I am not a slave
Today I celebrate 2 years of freedom from “slavery”. Yes, Aug 15, 2013 I finally got my Green Card, 12 years after I moved to the U.S. - the ‘Land of the Free’. I came here in 2001 from New Delhi, India, very excited to get higher education, and in 2004 was thrilled to get my first job working for one of the top companies at the time, PayPal.
A couple of years later I realized I wasn’t really ‘free’. I had to keep my job until I got a ‘Green Card’, which takes anywhere from 5–10 years since I’m an Indian citizen. I had to keep my job even though I wasn’t having fun there anymore. Eventually, in 2008 I got laid off and had to start the Green card process over again, despite having waited 4-years already. My choices to the kind of jobs I could take were limited to companies who were willing to take the ‘responsibility’ of sponsoring my H-1B visa. I was lucky to find another gig willing to sponsor me just before the economic collapse of 2008 and within the stipulated 30 days of having lost my job. Again, I couldn’t change jobs again till I got my Green Card, a process I had to start over again.
In July 2011, I got severely injured and was in intense physical pain and dizziness due to muscle imbalance, the result of a maladjustment by a chiropractor. I had a really difficult time sitting, sleeping, standing, walking, let alone going to work. But I couldn’t leave my job as quitting meant I’d have to leave the U.S. An H1-B visa requires I keep my job. It’s been a painful few years as I have been slowly recovering from this physical pain. (I’m now significantly better and four years later, almost recovered)
I managed to keep my job and work on my physical recovery. Finally on August 15, 2013 (also the day of India’s independence from the British), I got my Green Card. I couldn’t be happier. The next job I took I got a bump of over 50% in my salary. I finally had a sense of freedom that I could do what I want.
The last two years have been incredible. I’ve felt more control in my job situation, and when I wasn’t feeling as thrilled anymore, I finally left to start my own business earlier this year.
I know what you might be thinking, it isn’t quite ‘slavery’. I did have the freedom to leave the U.S and move back to India at anytime. I could take any job as long as they were willing to sponsor my H1-B. Yes, I couldn’t compare this to true slavery, but to me, this is the modern version of slavery.
And yes, in some ways it feels like #firstworldproblems, given all that’s going on with #blacklivesmatter and gun violence and all the other issues in the US and all around the world, included people who are truly enslaved. At the same time, I know tens of thousands of immigrants who suffer this fate, forced to stay at jobs they don’t want waiting for their green cards. A lot of them go through physical, emotional and psychological pain, sometimes not being able to travel to be with their family in their home country. Feeling like slaves in the land of the free.
I feel a lot of anger, a lot of rage. I feel like I had been kept behind bars for 10 years waiting to be let out when it was my ‘turn’. Being tested every day if I was ‘good enough’, being patient, being resilient.
It’s tiring, exhausting.
Today, all I want to say is -
Thank You. Thank You to all of you who’ve been here to love me, to support me unconditionally and be here for me through my ups and downs of life. My friends, my family, and everyone who’s touched my life in small and not-so-small ways. I couldn’t have done this without you.
#iamnotaslave #immigrationreform
