> 00:28:10.280
the backlog everywhere I go because I

00:28:10.280 --> 00:28:12.000
realize it's not well known.

00:28:12.000 --> 00:28:15.720
It takes a lot of humility to
acknowledge I need help.

00:28:17.440 --> 00:28:19.000
Okay, let's see.

00:28:20.720 --> 00:28:24.800
Episode 30, wellness minutes,
the podcast that invites

00:28:24.800 --> 00:28:27.320
you to pause and take a deep breath.

00:28:29.400 --> 00:28:32.760
Hey, got five minutes?

00:28:32.760 --> 00:28:35.000
Because that's all you need to listen to

00:28:35.000 --> 00:28:38.280
an episode of the Wellness Minutes, a podcast

00:28:38.280 --> 00:28:40.440
designed by a psychologist in the green card

00:28:40.440 --> 00:28:43.480
backlog in the United States,
talking about different

00:28:43.480 --> 00:28:47.400
coping skills

00:28:47.400 --> 00:28:52.640
[Piano Music]
reading the words of JFK, Don't ask
the country what the country can do for you.

00:28:52.640 --> 00:28:55.120
Ask what you can do for your country.

00:28:55.120 --> 00:28:57.160
And I remember, like, the next day, telling

00:28:57.160 --> 00:28:59.160
somebody that, I feel like my community has

00:28:59.160 --> 00:29:01.760
been saying again and again, this is what

00:29:01.760 --> 00:29:02.960
we are willing to do for the country.

00:29:02.960 --> 00:29:05.280
This is what we have been
doing for the country.

00:29:05.280 --> 00:29:09.280
[Piano Music]
And we are told to go
back to where you came from.

00:29:09.280 --> 00:29:12.520
And I'm like, do I not serve this country?

00:29:12.520 --> 00:29:15.360
Am I not one of you?

00:29:18.240 --> 00:29:20.320
You can't know who Kamala Harris is

00:29:20.320 --> 00:29:22.360
without knowing who her mother was.

00:29:22.360 --> 00:29:24.400
Here's what we know about Harris's mother.

00:29:24.400 --> 00:29:27.080
A gifted scientific researcher and activist,

00:29:27.080 --> 00:29:29.560
Shai Mala Goplin Harris immigrated to the

00:29:29.560 --> 00:29:31.080
United States from India.

00:29:31.080 --> 00:29:35.840
So he keeps calling her
Shai Mala Goplin Harris.

00:29:35.840 --> 00:29:37.760
Catch an Indian person on the street and

00:29:37.760 --> 00:29:39.160
ask them, how do you say this name?

00:29:39.160 --> 00:29:43.000
And they would tell you,
Shyamala Gopalan Harris,

00:29:43.000 --> 00:29:46.320
her mother, if she'd
migrated today, Kamala Harris

00:29:46.320 --> 00:29:49.120
would not have been fighting
for vice presidency.

00:29:49.120 --> 00:29:52.000
She would have been
fighting to stay in the country.

00:29:52.600 --> 00:29:56.680
There was definitely a wow, this is historic.

00:29:56.680 --> 00:30:01.240
And also, she was the one
who was the Democrat

00:30:01.240 --> 00:30:05.120
lead sponsor of the bill that
would help Indian immigrants

00:30:05.120 --> 00:30:07.560
like me get out of the green card backlog.

00:30:07.560 --> 00:30:09.520
And that's the bill that died.

00:30:09.520 --> 00:30:12.760
So the thing is that the
death of that bill, closely

00:30:12.760 --> 00:30:17.560
followed by the vice presidency
of its lead co sponsor,

00:30:17.560 --> 00:30:20.880
I think the paradox just
honestly just never leaves me.

00:30:46.800 --> 00:30:51.200
This was my dissertation.

00:30:52.320 --> 00:30:54.800
Yeah, it was about folks who migrated

00:30:54.800 --> 00:30:57.800
from Afghanistan to the US.

00:30:58.720 --> 00:31:01.160
And a lot of things that I

00:31:01.160 --> 00:31:04.520
learned during the study stay with me.

00:31:04.520 --> 00:31:09.880
Especially no matter their citizenship,

00:31:09.880 --> 00:31:11.640
the fear of being asked to leave, never left them.

00:31:11.640 --> 00:31:17.560
Even my long time citizen Afghans would

00:31:17.560 --> 00:31:21.520
just feel like, yeah, I mean, of course

00:31:21.520 --> 00:31:23.960
my paperwork says I'm a citizen. Absolutely.

00:31:23.960 --> 00:31:25.560
And I love this country and all of

00:31:25.560 --> 00:31:28.360
that, but

00:31:28.360 --> 00:31:31.160
paperwork is not belonging.

00:31:32.080 --> 00:31:35.240
[Instrumental Music]
people outside the Indian
community always make it sound like

00:31:35.240 --> 00:31:37.280
the Indian immigrants are safe.

00:31:37.280 --> 00:31:38.920
You know, they have their visas,

00:31:38.920 --> 00:31:40.640
they have such good jobs.

00:31:40.640 --> 00:31:44.480
People forget that we
all don't live in Silicon Valley.

00:31:44.480 --> 00:31:47.840
A lot of us actually have
a very hard time financially.

00:31:47.840 --> 00:31:50.840
Like, we don't inspire

00:31:50.840 --> 00:31:56.040
pity because we seem
to be doing well for ourselves.

00:31:56.040 --> 00:31:59.080
When you think immigrants deserve equality only

00:31:59.080 --> 00:32:01.240
because you can feel sorry for them,

00:32:01.240 --> 00:32:05.160
I think that's offensive to all immigrants.

00:32:05.160 --> 00:32:07.320
No, I think all of us deserve dignity.

00:32:07.320 --> 00:32:10.160
Whether we've escaped war,
whether we've escaped poverty,

00:32:10.160 --> 00:32:13.400
or whether we haven't, we deserve equality.

00:32:14.040 --> 00:32:16.680
These earrings were a gift from a

00:32:16.680 --> 00:32:19.960
tribe I had the honor of serving.

00:32:19.960 --> 00:32:22.040
The earrings, I think, always remind me that

00:32:22.040 --> 00:32:25.200
this land and the people who served it,

00:32:25.200 --> 00:32:27.920
they love me, and this land loves me.

00:32:27.920 --> 00:32:32.280
So, citizenship notwithstanding,
I'm here to serve.

00:32:34.360 --> 00:32:37.520
Those who can contribute most to this country,

00:32:37.520 --> 00:32:41.080
To its growth, to its strength, to its spirit, will

00:32:41.080 --> 00:32:43.400
be the first that are admitted to this land.

00:32:44.000 --> 00:32:48.920
[Instrumental Music]

00:32:49.560 --> 00:32:50.880
I don't think a lot of

00:32:50.880 --> 00:32:53.120
people know what they're getting into.

00:32:53.120 --> 00:32:55.000
There's a glamour of coming to the US, and

00:32:55.000 --> 00:32:58.160
I think there's this idea of a life that

00:32:58.160 --> 00:33:01.000
is free from everything
that ties you down in India.

00:33:01.000 --> 00:33:03.280
We have been approved

00:33:03.280 --> 00:33:05.880
for green cards since 2010.

00:33:05.880 --> 00:33:08.480
We have not yet received our green cards.

00:33:08.480 --> 00:33:09.880
We are in backlog.

00:33:14.400 --> 00:33:16.040
It's not because we committed a crime.

00:33:16.040 --> 00:33:19.120
It's because American immigration system

00:33:19.120 --> 00:33:20.400
is so screwed up.

00:33:20.400 --> 00:33:22.720
Almost all of us are
more than 10 years here.

00:33:22.720 --> 00:33:25.240
This December is going to
be 15 years for us.

00:33:25.360 --> 00:33:28.040
15 years we have been in this country legally,

00:33:28.040 --> 00:33:32.560
paying taxes,
doing high skill job, teaching students,

00:33:32.560 --> 00:33:35.640
jumping through hoops.
- jumping through all the legal hoops.

00:33:35.640 --> 00:33:36.960
And then what happens?

00:33:37.000 --> 00:33:38.800
We have to sit in the line
wondering when our

00:33:38.800 --> 00:33:40.400
visa number is going to come.

00:33:41.240 --> 00:33:43.400
I want to launch a startup that can

00:33:43.400 --> 00:33:48.320
look at rare cancers in people's DNA.

00:33:48.320 --> 00:33:49.560
One of the first questions that come

00:33:49.560 --> 00:33:51.000
up is, what's your visa status?

00:33:52.520 --> 00:33:54.760
They're not going to put their
money into somebody who might be

00:33:54.760 --> 00:33:58.680
forced to leave in a few months or a few years.

00:33:58.680 --> 00:33:59.880
You know, who suffers?

00:34:01.040 --> 00:34:02.880
The person who has cancer.

00:34:03.480 --> 00:34:06.760
My specialization is in
cancer immunotherapy, and

00:34:06.760 --> 00:34:09.080
cancer immunotherapy is now the only way

00:34:09.080 --> 00:34:11.800
to move forward to treat cancers.

00:34:11.800 --> 00:34:13.760
I would like to launch my own company

00:34:13.760 --> 00:34:16.400
So that we can develop this technology further

00:34:16.400 --> 00:34:18.640
and take it back to the patients.

00:34:18.680 --> 00:34:20.760
It takes an incredibly long amount of time,

00:34:20.760 --> 00:34:22.640
especially in the biological sciences, to get a

00:34:22.640 --> 00:34:27.080
project from conception to a final product.

