Trump's visa plan pushes H-1B refugees' to move elsewhere: 'it made me feel like a second-class citizen'

"It was 2009, during President Barack Obama's first term, when the U.S. economy was rebounding and opportunities for well-educated workers seemed plentiful. She was bound for Dartmouth College, a top choice for many Chinese students, and later found her way to Harvard Business School. Qian embraced the American dream: the promise of equal opportunity, a country that rewards talent and hard work, and a place where global citizens like her could belong."

"But behind the glittering resume was a reality defined by her immigration status. Like hundreds of thousands of foreign professionals, Qian lived on an H-1B work visa the document that tethered her job, her ability to travel, and her entire sense of security to the grace of her employer. "Your entire life is tied to your job," she said. "If you lose the job, you lose the visa. If you lose the visa, you lose the country." At first, she pushed aside her anxieties."

"But each year brought fresh reminders: vacations cut short to fly back to China for visa paperwork, discreet job searches because changing employers required fresh visa sponsorships, and the constant fear that one misstep could unravel her life. "The H-1B made me feel like a second-class citizen," she said. Your entire life is tied to your job. If you lose the job, you lose the [H-1B] visa. If you lose the visa, you lose the country."

Qian Zhang moved to the U.S. from Shanghai at 18 to attend elite schools and built a high-earning career, becoming a vice president in Boston. Her legal status remained tied to an H-1B work visa that linked employment, travel, and residency to employer sponsorship. That dependency produced recurrent anxieties: interrupted vacations for visa procedures, secretive job searches for new sponsorship, and the fear that job loss meant losing legal status. The visa system induced feelings of second-class citizenship and limited mobility. After leaving her role in 2022, she relocated permanently to Lisbon in 2023, abandoning a successful U.S. career.

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