Missed Mother’s Final Goodbye: H-1B Techie’s Heartbreak!

Life in abroad, especially USA, gives financial freedom to Indians because of high paying jobs. But, it will also make them emotionally detached from family and void of relationships in the long term. On the top of this, the drastic change in immigration rules is making life tougher not only just for those who went to USA recently but also for those with ample experience in the tech field.

A heartfelt confession from an Indian-origin tech professional working in US via his LinkedIn profile is currently going viral on social media. A H-1B techie named Gautam Dey has recently shared an emotional note after he couldn’t visit her ailing mother due to lack of Visa slots enabling him to visit India.

The individual identified as Gautam Dey wrote that he was writing the post as a son and not as an experienced job holder or a H-1B worker. He described the painful journey on how his mother passed away from stage 4 lung cancer while he was still trying to secure a visa stamping appointment to see her for one last time. Gautam recounted how he failed to secure travel approval when his mother was hospitalised for 17 days.

Dey said he moved to US twenty years ago after being recruited by an MNC for specialised software work. He further added that he had spent years working under the visa system, paying taxes and building technology products, but still unable to get Visa processing due to stamping delays and sudden changes to dropbox process.

Gautam Dey admitted that he was trapped with conflicting choices of either being with his mother in the last days by travelling without Visa and lose what all he built over the years or stay back to protect his job and family. He expressed profound regret for not being able to see his mother and said that the pain will travel with him for the rest of life.

Concluding his heart-wrenching post, Dey offered advice to younger professionals who plan to work abroad. He requested them to think carefully before coming out of homeland. The distressing write up has once again highlighted the perils of leaving India in search of dream future abroad amid changing immigration rules.

Recently, the US immigration has introduced drastic changes to H-1B Visa processing due to which many Indians could not risk their careers and visit India even during dire circumstances back at home. This is another such story.