Every year the U.S. government issues up to 85,000 H-1B visas to businesses that want to hire highly skilled, temporary workers from foreign countries. Many of these workers end up in Silicon Valley’s tech industry. The positions are coveted, but visa holders often live in uncertainty; if their job is eliminated, deportation may quickly follow. As part of KQED’s Boomtown series, examining the Bay Area’s surging economy, we talk with a panel of foreign workers about living and working with an H-1B.
In My Experience: Living in the Bay Area on an H-1B Visa
(ROBYN BECK/AFP/GettyImages)
Guests:
Dora Csurgai, her husband has been on an H-1B visa since 2012; she is on an H-4 visa, for dependents of H-1B holders
Megha, market research analyst and H-1B holder since 2011
Di Hu, electrical engineer and H-1B visa holder since 2010
Arun Kumar, test engineer for a consumer electronics company and H-1B holder for eight years
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