00:34:27.720 --> 00:34:31.560
People spend tens of millions
of dollars, if not hundreds

00:34:31.560 --> 00:34:33.800
of millions of dollars, if they're going to put in

00:34:33.800 --> 00:34:37.160
that kind of money,
they need to have the assurance

00:34:37.200 --> 00:34:40.320
that the person that they're
putting the money into is

00:34:40.320 --> 00:34:41.800
in it for the long haul.

00:34:43.160 --> 00:34:44.600
I have no problems making the

00:34:44.640 --> 00:34:46.200
commitment for the long haul.

00:34:46.200 --> 00:34:47.960
My status won't allow me.

00:34:47.960 --> 00:34:49.880
You cannot take promotion because as soon as

00:34:49.880 --> 00:34:51.600
you take a promotion...
- Your profile changes.

00:34:51.600 --> 00:34:53.080
Your job profile changes.

00:34:53.360 --> 00:34:55.040
You have to file your green card again.

00:34:55.040 --> 00:34:56.360
Like what am I doing?

00:34:56.360 --> 00:34:58.120
So I have to stay in the same job.

00:34:58.120 --> 00:34:59.400
That's what I've been doing.

00:34:59.400 --> 00:35:01.600
She worked without a promotion for ten years.

00:35:01.600 --> 00:35:03.640
And you know who that hurts down the line?

00:35:03.640 --> 00:35:05.640
Graduates coming out of school and they don't

00:35:05.640 --> 00:35:08.040
have jobs because people like us are stuck.

00:35:08.040 --> 00:35:10.760
We would love to move ahead and
- They would not let

00:35:10.760 --> 00:35:15.280
us move ahead because
we are doing the same job

00:35:15.280 --> 00:35:20.000
at one fourth the price and they are keeping us,

00:35:20.000 --> 00:35:22.480
She is there in one job for ten years.

00:35:22.480 --> 00:35:26.240
Ten years in one position
in one salary for ten years.

00:35:26.240 --> 00:35:28.360
And the corporates love that.

00:35:28.360 --> 00:35:29.960
Corporates love that because their

00:35:29.960 --> 00:35:31.640
shareholder money is increasing.

00:35:31.640 --> 00:35:33.920
And that is why they are lobbying.

00:35:33.920 --> 00:35:35.520
They are lobbying the government...

00:35:35.520 --> 00:35:38.120
They are lobbying the government for...
- More H-1s

00:35:38.120 --> 00:35:40.240
for more H-1s, for more H-1s.

00:35:40.240 --> 00:35:42.200
Never for more, but never for green cards.

00:35:42.200 --> 00:35:44.960
They don't want the
green cards to happen so that

00:35:44.960 --> 00:35:47.080
people like me can get the green card and start

00:35:47.080 --> 00:35:49.600
my own company and take that money away.

00:35:49.600 --> 00:35:51.800
So they want me to go and work

00:35:51.800 --> 00:35:55.200
for them under H-1B visa, forever my

00:35:55.200 --> 00:35:58.720
life and give away my
intellectual property to them

00:35:58.720 --> 00:36:03.640
[Instrumental Music]

00:36:14.000 --> 00:36:17.760
you're like the mistress,

00:36:17.760 --> 00:36:20.200
So here's money. Shut up and don't ask for more.
- Exactly.

00:36:20.200 --> 00:36:22.080
And those guys who are saying that we are

00:36:22.080 --> 00:36:24.240
taking away American jobs.
- we don't want to.

00:36:24.240 --> 00:36:25.560
We don't want to.

00:36:25.560 --> 00:36:26.920
They know very well we are

00:36:26.920 --> 00:36:28.280
not taking away American jobs.

00:36:28.280 --> 00:36:29.440
They don't want to talk.

00:36:29.440 --> 00:36:30.680
Because again, guess what?

00:36:30.680 --> 00:36:31.920
Because they are getting paid by

00:36:31.920 --> 00:36:34.440
the same corporates to maintain this.

00:36:34.440 --> 00:36:35.440
And why is it a lottery?

00:36:35.440 --> 00:36:36.920
How does that determine that we're getting the

00:36:36.920 --> 00:36:38.440
best and the brightest if it's just a

00:36:38.440 --> 00:36:40.640
random lottery, how does that determine?

00:36:40.640 --> 00:36:42.920
Why is it a lottery? Not even a lottery,

00:36:42.920 --> 00:36:45.200
Why is it attached to the job?

00:36:45.200 --> 00:36:47.040
Why it is attached to the company?

00:36:47.040 --> 00:36:49.200
Why it is not attached to the person?

00:36:49.200 --> 00:36:51.520
It is an absolutely a human rights issue.

00:36:51.520 --> 00:36:55.160
You are bringing in foreigners as a commodity.

00:36:55.160 --> 00:36:56.840
You are treating people as a commodity.

00:36:56.840 --> 00:37:01.760
[Instrumental Music]

00:37:12.560 --> 00:37:13.720
When I first met him, I'm like,

00:37:13.720 --> 00:37:16.000
hmm, I think I like him.

00:37:16.560 --> 00:37:18.080
[Instrumental Music]
Something clicked.

00:37:18.080 --> 00:37:20.680
My sense of humor is really weird.

00:37:20.680 --> 00:37:22.080
She clicked with that.

00:37:24.240 --> 00:37:26.080
He was clearly smart.

00:37:27.000 --> 00:37:28.880
She was smart, she was witty.

00:37:28.880 --> 00:37:30.840
We could talk, he listens.

00:37:31.960 --> 00:37:33.760
He does not talk over me.

00:37:33.760 --> 00:37:35.520
My opinions have value for him.

00:37:35.520 --> 00:37:37.560
And she is a trained chef.

00:37:37.560 --> 00:37:39.720
Normally I'd be telling him, stop eating.

00:37:39.720 --> 00:37:41.600
I am too hungry to talk.

00:37:41.600 --> 00:37:43.520
I love to eat. She loves to cook.

00:37:43.520 --> 00:37:45.000
What can be better than that?

00:37:45.760 --> 00:37:46.960
Got married.

00:37:48.320 --> 00:37:52.080
We actually came here in December of 2002.

00:37:52.080 --> 00:37:54.320
We came from big city of Calcutta, which is

00:37:54.320 --> 00:37:56.400
one of the busiest cities of the world.

00:37:56.400 --> 00:37:59.800
[Traffic Noise]

00:37:59.800 --> 00:38:04.320
[Instrumental Music]

00:38:04.320 --> 00:38:06.160
We reached Louisville, Kentucky.

00:38:06.160 --> 00:38:08.360
It was a culture shock for me.

00:38:08.360 --> 00:38:10.160
What happened to the people?

00:38:10.160 --> 00:38:12.560
It's like empty street, empty building.

00:38:13.680 --> 00:38:15.080
Both of us were on H-1,

00:38:15.080 --> 00:38:16.120
we worked for H-1.

00:38:16.120 --> 00:38:18.440
It was a great place to get a foothold.

00:38:18.440 --> 00:38:22.600
Then Sadhak decided he
wanted to move on to an H-1B.

00:38:22.600 --> 00:38:25.360
So I was not going to be an H-4 wife.

00:38:25.520 --> 00:38:30.440
[Instrumental Music]

00:38:59.920 --> 00:39:02.040
Doing something productive
outside of the house

00:39:02.040 --> 00:39:03.560
is part of who I am.

00:39:04.320 --> 00:39:06.280
I cannot not work.

00:39:06.280 --> 00:39:10.000
I get depressed

00:39:10.000 --> 00:39:14.680
between the end of 2014 and the middle of 2016

00:39:14.680 --> 00:39:15.800
I couldn't work.

00:39:16.480 --> 00:39:17.440
It was horrible.

00:39:17.440 --> 00:39:21.280
But I think this home kind
of pulled me through it.

00:39:21.280 --> 00:39:23.840
I avoided the getting depressed and being sad

00:39:23.840 --> 00:39:26.600
and being miserable because of this home.

00:39:27.240 --> 00:39:28.400
It brings me peace.

00:39:28.400 --> 00:39:29.680
It cheers me up.

00:39:31.560 --> 00:39:32.680
This is home.

00:39:32.680 --> 00:39:34.560
Our son is growing up over here.

00:39:34.560 --> 00:39:36.840
I was honestly horrified when they put it on.

00:39:36.840 --> 00:39:38.280
You were horrified?

00:39:38.280 --> 00:39:40.320
What's so horrifying about a t shirt?

00:39:43.000 --> 00:39:46.600
They think you were wearing the enemy colors?
- World has come to an end.

00:39:46.600 --> 00:39:49.960
A lot of people think that race is a big deal.

00:39:49.960 --> 00:39:51.480
We frankly haven't felt that in

00:39:51.480 --> 00:39:52.600
this part of the country.

00:39:53.400 --> 00:39:56.200
In India, despite being surrounded by relatives

00:39:56.200 --> 00:39:58.880
and old friends, it's not home anymore.

00:39:58.880 --> 00:39:59.880
This is home.

00:40:02.040 --> 00:40:05.000
I became a junior faculty at Boston University.

00:40:05.760 --> 00:40:07.720
And from Boston University, I became a

00:40:07.720 --> 00:40:10.720
full faculty at Brown University in 2016.

00:40:10.720 --> 00:40:12.400
And now I have my own lab.

00:40:12.400 --> 00:40:13.680
I am federally funded.

