An Indian family in the U.S. had to suffer through years of visa uncertainty before deciding to move back to India. Juhi Nigam, a South Delhi-based content creator, recounts her experience.
She spoke about her experience of living in the United States under complex immigration conditions and the emotional and practical challenges that eventually led her family to return to India. She described her time in the U.S. as defined by uncertainty, restrictions, and long-term instability linked to L-1 and L-2 visa categories.
According to her interview with The Financial Express, her husband moved to the U.S. on an L-1 visa for intracompany transferees, while she accompanied him on an L-2 dependent visa. A key turning point came when his promotion required an upgrade from L-1B to L-1A status, triggering a mandatory one-year “cool-off” period outside the United States.
“We tried all of our possible options, but there was no way we could escape that,” Juhi said. This requirement disrupted their long-term plans and added to the instability of their stay.
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She explained that frequent visa renewals, typically every two years, made it difficult to plan for the future. “We could never buy a house because of the unpredictability of the future,” she said. “All of this was mentally so taxing. The pressure of not having a permanent home, a permanent location, it was adding up to our stress levels on a daily basis.”
Juhi also described how visa conditions affected her career opportunities, as her L-2 status limited her ability to switch jobs. “I had been working in the same company for the past 2 years simply because I was on L-2 and we knew that the visa was coming to an end so there was no way a new company would hire me. Additionally, whenever an extension is filed, we are not allowed to travel outside the country.”
One of the most emotionally difficult moments came during the COVID-19 crisis, when her father fell ill but she was unable to travel to India due to pending visa processes. “I could not travel because of this extension thing. That particular incident ingrained sleepless nights in my head, and it took me two years to come out of that.”
Reflecting on her first year in the U.S., she described the emotional adjustment of living without family support. “People never openly talk about how much your life changes when you first land there. In the initial years of leaving your country and trying to settle in a new country, that shift transforms you as an individual completely. I remember vividly, the first year I spent entirely on trying to make that shift possible for myself. New culture, new routine, having no help around, doing every single thing on my own, no family, no one to talk to, it’s just a lot,” she said.
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Despite the challenges, she acknowledged that the experience shaped her deeply, though it came with personal sacrifices. When asked about returning even if a Green Card had been available, she admitted, “Not really,” adding, “Having a Green Card is every immigrant’s dream, so probably in that case I would not have boarded that flight. It might sound selfish, but that is the truth.”
Back in India, she emphasized that family has been central to her adjustment. “The only and only reason that I am able to survive here in India is my family,” she said. However, she also pointed out challenges such as air quality, infrastructure limitations, and changes in work-life balance affecting family routines.
She concluded by advising aspiring migrants that life abroad can be transformative but demanding. “Staying abroad will change you as a person altogether,” she said. “There is no good or bad, but the version of yourself you see in India is going to be completely different from the version of yourself you will have a few years later. Be prepared, it’s going to be an exciting journey, but make yourself really, really mentally strong to go through so many things. There will be a lot of good and bad family-related stuff that you will miss and you need to be prepared for it.”