Rejected four times by H-1B lottery, former Google employee says he got green card after quitting $300,000 job

A Nepal-born software engineer quits his high-paying corporate job Google After many visa setbacks, I finally got it in the United States. green card.San Francisco-based founder Pratik Karki shared the news in a viral post on“Today we got our green cards! Here’s the full story, no nonsense, special thanks to my dad,” Kalki wrote.Karki said his personal connection to the United States goes back to his father, who served as a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University and the University of California, Berkeley. His father later returned to Nepal for family reasons, choosing to raise his children there rather than continue his career in the United States.According to Kalki, this decision affected him growing up, as his family lived a simple life in Nepal after his father left life in the United States.“Going back to Nepal was the only way out. He left everything he had built for us in America. We moved into a small room in the attic of my grandparents’ house,” he said.A few years later, Karki moved to the United States and forged a career in technology, eventually joining Google in a high-paying engineering position. He said his compensation package is worth nearly $300,000 a year.However, his ability to remain in the United States long-term depends on the H-1B visa lottery, a system that randomly selects work permit applicants. Carkey said he failed four times during his time at Google.“Two years ago, I was rejected from Google’s H1B lottery for the fourth time,” he wrote.He added: “I sat on this email for a long time before telling anyone.”Repeated rejections, he said, left him facing the possibility of leaving the United States and possibly being separated from his wife and the life they had built in San Francisco.“I’m thinking about having to pack everything up. Try Canada, or go back to Nepal and live thousands of miles away from the people I love,” he wrote.Karki later decided to leave Google at the age of 27, giving up “an annual salary of nearly $300,000.” He began exploring entrepreneurial ideas in San Francisco and co-founded Anthromind with co-founder Mannat. The company is focused on building what Karki calls “the authoritative human data layer for cutting-edge labs and enterprise AI teams.”During this time, he also applied for an O-1 visa, which is awarded to individuals with extraordinary abilities. He said he prepared the application himself using evidence from his career, including hackathon judging and published work, and the petition was approved.“Case approved,” he wrote.Afterwards, Kalki and his wife finally received green cards, ending years of immigration uncertainty.“Today my wife and I both have green cards,” he wrote.He added: “Two immigrants, one company, one kitchen table conversation changed everything.”He dedicated this achievement to his father and said: “Dad, this achievement is for you, thank you for all your sacrifices and lessons.”