00:40:13.680 --> 00:40:15.040
I am funded by NIH.

00:40:15.040 --> 00:40:17.480
I am funded by Department of Defense.

00:40:17.600 --> 00:40:20.040
Now I'm an EB-2, NIW.

00:40:20.040 --> 00:40:24.960
[Instrumental Music]

00:41:04.240 --> 00:41:10.040
I got approved in NIW before
the second EB-1 denial.

00:41:10.040 --> 00:41:14.960
[Instrumental Music]

00:41:26.840 --> 00:41:29.200
National interest waiver is as tough as getting

00:41:29.200 --> 00:41:31.320
an EB-1 B it is the same process,

00:41:31.320 --> 00:41:34.160
same kind of letters, this thick file.

00:41:34.160 --> 00:41:37.360
So when I had got an NIW, why did

00:41:37.360 --> 00:41:39.240
they not give me the EB-1B?

00:41:39.240 --> 00:41:41.040
It is exactly the same process.

00:41:41.040 --> 00:41:45.960
[Instrumental Music]

00:42:12.280 --> 00:42:13.760
I am trying to work and I am

00:42:13.760 --> 00:42:15.320
trying to give it back to the country.

00:42:15.320 --> 00:42:16.640
Its always in the back of my

00:42:16.640 --> 00:42:18.760
mind that immigration issue is lingering.

00:42:18.760 --> 00:42:21.080
Why it needs to be so complicated?

00:42:21.280 --> 00:42:23.440
The immigration issue
is that country cap

00:42:23.440 --> 00:42:24.880
is that seven percent country cap

00:42:25.000 --> 00:42:26.280
to make everyone fair.

00:42:26.280 --> 00:42:28.440
But it was not to make everyone fair.

00:42:28.440 --> 00:42:31.280
It was made to make
certain people not to come.

00:42:31.280 --> 00:42:32.680
Not everybody suffers.

00:42:32.680 --> 00:42:35.120
It is just people from India, China,

00:42:35.120 --> 00:42:40.240
maybe the Philippines sometimes.
I mean, is that not discriminatory?

00:42:40.240 --> 00:42:45.160
[Instrumental Music]

00:43:32.720 --> 00:43:36.280
1.5 million people are
waiting for the 7% country cap.

00:43:36.280 --> 00:43:39.520
While there are other
countries that are not using

00:43:39.520 --> 00:43:41.920
their country cap, and those are going to waste.

00:43:41.920 --> 00:43:43.360
[Instrumental Music]
So we don't even know that the

00:43:43.360 --> 00:43:44.760
number of visas that are allotted to

00:43:44.760 --> 00:43:46.640
India are actually getting allotted every year.

00:43:46.640 --> 00:43:47.640
We don't know that.

00:43:50.840 --> 00:43:51.840
Here's your letter.

00:43:52.000 --> 00:43:53.000
Muddy shoes off

00:43:53.000 --> 00:43:56.800
He's exposed to it. He knows.
He listens everything. He asks questions.

00:43:57.560 --> 00:43:59.240
He had written a letter to President Obama

00:43:59.240 --> 00:44:01.840
and Obama actually replied him back.

00:44:01.840 --> 00:44:03.320
Why did you write the letter?

00:44:03.840 --> 00:44:09.840
Because...
- I was annoyed about the fact that

00:44:09.840 --> 00:44:12.160
my friend's mom didn't get to come back

00:44:12.160 --> 00:44:14.360
to America after they visited India.

00:44:17.520 --> 00:44:19.400
Each day I hear from young people who

00:44:19.400 --> 00:44:22.640
are concerned about our
nation's broken immigration system.

00:44:22.640 --> 00:44:24.280
I appreciate that you took the time

00:44:24.280 --> 00:44:25.880
to share your thoughts with me.

00:44:25.880 --> 00:44:27.480
Immigration has always been a

00:44:27.480 --> 00:44:28.920
part of our country's story.

00:44:28.920 --> 00:44:31.160
And together as a nation of immigrants, we

00:44:31.160 --> 00:44:34.000
have made America the
greatest economy on earth.

00:44:34.000 --> 00:44:35.880
Today, our immigration system no longer

00:44:35.880 --> 00:44:37.040
works the way it should.

00:44:38.160 --> 00:44:39.920
You know, it's very easy to demonize

00:44:39.920 --> 00:44:42.120
[Instrumental Music]
people saying they're taking away jobs.

00:44:42.120 --> 00:44:46.000
Really? we make these
tremendous sacrifices.

00:44:47.080 --> 00:44:49.200
I hear about American values all the time.

00:44:49.200 --> 00:44:52.040
Well, it should be applied to this situation.

00:44:52.040 --> 00:44:54.160
Also, people who are already here, they

00:44:54.160 --> 00:44:56.000
are trying for Canada immigration,

00:44:56.400 --> 00:44:58.000
myself included

00:45:01.000 --> 00:45:03.400
it is taken for granted that,

00:45:03.400 --> 00:45:05.240
you know, these guys are
not going to go anywhere

00:45:05.240 --> 00:45:08.160
if you bring them over here and
it's like, like kind of

00:45:08.160 --> 00:45:10.120
And you pay them whatever you want and

00:45:10.120 --> 00:45:12.120
you give and you give them the thing

00:45:12.120 --> 00:45:16.120
of carrot hanging, of becoming
an American citizen.

00:45:16.120 --> 00:45:19.000
Thankfully, these people now
realizing that it's never going

00:45:19.000 --> 00:45:20.800
to happen and there is a huge reduction.

00:45:20.800 --> 00:45:23.120
People do not want to come to the US anymore.

00:45:23.120 --> 00:45:25.120
A lot of people are moving to Canada

00:45:25.120 --> 00:45:29.000
but keeping their jobs here

00:45:29.000 --> 00:45:31.400
working remotely.

00:45:31.400 --> 00:45:33.560
So they're still,

00:45:34.200 --> 00:45:35.640
They're still working for US company

00:45:35.640 --> 00:45:37.080
but not paying US taxes.

00:45:38.480 --> 00:45:39.640
I mean, it's boneheaded.

00:45:39.640 --> 00:45:40.800
It's just stupid.

00:45:43.000 --> 00:45:48.160
Asking the question that why am I here
if other countries are really welcoming?

00:45:48.160 --> 00:45:51.400
I have no idea how long this
circus is going to go on.

00:45:51.400 --> 00:45:53.080
There is no way I can bring my

00:45:53.080 --> 00:45:55.600
parents here to take care of them. In America,

00:45:55.600 --> 00:45:57.560
It's not even possible. Right?

00:45:58.080 --> 00:46:01.040
When was the last time you
visited your home country?

00:46:01.040 --> 00:46:03.880
2012.
- 5 Years?

00:46:04.720 --> 00:46:06.600
Yeah.
- Have they been able to visit you?

00:46:06.600 --> 00:46:08.320
My parents, no.

00:46:10.200 --> 00:46:11.680
Back home, my parents are old.

00:46:11.680 --> 00:46:13.080
My dad is 83 years old.

00:46:13.080 --> 00:46:16.240
[Instrumental Music]
My mom is like almost 78 years old.

00:46:16.240 --> 00:46:19.280
I cannot go because nobody knows if my H-1B

00:46:19.280 --> 00:46:21.520
is going to get stamped because we are hearing

00:46:21.520 --> 00:46:24.600
stories all the time that they are
throwing away applications,H-1B.

00:46:25.080 --> 00:46:26.400
I cannot go home.

00:46:27.000 --> 00:46:29.920
This is my great grandmother's Banarasi
(saree made in Varanasi, India)

00:46:29.920 --> 00:46:32.320
that has been passed on to me.

00:46:32.320 --> 00:46:35.480
My mother wore it for her

00:46:35.600 --> 00:46:37.440
We call it 'Ashirwad'.

00:46:37.560 --> 00:46:40.080
My mother wore it for
her Ashirwad. I wore it for mine.

00:46:40.960 --> 00:46:42.240
I believe my grandmother wore it.

00:46:42.240 --> 00:46:43.800
I'm not quite sure.

00:46:43.800 --> 00:46:47.000
In 2011, you lost your mom, and,

00:46:47.520 --> 00:46:49.080
[Instrumental Music]
I couldn't go.

00:46:56.440 --> 00:46:58.000
Cut
- Sorry.

00:46:58.360 --> 00:46:59.440
[Instrumental Music]

00:46:59.440 --> 00:47:03.480
It was essentially making a
choice between did I want

00:47:03.480 --> 00:47:07.840
to risk traveling to India to be with my brother

00:47:07.840 --> 00:47:12.440
and my father and risking
not being able to come

00:47:12.440 --> 00:47:14.000
back in

00:47:15.000 --> 00:47:21.760
or make the choice to stay and
not go and be with my husband and my son.

00:47:23.400 --> 00:47:26.240
Indications were that if I left,
the only way I would

00:47:26.240 --> 00:47:28.600
be able to come back would be on an H-4.

00:47:28.600 --> 00:47:30.600
I would not be able to work.
And at that point in time,

00:47:30.600 --> 00:47:33.000
that was a financial consideration, right?

00:47:33.600 --> 00:47:36.080
So I couldn't make that trip.

00:47:36.080 --> 00:47:37.600
I had to make that choice.

00:47:37.600 --> 00:47:40.160
And I hope nobody ever has to

00:47:40.160 --> 00:47:41.600
make a choice like that again.

00:47:42.440 --> 00:47:44.920
This is what the Immigrant life is.

00:47:46.280 --> 00:47:47.600
Thanks to each wave of new

00:47:47.600 --> 00:47:49.960
arrivals to this land of opportunity.

00:47:49.960 --> 00:47:53.480
We're a nation forever young,
forever bursting with energy

00:47:53.480 --> 00:47:57.000
and new ideas, and always on the cutting edge,

00:47:57.000 --> 00:47:59.320
always leading the world to the next frontier.

00:48:00.040 --> 00:48:03.360
This quality is vital to our future as a nation.

00:48:03.360 --> 00:48:06.600
If we ever closed the door to new Americans,

00:48:06.600 --> 00:48:09.160
our leadership in the world would soon be lost.

00:48:09.360 --> 00:48:14.280
[Instrumental Music]

00:48:24.760 --> 00:48:26.040
What's the reaction at home?

00:48:26.040 --> 00:48:27.560
What do they think of
somebody that leaves home

00:48:27.560 --> 00:48:30.160
[Instrumental Music]
to go, you know, for a bigger horizon?

00:48:30.160 --> 00:48:31.160
It's so weird.

00:48:31.160 --> 00:48:34.640
The people who don't leave are like,

00:48:34.640 --> 00:48:37.000
oh, these guys are betraying their country.

00:48:37.000 --> 00:48:40.120
[Instrumental Music]
But it's also a question of opportunity.

00:48:40.120 --> 00:48:42.360
It's like, if somebody does get the

00:48:42.360 --> 00:48:45.520
opportunity to leave, they will leave.

00:48:47.520 --> 00:48:49.880
We didn't have enough money for food.

00:48:51.560 --> 00:48:54.520
When you're applying for a
visa to come to the US,

00:48:54.520 --> 00:48:56.080
how do you show that you have

00:48:56.080 --> 00:48:58.160
enough financial funds to even get here? Right?

00:48:58.160 --> 00:49:00.000
You have to actually show funds for two years.

00:49:00.320 --> 00:49:02.800
How would we justify that

00:49:02.800 --> 00:49:06.360
a schoolteacher who's
making 1400 rupees a month could

00:49:06.360 --> 00:49:09.440
afford have a Texas A and M Master's tuition.

00:49:09.440 --> 00:49:11.400
That was probably the worst time of

00:49:11.400 --> 00:49:14.480
my life because I just felt helpless.

00:49:14.480 --> 00:49:18.320
It's a different kind of desperation.

00:49:18.320 --> 00:49:19.760
We thought, well, maybe we could ask

00:49:19.760 --> 00:49:22.640
my grandfather to be the sponsor

00:49:22.640 --> 00:49:24.360
get all the money from friends and family.

00:49:24.360 --> 00:49:26.280
but he had to basically sign on a

00:49:26.280 --> 00:49:28.840
paper and say that I'm financially sponsoring her.

00:49:30.000 --> 00:49:32.200
And I remember literally
breaking down in front of him and

00:49:32.200 --> 00:49:36.040
[Instrumental Music]
saying that I won't be able to go to the US

00:49:36.040 --> 00:49:38.000
Something that I've tried for the

00:49:38.000 --> 00:49:39.840
last six years and planned,

00:49:39.840 --> 00:49:41.160
And you just,

00:49:41.160 --> 00:49:42.920
It's just this one signature.

00:49:44.640 --> 00:49:48.160
The actual visa interview was so anticlimactic.

00:49:48.160 --> 00:49:52.240
I came out and I was like, I'm going to the US.

00:49:52.240 --> 00:49:54.920
I'm finally going to the United States.

00:49:56.360 --> 00:49:58.800
I was going to create my own destiny

00:49:58.800 --> 00:50:00.600
that I was going to create my own future.

00:50:00.600 --> 00:50:03.040
And I was no longer going to be helpless.

00:50:04.840 --> 00:50:07.080
I came here to do my masters in

00:50:07.080 --> 00:50:10.200
information science at the
University of Pittsburgh.

00:50:10.200 --> 00:50:14.200
[Instrumental Music]
I remember at that time
I paid $12,000 a semester.

00:50:14.200 --> 00:50:16.320
This was back in 2002 when I

00:50:16.320 --> 00:50:18.360
think residents paid 2000 or 3000.

00:50:18.760 --> 00:50:22.400
I was lucky enough because
my parents were well

00:50:22.400 --> 00:50:25.040
to do enough to be able to afford to

00:50:25.040 --> 00:50:28.760
[Upbeat Music]
send me at least for my first six months.

00:50:29.400 --> 00:50:31.120
I actually came here for

00:50:31.120 --> 00:50:33.920
a masters in biomedical engineering.

00:50:33.920 --> 00:50:36.360
My mom was actually there for my dissertation.

00:50:36.360 --> 00:50:38.440
Congratulations, Doctor Desai.

00:50:38.440 --> 00:50:40.880
[Instrumental Music]
This is the first time someone calls you doctor.

00:50:40.880 --> 00:50:42.200
That means that you've got.

00:50:42.880 --> 00:50:45.360
So I ended up getting the Ph.D in

00:50:45.360 --> 00:50:49.560
biomedical sciences with a
specialization in cardiovascular physiology.

00:50:50.440 --> 00:50:55.080
[Upbeat Instrumental Music]

00:50:55.080 --> 00:50:56.720
I'm not a horoscope kind of a person.

00:50:56.720 --> 00:50:58.080
I don't believe in those things.

00:50:59.760 --> 00:51:01.480
Turned on the computer and
I was like, I want to

00:51:01.480 --> 00:51:04.640
check out my horoscope
today just to see what it says.

00:51:04.640 --> 00:51:07.920
And it says, stop looking for happiness.

00:51:07.920 --> 00:51:09.560
It is right next to you.

00:51:10.480 --> 00:51:13.040
And at that very instant, the door

00:51:13.040 --> 00:51:15.560
opened and Girish said, I'm here.

00:51:16.200 --> 00:51:19.120
At that very instant, I knew that I was

00:51:19.120 --> 00:51:20.760
spending the rest of my life with him.

00:51:21.440 --> 00:51:25.640
That was this great moment
where I decided, okay,

00:51:25.640 --> 00:51:27.480
do I want to go on this roller coaster?

00:51:27.480 --> 00:51:30.200
Or I can, you know, back off and go on

00:51:30.200 --> 00:51:34.520
this regular train journey and be safe and secure.

00:51:34.520 --> 00:51:36.560
[Instrumental Music]
I chose to get on that roller coaster.

00:51:37.560 --> 00:51:39.000
I proposed to Girish.

00:51:40.080 --> 00:51:41.440
We got married.

00:51:41.440 --> 00:51:45.000
So I moved to Pittsburgh April 13th of 2008.

00:51:45.200 --> 00:51:46.560
[Hair dryer sound]

00:51:46.880 --> 00:51:49.520
[Upbeat Instrumental Music]
I don't like working to make money.

00:51:49.520 --> 00:51:52.000
I prefer working when it's actually

00:51:52.000 --> 00:51:54.120
making an impact on people's lives.

00:51:54.760 --> 00:51:59.040
We're running a business incubator,
so let's go upfront

00:51:59.040 --> 00:52:00.920
and I'll talk a little bit about that.

00:52:00.920 --> 00:52:03.480
In a business incubator, it really depends

00:52:03.480 --> 00:52:04.720
on how the incubator is set up.

00:52:04.720 --> 00:52:05.880
The way we are set up is

00:52:05.880 --> 00:52:07.880
we provide space, you know, coaching.

00:52:07.880 --> 00:52:09.160
We really train them on, like,

00:52:09.160 --> 00:52:10.480
how do you develop your business?

00:52:10.480 --> 00:52:12.600
We connect them to mentors, investors, and

00:52:12.600 --> 00:52:14.760
that's a program that we've been building

00:52:14.760 --> 00:52:16.880
in the last year and a half.

00:52:16.880 --> 00:52:18.480
We also are trying to be

00:52:18.480 --> 00:52:20.760
more than just a business incubator. So we're,

00:52:20.760 --> 00:52:23.240
We're trying to help
small businesses in the region.

00:52:23.240 --> 00:52:26.960
What are new opportunities
the customer could pursue?

00:52:26.960 --> 00:52:28.520
There's no right or wrong.

00:52:29.280 --> 00:52:30.440
I love what I do.

00:52:30.440 --> 00:52:33.080
I love the people I work with. Everything.

00:52:33.080 --> 00:52:34.120
Everything that I do.

00:52:34.120 --> 00:52:37.200
And that's, I guess, why I can wake up in the

00:52:37.200 --> 00:52:42.520
[Instrumental Music]
morning at 5:30 drive about an
hour and a half one

00:52:42.520 --> 00:52:45.360
way to get to work, and 3 hours round trip.

00:52:45.360 --> 00:52:47.000
There's a new challenge every day.

00:52:47.000 --> 00:52:49.400
Let's just say life is not boring at all.

00:52:50.240 --> 00:52:52.040
I did have an H-1B visa.

00:52:52.040 --> 00:52:54.040
Girish had an H-1B.

00:52:54.040 --> 00:52:55.360
This is the country where I've

00:52:55.360 --> 00:52:57.000
actually done everything on my own.

00:52:57.000 --> 00:52:59.200
I couldn't imagine at that point having

00:52:59.200 --> 00:53:01.280
to go back and start from scratch.

00:53:02.240 --> 00:53:04.640
And we applied for my green card,

00:53:04.640 --> 00:53:07.040
That's where this crazy journey starts.

00:53:07.040 --> 00:53:11.680
[Instrumental Music]

00:53:37.880 --> 00:53:39.760
The sad thing is, is that it

00:53:39.760 --> 00:53:42.400
was stuck in audit without knowing anything.

00:53:42.400 --> 00:53:47.120
And come 2010, I remember
that date, we basically

00:53:47.120 --> 00:53:49.080
got a letter that it has been rejected.

00:53:49.680 --> 00:53:53.200
They never would post jobs in a newspaper.

00:53:53.200 --> 00:53:54.400
That's not what they did

00:53:54.400 --> 00:53:56.720
for information technology jobs.

00:53:56.720 --> 00:53:58.760
You applied on a website, you

00:53:58.760 --> 00:54:01.360
sent in a resume electronically.

00:54:01.360 --> 00:54:03.680
On that technicality, it was rejected.

00:54:03.680 --> 00:54:05.560
So I'd lost two years.

00:54:05.560 --> 00:54:09.240
And at this point, I was close to

00:54:09.240 --> 00:54:12.800
starting my 6th year of my H-1

00:54:12.800 --> 00:54:17.440
[Instrumental Music]

00:54:38.920 --> 00:54:40.720
It was terrifying because

00:54:40.720 --> 00:54:42.120
if I didn't start

00:54:42.120 --> 00:54:45.160
another green card
process within the next month,

00:54:46.040 --> 00:54:47.520
I would have to leave the country.

00:54:48.040 --> 00:54:49.920
I was married for two years.

00:54:49.920 --> 00:54:52.400
We had bought a home together, and

00:54:52.400 --> 00:54:54.000
it was all going to be shattered.

00:54:54.000 --> 00:54:56.000
We are going to lose everything.

00:54:56.000 --> 00:54:58.400
Everything that we've built so far could just

00:54:58.400 --> 00:55:01.040
go away in the snap of someone's finger,

00:55:01.600 --> 00:55:03.960
and we cannot do anything about it.

00:55:04.520 --> 00:55:07.920
So all of these things had now started

00:55:07.920 --> 00:55:09.720
playing a very central role in our lives.

00:55:09.720 --> 00:55:11.600
My new green card application came under

00:55:11.600 --> 00:55:13.400
what's called the national interest waiver.

00:55:13.400 --> 00:55:15.640
[Instrumental Music]

00:55:15.640 --> 00:55:18.560
My new priority date, so to speak, is 2010.

00:55:18.560 --> 00:55:21.240
So that's my place in the queue.

00:55:21.240 --> 00:55:25.720
Right now they are processing
cases in 2007 or 2008, but that doesn't

00:55:25.720 --> 00:55:30.360
mean much because the
dates might not move at all for

00:55:30.360 --> 00:55:33.720
years, or they might
even retrogress or go back.

00:55:33.720 --> 00:55:35.760
So there's no linear progression.

00:55:35.760 --> 00:55:38.440
And at this point, the
dates haven't moved for

00:55:38.440 --> 00:55:43.000
about three years, so there's no end in sight.

00:55:55.680 --> 00:55:58.280
I'd spent enough years at my job.

00:55:58.280 --> 00:56:00.000
I was feeling a bit restless.

00:56:00.000 --> 00:56:01.840
I couldn't move because, hey, I'd

00:56:01.840 --> 00:56:03.320
applied for my green card.

00:56:03.320 --> 00:56:05.080
When you are in the process of a green card,

00:56:05.080 --> 00:56:08.120
it's very difficult to change jobs
because the new company

00:56:08.120 --> 00:56:10.720
has to start the whole process all over again.

00:56:10.720 --> 00:56:12.600
Because of that process, I was trying

00:56:12.600 --> 00:56:13.880
to do things on my own.

00:56:13.880 --> 00:56:16.160
I was dabbling in building iPhone apps.

00:56:16.160 --> 00:56:17.880
That was the new thing then.

00:56:17.880 --> 00:56:21.200
This was an idea that K came up with,

00:56:21.200 --> 00:56:24.080
It was so difficult for her to
shop online because she

00:56:24.080 --> 00:56:27.840
didn't know what size
she should use for which brand.

00:56:27.840 --> 00:56:29.240
We built this app.

00:56:29.240 --> 00:56:31.280
We had about 500 brands in there.

00:56:31.280 --> 00:56:34.360
And then you could come in
and select any brand, and

00:56:34.360 --> 00:56:38.440
you could provide your size
in just one of those brands.

00:56:38.440 --> 00:56:42.800
It would automatically
calculate your sizes in the

00:56:42.800 --> 00:56:46.400
remaining brands, so you
never needed to guess.

00:56:47.520 --> 00:56:50.640
We got 35,000 downloads in few weeks.

00:56:50.640 --> 00:56:53.000
It got selected by Apple.

00:56:53.000 --> 00:56:55.760
It was on iTunes, like, top 15 apps.

00:56:55.760 --> 00:56:57.920
We had people that connected with us that

00:56:57.920 --> 00:57:01.840
were interested in buying
it from China, Taiwan.

00:57:01.960 --> 00:57:02.880
We had to say no to

00:57:02.880 --> 00:57:05.000
everyone because we couldn't monetize.

00:57:05.000 --> 00:57:07.440
We were just not allowed
to make any money

00:57:07.440 --> 00:57:09.520
out of it because of our

00:57:09.520 --> 00:57:11.600
visa restrictions.
- Yep.

00:57:12.880 --> 00:57:16.480
[Instrumental Music]
I think about six months, we saw somebody.

00:57:16.480 --> 00:57:18.520
It was a play on the name of the app.

00:57:18.520 --> 00:57:20.680
I mean, our app's name was what's my size?

00:57:20.680 --> 00:57:22.200
But it was very similar.

00:57:22.200 --> 00:57:24.880
Yeah, something like,
what size am I? Or something

00:57:24.880 --> 00:57:26.720
And we actually checked them out on the

00:57:26.720 --> 00:57:28.560
app store, and we couldn't believe it.

00:57:28.560 --> 00:57:31.760
They had literally copied the exact design.

00:57:32.400 --> 00:57:35.000
Should I spend money trying to defend my

00:57:35.000 --> 00:57:38.200
idea when I don't know when I might

00:57:38.200 --> 00:57:40.400
be able to reap anything out of it?

00:57:40.400 --> 00:57:41.800
Because if I cannot start a company,

00:57:41.800 --> 00:57:44.360
what am I going to do?
I just have to give it away for free.

00:57:44.680 --> 00:57:47.440
I just couldn't find a way to make it work.

00:57:47.440 --> 00:57:48.720
I had to give it up.

00:57:52.280 --> 00:57:56.200
This story is repeated so often, and I think it's

00:57:56.200 --> 00:58:00.720
the biggest IP theft that
is going on today, because

00:58:00.720 --> 00:58:02.640
where does those ideas and the IP goes?

00:58:02.640 --> 00:58:04.640
It goes with the company
that they're working instead

00:58:04.640 --> 00:58:07.760
of something that they can
make something out of.

00:58:08.840 --> 00:58:10.480
Everybody talks about, you

00:58:10.480 --> 00:58:12.720
know, immigrants creating jobs.

00:58:12.720 --> 00:58:16.480
And while that is true, nobody says that you

00:58:16.480 --> 00:58:20.360
cannot create jobs directly on an H-1B,

00:58:20.360 --> 00:58:23.120
and you're not allowed
to run your own business.

00:58:23.880 --> 00:58:27.040
What a green card would do for me, it would

00:58:27.040 --> 00:58:30.440
[Instrumental Music]
let me work for my own
company, work for myself.

00:58:33.160 --> 00:58:35.200
2010 is when my dad passed away.

00:58:35.800 --> 00:58:37.640
We decided we'll take a trip to India.

00:58:37.640 --> 00:58:40.200
We had to renew our H-1B's at that time.

00:58:40.200 --> 00:58:43.240
And I went for the H-1B visa

00:58:43.240 --> 00:58:48.240
interview, and I got the
221(g), which essentially

00:58:48.240 --> 00:58:52.640
says that due to some extra
additional administrative processing,

00:58:52.640 --> 00:58:54.160
we cannot give you a visa right now.

00:58:54.160 --> 00:58:57.640
So you're going to have to
wait until we finish that processing

00:58:57.640 --> 00:59:00.240
What? like, how can they even do this?

00:59:00.240 --> 00:59:03.120
I had an approved H-1B in my hand

00:59:03.120 --> 00:59:05.360
just to get a stamp to come back in,

00:59:05.360 --> 00:59:08.480
I was in India for three months, just waiting.

00:59:09.080 --> 00:59:11.160
I initially worked from
there for about a month

00:59:11.160 --> 00:59:14.000
until my department head
is like, I cannot keep

00:59:14.000 --> 00:59:16.080
paying you even though
you're working from there.

00:59:16.080 --> 00:59:17.000
He's like, I've never heard

00:59:17.000 --> 00:59:18.360
of this happening to anyone.

00:59:19.120 --> 00:59:22.840
One person in a visa office in Bombay

00:59:22.840 --> 00:59:27.280
can just say, we need more information, and

00:59:27.280 --> 00:59:29.880
your entire life can pretty much fall apart.

00:59:29.880 --> 00:59:34.560
It's suddenly hitting you full
frontal that I really am not in

00:59:34.560 --> 00:59:38.240
control of a lot of things as I felt I was.

00:59:40.800 --> 00:59:42.160
I came back in January.

00:59:44.280 --> 00:59:46.040
Let's just take a breath and,

00:59:46.600 --> 00:59:49.120
wow, this could happen anytime, right?

00:59:49.120 --> 00:59:53.760
[Instrumental Music]
[claps]

00:59:56.560 --> 00:59:59.520
So I decided maybe it was
time to get another degree.

00:59:59.520 --> 01:00:01.040
So I went to Carnegie Mellon.

01:00:01.040 --> 01:00:03.560
Carnegie Mellon is this school where

01:00:03.560 --> 01:00:07.360
And I promise they don't
pay me anything to say this

01:00:07.360 --> 01:00:11.560
[Percussion Music]
If you are the kind of person
that has crazy ideas

01:00:11.560 --> 01:00:15.000
about how you can make
a positive impact on the world

01:00:15.000 --> 01:00:18.200
and want to be surrounded
by other people who think like

01:00:18.200 --> 01:00:20.400
that, that's the school you should go to.

01:00:20.400 --> 01:00:22.440
I really didn't go there thinking,

01:00:22.440 --> 01:00:25.280
okay, what happens after Carnegie Mellon?

01:00:25.280 --> 01:00:26.920
We hadn't planned.
It was like, well, if I get

01:00:26.920 --> 01:00:28.600
into Carnegie Mellon, we'll do it.

01:00:28.600 --> 01:00:33.240
[Instrumental Music]

01:00:33.760 --> 01:00:38.120
I got a job offer within my second semester.

01:00:38.120 --> 01:00:40.320
As I was having coffee with
the CEO of a boutique

01:00:40.320 --> 01:00:43.400
consulting company in New York,
I was like, okay, maybe I

01:00:43.400 --> 01:00:45.960
could go to New York in January of 2013.

01:00:45.960 --> 01:00:48.200
Because he knew about
the whole H-1B process.

01:00:48.200 --> 01:00:50.160
And so he's like, well, I've
heard about this thing called

01:00:50.160 --> 01:00:54.800
[Instrumental Music]

01:02:03.000 --> 01:02:07.240
They say, well, you've used
up your OPT in your Ph.D.

01:02:07.840 --> 01:02:12.000
You don't get a new OPT
if you're doing another

01:02:12.000 --> 01:02:16.200
program that's at a lower
level than the previous program.

01:02:16.720 --> 01:02:21.480
What? Like, so how am I supposed to

01:02:22.160 --> 01:02:26.120
When I graduate, how do
I look for a job? Like, at that?

01:02:26.120 --> 01:02:29.040
Like, you know, I just want to know,
how do I look for a job if I just

01:02:29.040 --> 01:02:33.600
Because I did a Ph.D and
I got a year of OPT, if

01:02:33.600 --> 01:02:37.160
I do my masters and I don't
have a job, what happens?

01:02:37.160 --> 01:02:38.440
And they're like, well, you have to find

01:02:38.440 --> 01:02:40.720
a job before you graduate because you don't

01:02:40.720 --> 01:02:44.000
get anymore Optional Practical Training Period.

01:02:45.000 --> 01:02:46.840
It was another blow.

01:02:46.840 --> 01:02:49.760
Wait, so how can someone apply for an H-1B

01:02:49.760 --> 01:02:55.440
[Instrumental Music]
in fall when the visas have
already been allocated?

01:02:55.440 --> 01:02:59.000
This person, who's a CEO,
is going out of his way

01:02:59.000 --> 01:03:02.600
to give me this position
because he really wants me.

01:03:02.600 --> 01:03:04.280
He wants me to start in January.

01:03:04.280 --> 01:03:06.920
How can I actually be there in January when

01:03:06.920 --> 01:03:10.200
I don't have an OPT and I cannot apply

01:03:10.200 --> 01:03:12.240
for an H-1B visa until April

01:03:12.840 --> 01:03:15.080
Which, if you do get selected in the lottery.

01:03:15.080 --> 01:03:16.400
You start in October.

01:03:18.560 --> 01:03:20.080
Did you have to give up the job?

01:03:20.080 --> 01:03:21.240
No, I didn't.

01:03:21.240 --> 01:03:25.960
He was so committed to
wanting me to start that

01:03:25.960 --> 01:03:27.920
he said that, I want you to start as a

01:03:27.920 --> 01:03:32.440
volunteer, and we'll pay
you after you get your visa.

01:03:32.440 --> 01:03:34.600
For how long did you have
to volunteer for them?

01:03:34.600 --> 01:03:36.520
Pretty much from January until October.

01:03:37.840 --> 01:03:40.400
Seiunchin kata (karate form)

01:03:41.480 --> 01:03:44.040
We both love working towards a goal.

01:03:52.840 --> 01:03:55.400
[Instrumental Music]
The way I represent the Pittsburgh is to be as

01:03:55.400 --> 01:03:58.320
much like its people.
I moved here 17 years ago,

01:03:58.400 --> 01:04:01.200
and the warmth and
friendliness and kindness

01:04:01.200 --> 01:04:05.160
Pittsburgh represents is what I try to be every day.

01:04:05.320 --> 01:04:06.480
You present us with a challenge,

01:04:06.480 --> 01:04:07.840
and it makes us both happy.

01:04:07.840 --> 01:04:09.040
Well, not immigration.

01:04:09.040 --> 01:04:13.680
[Instrumental Music]

01:04:21.400 --> 01:04:24.560
Girish is the reason I really
am able to function.

01:04:24.560 --> 01:04:26.400
On some days.
[Instrumental Music]

01:04:27.160 --> 01:04:30.880
I have this incredible rock
in my life that helps

01:04:30.880 --> 01:04:34.880
me get through the struggles,
and we're getting through all

01:04:34.880 --> 01:04:38.800
kinds of struggles together,
and he is that rock.

01:04:44.160 --> 01:04:47.000
I was almost facing
clinical depression because

01:04:47.000 --> 01:04:48.280
it was just getting so difficult.

01:04:48.280 --> 01:04:50.400
We were like, something needs to change.

01:04:51.120 --> 01:04:52.680
We wanted to be American.

01:04:52.680 --> 01:04:54.760
We wanted to make this country our home.

01:04:54.760 --> 01:04:56.200
But this country doesn't want us.

01:04:56.200 --> 01:04:59.960
Clearly, we can't keep limiting our dreams.

01:04:59.960 --> 01:05:04.960
If I knew that I would be facing a 15-year wait

01:05:04.960 --> 01:05:06.720
before I would be
able to do something,

01:05:06.720 --> 01:05:09.600
I would probably have not
chosen the United States then

01:05:09.600 --> 01:05:12.360
I didn't care. United States
was the same as Canada

01:05:12.360 --> 01:05:14.240
or Australia or any other country.

01:05:14.240 --> 01:05:18.880
[Instrumental Music]

01:05:25.160 --> 01:05:26.440
You know, we went back and tried

01:05:26.440 --> 01:05:28.520
India to see if that would work.

01:05:28.520 --> 01:05:30.000
That ship has sailed.

01:05:30.000 --> 01:05:31.840
Many, many years ago.

01:05:31.840 --> 01:05:36.080
[Instrumental Music]
We were so American that
we felt like we didn't belong in India.

01:05:36.720 --> 01:05:37.680
Eleven years, right?

01:05:37.680 --> 01:05:38.680
It would do that.

01:05:39.520 --> 01:05:42.440
And within ten months,
we decided that we're

01:05:42.440 --> 01:05:45.720
coming back to our jobs and to Pittsburgh.

01:05:45.720 --> 01:05:48.120
We are doing advocacy because we think

01:05:48.120 --> 01:05:49.720
we can help at the grassroots level.

01:05:49.720 --> 01:05:51.880
Talk to senators, talk to congressmen.

01:05:51.880 --> 01:05:54.440
I'm not even sure if we
have any leads anymore.

01:05:55.200 --> 01:05:57.160
I honestly don't think that we need to

01:05:57.160 --> 01:06:00.800
be very innovative in fixing
the immigration system.

01:06:00.800 --> 01:06:04.040
[Instrumental Music]
You know, everyone that
comes in gets vetted.

01:06:04.040 --> 01:06:05.400
When you get an H-1B visa,

01:06:05.400 --> 01:06:07.960
when you get a student visa, we go

01:06:07.960 --> 01:06:11.520
through so much scrutiny
and use that scrutiny.

01:06:11.520 --> 01:06:14.160
Use that same time that
people are spending to

01:06:14.160 --> 01:06:16.920
evaluate a person, to then just say, if you're

01:06:16.920 --> 01:06:18.800
in, we're going to put you on a path

01:06:18.800 --> 01:06:20.280
to your green card, and it's going to happen

01:06:20.280 --> 01:06:22.840
automatically in x number
of years and just make

01:06:22.840 --> 01:06:25.360
it easier for the people
that you've already vetted.

01:06:25.360 --> 01:06:26.840
Don't make it harder and harder

01:06:26.840 --> 01:06:27.880
and harder.

01:06:27.880 --> 01:06:30.440
Immigration has always
been essential to America.

01:06:31.400 --> 01:06:34.000
Let's end our exhausting
war over immigration.

01:06:34.640 --> 01:06:37.200
For more than 30 years,
politicians have talked about

01:06:37.200 --> 01:06:40.680
immigration reform and
we've done nothing about it.

01:06:40.680 --> 01:06:42.160
It's time to fix it.

01:06:42.160 --> 01:06:46.800
[Instrumental Music]

01:06:48.080 --> 01:06:50.560
From my entire extended family, I was

01:06:50.560 --> 01:06:52.960
the first person to come to a

01:06:52.960 --> 01:06:56.160
foreign country to pursue higher education.

01:06:56.800 --> 01:06:58.840
[Instrumental Music]
Masters in engineering, management.

01:06:58.840 --> 01:07:02.440
And I graduated in 2010.

01:07:02.440 --> 01:07:03.840
And then I worked for a

01:07:03.840 --> 01:07:06.040
little while being on OPT.

01:07:06.040 --> 01:07:10.200
And then in 2012 I went back to India.

01:07:10.200 --> 01:07:12.840
[Instrumental Music]

01:07:12.840 --> 01:07:16.560
I was the first to tell him that I

01:07:16.560 --> 01:07:19.720
love him and it took him by surprise.

01:07:20.240 --> 01:07:23.120
By then both our families knew about

01:07:23.120 --> 01:07:25.880
our relationship and it was certain that

01:07:25.880 --> 01:07:28.080
I would be getting married to Srinu.

01:07:29.680 --> 01:07:34.080
And so I and Srinu,
we got married in October of 2012.

01:07:36.880 --> 01:07:38.920
And so I came on the H-4.

01:07:39.080 --> 01:07:41.160
I mean, I couldn't work for four years.

01:07:41.160 --> 01:07:42.400
But then I'm happy now.

01:07:42.400 --> 01:07:45.000
When I look back, I got that time

01:07:45.000 --> 01:07:48.560
with Srinu that I could be a housewife

01:07:48.560 --> 01:07:50.360
I could take care of him.

01:07:54.040 --> 01:07:57.080
This house was everything for him.

01:07:58.120 --> 01:08:00.800
He built this with so much hope.

01:08:07.400 --> 01:08:11.360
I know the H-1B very well and
its something that I frankly use,

01:08:11.360 --> 01:08:13.280
I shouldn't be allowed to use,
we shouldn't have it,

01:08:13.280 --> 01:08:16.080
its unfair for our workers,
and we should end it.

01:08:16.320 --> 01:08:18.880
During the election nothing played in my house

01:08:18.880 --> 01:08:22.120
other than CNN or Fox or NBC.

01:08:22.120 --> 01:08:24.000
Srinu was all into this.

01:08:24.800 --> 01:08:27.000
He was into politics.

01:08:27.000 --> 01:08:29.560
[Instrumental Music]
CNN now projects in the elections night.

01:08:29.560 --> 01:08:31.840
He was up until like two.

01:08:31.840 --> 01:08:34.760
I kind of knew it by 9/9:30

01:08:34.760 --> 01:08:38.560
so called blue wall that
Hillary Clinton had tried to create

01:08:41.720 --> 01:08:44.520
Everything will be okay
and then he hugged me.

01:08:44.520 --> 01:08:49.160
[Singing a Hindi song]

01:08:52.840 --> 01:09:00.480
Just like this sit close to me.

01:09:00.480 --> 01:09:03.000
Don'i insist on leaving.

01:09:03.000 --> 01:09:08.440
Please don't insist on leaving tonight.

01:09:09.440 --> 01:09:11.800
It was like seventies and so I

01:09:11.800 --> 01:09:13.760
was like going home from work

01:09:13.760 --> 01:09:16.920
and then I texted him, the weather

01:09:16.920 --> 01:09:19.440
is so nice, it's been long time.

01:09:19.440 --> 01:09:23.080
Like maybe we can have
some tea in the backyard.

01:09:24.160 --> 01:09:25.680
I don't think so he ever saw
[Papon song playing]

01:09:25.680 --> 01:09:28.120
that message because his phone died.

01:09:29.480 --> 01:09:31.520
And when he did not come home I

01:09:31.520 --> 01:09:33.680
felt like he went to the happy hour.

01:09:35.080 --> 01:09:38.400
[Instrumental Music]
Kuchibhotla, an Indian
born engineer, was shot

01:09:38.400 --> 01:09:40.880
and killed in a Kansas bar wednesday night.

01:09:45.440 --> 01:09:48.760
The very first thought that came to my mind

01:09:48.760 --> 01:09:54.320
when the cops came was that I'm leaving.

01:09:54.320 --> 01:09:56.240
There was nothing for me here.

01:10:00.000 --> 01:10:01.800
He was my everything.

01:10:04.200 --> 01:10:07.360
51 year old Adam Purintan
allegedly opened fire on

01:10:07.360 --> 01:10:11.000
Kuchibhotla and his friend
Alok Madasani after witnesses

01:10:11.000 --> 01:10:13.560
say he shouted get out of my country.

01:10:13.560 --> 01:10:16.680
When I learned about
what actually happened.

01:10:16.680 --> 01:10:18.400
This is unacceptable,

01:10:19.160 --> 01:10:22.360
And I said, I'm ready to speak to the press.

01:10:22.360 --> 01:10:24.880
Just days after her husband was killed in a

01:10:24.880 --> 01:10:28.280
possible hate crime,
the widow of Srinivas Kuchibhotla

01:10:28.280 --> 01:10:31.000
said she feared living
in the US, as an immigrant.

01:10:31.000 --> 01:10:36.560
I was always concerned,
are we doing the right thing?

01:10:37.160 --> 01:10:41.280
Of staying in United States of America?

01:10:45.760 --> 01:10:48.360
Are those travels with Srinu?
- Yeah, yeah.

01:10:48.360 --> 01:10:51.040
Most of it. Yeah.

01:10:51.040 --> 01:10:54.400
Key West, we did together.

01:10:56.800 --> 01:10:59.360
This one was also. We did together.

01:10:59.360 --> 01:11:00.920
Vegas, we did together.

01:11:00.920 --> 01:11:05.560
[Instrumental Music]

01:11:08.280 --> 01:11:10.240
Seattle is me.

01:11:10.240 --> 01:11:11.880
Atlanta is me.

01:11:13.320 --> 01:11:16.800
Yeah, now I'm adding my own stuff.

01:11:20.000 --> 01:11:23.040
The impact of it on your life. Right.

01:11:23.040 --> 01:11:25.240
From married to

01:11:25.240 --> 01:11:26.960
I am a widow now.

01:11:28.600 --> 01:11:32.920
I did not only lose Srinu into the incident,

01:11:32.920 --> 01:11:36.520
but then because I was on a dependent status

01:11:36.520 --> 01:11:39.360
which is given to the spouses of those that

01:11:39.360 --> 01:11:42.680
come on temporary work visa H-1B.

01:11:42.680 --> 01:11:45.320
I lost my legal status to stay in the

01:11:45.320 --> 01:11:49.080
country because the principal
applicant is no longer alive.

01:11:50.120 --> 01:11:53.880
When I went to India,
I went with that uncertainty.

01:11:53.880 --> 01:11:58.040
I wasn't sure if I will be coming back or not.

01:11:59.520 --> 01:12:02.680
While there was like
Srinu's funeral and all the

01:12:02.680 --> 01:12:06.840
Hindu rituals that we do
right over 11 days or so

01:12:06.840 --> 01:12:09.800
I  was filling out DS 160S.

01:12:09.800 --> 01:12:14.440
[Instrumental Music]

01:12:19.760 --> 01:12:21.520
Am I forgetting the fact that I lost

01:12:21.520 --> 01:12:24.240
the most important person in my life?

01:12:25.240 --> 01:12:28.400
Why am I having to
go through this? You have to,

01:12:28.400 --> 01:12:29.840
There is no other way.

01:12:29.840 --> 01:12:34.400
Mine being a very special
case of a federal hate crime.

01:12:34.400 --> 01:12:36.600
I got a call from the FBI.

01:12:37.000 --> 01:12:39.880
We would like to bring you
back on a humanitarian parole.

01:12:39.880 --> 01:12:41.160
A one time entry.

01:12:41.160 --> 01:12:42.680
It's only for 90 days.

01:12:42.680 --> 01:12:46.400
You should travel within
the week before seven days.

01:12:46.400 --> 01:12:49.280
I'm like, what stupid rule is that?

01:12:49.280 --> 01:12:50.880
Am I like a puppet?

01:12:51.480 --> 01:12:53.640
Like, you're doing me a favor.

01:12:53.640 --> 01:12:55.240
Yes, I get that.

01:12:56.040 --> 01:12:58.720
Why can't there be some provision that

01:12:58.720 --> 01:13:00.880
I don't lose my status immediately?

01:13:00.880 --> 01:13:03.080
But it gives me at least some time.

01:13:05.800 --> 01:13:09.600
My parents, my dad wanted me to be back.

01:13:09.600 --> 01:13:12.440
Obviously they were
worried of me being alone.

01:13:12.440 --> 01:13:17.520
But my middle sister was more certain that I

01:13:17.520 --> 01:13:21.720
would have more support here than in India.

01:13:22.760 --> 01:13:26.320
Obviously, the cultural norms
around how they see a widow

01:13:26.320 --> 01:13:31.600
Here, people see us as an individual first.

01:13:31.600 --> 01:13:33.080
I am Sunayana.

01:13:34.840 --> 01:13:37.400
I remind myself of this beautiful

01:13:37.400 --> 01:13:39.520
thing that my sister told me.

01:13:39.520 --> 01:13:42.640
Every time you fall, you
have to rebuild your nest.

01:13:42.640 --> 01:13:45.360
And that is what Srinu will want from you.

01:13:45.360 --> 01:13:47.840
You are not gonna be a failure.

01:13:48.480 --> 01:13:56.280
And I think that gave me
so much of energy in me.

01:13:56.280 --> 01:13:58.440
And I'm like, my sister is right.

01:13:58.440 --> 01:14:03.080
[Instrumental Music]

01:14:20.960 --> 01:14:23.840
Me coming back, it's itself like the answer

01:14:23.840 --> 01:14:26.000
that I wanted to give this person.

01:14:26.000 --> 01:14:28.720
Had I would have gone back to India then I

01:14:28.720 --> 01:14:31.080
would have been like, I made that guy win.

01:14:31.080 --> 01:14:35.720
[Instrumental Music]

01:14:37.520 --> 01:14:39.880
I want to do something to remove this

01:14:39.880 --> 01:14:44.640
misconception that foreign
nationals are taking away jobs

01:14:44.640 --> 01:14:50.240
that can stop more Srinivas from being murdered.

01:14:50.240 --> 01:14:52.360
I have started a foundation.

01:14:52.360 --> 01:14:56.840
Using a social media and
a facebook page seem to

01:14:56.840 --> 01:15:01.000
be the fastest way to give that message out.

01:15:01.000 --> 01:15:03.840
That's how Forever Welcome took its birth.

01:15:03.840 --> 01:15:06.840
We could sponsor a dinner for someone to

01:15:06.840 --> 01:15:10.400
invite someone from a different background

01:15:10.400 --> 01:15:12.960
Ooh, I love that idea.

01:15:12.960 --> 01:15:15.560
I do love that idea.

01:15:15.560 --> 01:15:17.120
I love it.

01:15:17.120 --> 01:15:18.960
[Instrumental Music]
Since my life has changed so

01:15:18.960 --> 01:15:21.480
drastically, I am divided now.

01:15:21.480 --> 01:15:24.680
I'm divided between a full time job as a

01:15:24.680 --> 01:15:31.040
Data integration engineer and with
my passion towards a foundation where

01:15:31.040 --> 01:15:34.200
I want to give this message that we are all

01:15:34.200 --> 01:15:37.520
welcome here and I'm not able to give the time.

01:15:38.360 --> 01:15:40.520
We are still waiting on 501(c)3.

01:15:41.560 --> 01:15:44.920
At this point, I am thinking to reach out

01:15:44.920 --> 01:15:49.200
to either Sharice David's office,
the local congresswoman's office, or

01:15:49.200 --> 01:15:53.040
senator Jerry Moran's office to see if they can

01:15:53.040 --> 01:15:56.800
help us in expediting, in trying to give us

01:15:56.800 --> 01:16:01.400
some kind of reference or
recommendation that will fasten

01:16:01.400 --> 01:16:03.680
the process of getting the 501(c)3.

01:16:08.000 --> 01:16:11.400
I mean, he taught me a lot.

01:16:11.400 --> 01:16:15.680
[Instrumental Music]
He was always of the opinion
that I should be independent

01:16:15.680 --> 01:16:20.440
and I should see the world and learn

01:16:20.440 --> 01:16:23.720
Because I was tending
to be so dependent on him

01:16:23.720 --> 01:16:27.600
for everything, and he was like,
you can't be this.

01:16:27.600 --> 01:16:32.360
And, like, I'm there, I'm behind, I'll support,

01:16:32.360 --> 01:16:36.200
but you should be doing it by yourself.

01:16:36.200 --> 01:16:37.840
And, like, you should attempt.

01:16:37.840 --> 01:16:38.880
You should try.

01:16:46.440 --> 01:16:49.320
[Instrumental Music]
His role in my life has been

01:16:49.320 --> 01:16:52.360
like, I can't express it in words.

01:16:52.360 --> 01:16:54.760
If you see a Sunayana today,

01:16:55.360 --> 01:16:57.400
that's a Sunayana that he made.

01:17:01.560 --> 01:17:04.680
I know I don't have the
chance anymore, but I wish

01:17:04.680 --> 01:17:07.960
I had to show him that, how much I loved him.

01:17:09.320 --> 01:17:11.920
I think this is how I'm trying to show him that.

01:17:13.040 --> 01:17:15.040
I value him

01:17:15.040 --> 01:17:17.080
and his place in my heart.

01:17:19.240 --> 01:17:22.360
I want to give my full time
to the foundation, but my

01:17:22.360 --> 01:17:25.520
status in this country is
because of the job that I do.

01:17:26.080 --> 01:17:28.080
I can't quit my job.

01:17:28.080 --> 01:17:30.440
I can't focus on the foundation.

01:17:30.440 --> 01:17:32.840
I can't make any other changes.

01:17:32.840 --> 01:17:35.520
If I want to move out of this place, if

01:17:35.520 --> 01:17:38.200
I want to adopt a kid, if I want to

01:17:38.200 --> 01:17:42.480
do anything, everything is tied up to my status.

01:17:44.080 --> 01:17:46.480
Having the green card, it gives me that

01:17:46.480 --> 01:17:49.280
option to make that choice in my life.

01:17:49.280 --> 01:17:51.000
Well, right now, I'm unable to make those

01:18:01.080 --> 01:18:02.840
My hope, It's dying every day.

01:18:08.080 --> 01:18:09.120
What's that?

01:18:09.120 --> 01:18:12.160
That's my green card.
- Do you have yours?

01:18:12.160 --> 01:18:13.680
Yes. After 18 years.

01:18:13.680 --> 01:18:16.440
18 years in the US with a Ph.D,

01:18:16.440 --> 01:18:20.680
three patents, and then finally the green card.

01:18:21.720 --> 01:18:23.000
You know, we had waited so long

01:18:23.000 --> 01:18:24.440
that it was almost anticlimactic.

01:18:24.440 --> 01:18:26.200
Yeah, it was a relief.

01:18:26.200 --> 01:18:29.080
I wouldn't say this was like a...
- Very euphoria.
[Instrumental Music]

01:18:29.080 --> 01:18:30.280
It was not a euphoria.

01:18:30.280 --> 01:18:31.680
It was relief.

01:18:31.680 --> 01:18:33.760
The US has given us a lot of chances.

01:18:33.760 --> 01:18:36.640
It has given us more chance now to prove

01:18:36.640 --> 01:18:41.360
ourselves as a worthy immigrant,
bringing our best of

01:18:41.360 --> 01:18:44.800
the talents that we can bring to this country.
- Yeah.

01:18:44.800 --> 01:18:45.880
Despite everything.

01:18:45.880 --> 01:18:49.120
Despite everything, we still love America.

01:18:50.520 --> 01:18:53.680
[Instrumental Music]
September of 2018,
we decided, well, we needed

01:18:53.680 --> 01:18:56.200
a backup plan, and we looked to Canada.

01:18:57.400 --> 01:18:59.560
When Covid hit, things started going

01:18:59.560 --> 01:19:01.560
really bad in the United States.

01:19:05.480 --> 01:19:08.440
Currently, the wait time is over 16 months.

01:19:08.440 --> 01:19:09.880
And so we were like, you know, now's the time

01:19:15.000 --> 01:19:16.160
we put in the application.

01:19:16.160 --> 01:19:18.720
We got an invitation to apply in six days

01:19:18.720 --> 01:19:22.000
and we got our approved permanent residency

01:19:22.000 --> 01:19:24.280
paperwork in less than six months.

01:19:24.280 --> 01:19:26.080
You know, when we'd been waiting

01:19:26.080 --> 01:19:28.160
for 16 and a half years.

01:19:31.360 --> 01:19:34.600
This is given to 25 trailblazing women

01:19:34.600 --> 01:19:37.040
in the city of Pittsburgh.

01:19:37.040 --> 01:19:38.720
It's a nice looking award, right?

01:19:39.280 --> 01:19:40.320
Good boy.

01:19:40.880 --> 01:19:45.520
All right, these are our Pittsburgh 40 under 40

01:19:45.520 --> 01:19:49.840
awards for both me and K

01:19:49.840 --> 01:19:51.480
She got it in 2015.

01:19:51.480 --> 01:19:53.680
I got it in 2019.

01:19:55.560 --> 01:20:00.200
[Instrumental Music]

01:20:09.120 --> 01:20:11.560
You guys better come across that border as soon

01:20:11.560 --> 01:20:15.240
as it opens, or illegally, if we can.

01:20:17.680 --> 01:20:19.680
Drive safe. Okay? Yep.

01:20:23.000 --> 01:20:24.760
Bye, USA.

01:20:24.760 --> 01:20:26.000
We're leaving.

01:20:26.560 --> 01:20:30.040
I remember during my study discovering how

01:20:30.040 --> 01:20:34.000
complicated it is to call yourself American.

01:20:34.000 --> 01:20:37.280
It's an act of courage
sometimes to say, I am American.

01:20:54.840 --> 01:20:56.720
There is bad everywhere.

01:20:56.720 --> 01:20:58.840
I think you have to always focus on

01:20:58.840 --> 01:21:01.800
the good, and thats when you will start liking

01:21:01.800 --> 01:21:05.040
that place or making that place as yours.

01:21:16.480 --> 01:21:18.440
There's so much of good in this country

01:21:18.440 --> 01:21:21.840
but don't let politicians change it.

01:21:34.200 --> 01:21:36.000
Do you guys feel you have won?

01:21:36.000 --> 01:21:39.000
the battle, not the war

01:21:40.000 --> 01:21:45.720
We will have won when the next generation.
So our son, when he is successful,

01:21:45.720 --> 01:21:46.840
that's when we will have won.

01:21:47.520 --> 01:21:52.160
[Female singing]