Watch: H1B Stopped Me From Going Home When My Family Needed Me - Here's What Changed

3:25 And then I moved to the US in 2014 to do pursue my electrical engineering in Milwaukee School of Engineering. So I moved there to I think like one of the coldest places in the US in Wisconsin. but it was fun. So I think that was like the starting where kind of I landed and that's that was like one of the big reasons why I wanted to do that. >> Got it.

3:50 >> So how was the life in US? you know going as an undergradu student and then working there and how did it evolve? >> Oh man. >> I'll tell you I think like being in your very early like 20s just moving abroad not knowing anyone not knowing any system because there are so many nuances to it and there are so many things which you don't know about like the culture the system and I was so like reserved or hesitant of like hey I need help I need help should I ask about this if I do this or do that is this right and I was constantly in that emotion first. But then I felt like a lot of people I met like my domates my potential like manager who would hire me for a job like a like in the campus job made me feel very welcome and kind of like that started evolving into like friendships and then more likely I

4:51 Started to hang out with them understand how the culture works as well because it's a little different than like ours and then from there it transitioned into like me taking up a job. I was obviously living in like the dorm rooms. and from there professionally I luckily landed a job as a battery engineer in one of the company in Wisconsin. but what happened was I worked with them for 9 months and was let go after 9 months and almost I think applied for like 10,000 jobs and I got two calls back. One was from GE, one was from Tesla. luckily I cracked both the interviews. but I chose Tesla. So then I moved to Reno Neimad and I started working as a R&D engineer for Tesla. Amazing experience, really good experience working there. But that gave me a huge wakeup call of like how important like having side like passive incomes or like building like wealth or

5:53 Like some kind of cash flow is so important. contrary to the thinking of like hey you have to have a secure job cuz we inherently are like brought up that hey just get a job and that's secure that's when I had this aha moment of you know a job is not a security and if I if this thing again happens in my life I will be crushed I don't want to ever go through that so then I started learning like educating myself a lot about like finances about like how money works about passive incomes about asset classes And then 20 this was completely 2019 like after I received the job and I was working and I was also learning like heavily books, podcast, audio books all of that and then in 2020 I like mid 2020 I purchased my first home like primary dental home and I started house hacking that house hacking it is like I'm living in one room and like I have tenants in the other three rooms and that kind of cut back on a lot of my

6:55 Rental expenses where I'm like hey the thing was that during that time in 2018 to 2028 to like like beyond there were significant challenges in my family which happened so for example like I had a death in the family like my grandma passed away in 2018 because of which I I couldn't even go back home and then my mom also got paralyzed and it was the worst feeling where I cannot even go back because I just left India you know all healthy and everything. 2 months later, both these things happen and then now I can't return back home because my H1B is in processing with Tesla and then after that COVID happens and then all of that. So I literally cannot go back home. Yeah. >> So I'm still building my life in between and I'm also now I have this extra burden of like sending more money. I already supported my family back home but now I started sending more money. So I had to like start creating ways of like how can I get more money and that was one way where I'm like yeah I start

7:56 Saving more money and I'm saving 20 30% of my income which would go to a rental property. So I started doing that and then started spending that as well and then from there I joined masterminds and I got into these asset classes of learning about them started scaling slowly and like steadily joined different communities for example like the community kind of like how you have you're bringing people together there are other communities out there like which help solves like specific problems and I now have become like a huge proponent of that is like you always invest money into learning things and getting information which you don't know regardless of how sketchy or things it feels because you're still giving it a shot. and then from there I was still working at Tesla until 2022 where I kind of like in between I realized like hey I want to be a truly like a full-time entrepreneur because obviously there are so many things in that life when you're living that life

8:58 Where you're like hey I don't truly have like family here right I'm always like missing family I'm like missing events I'm missing my friends weddings I'm like birthdays I'm not attending any of those Right. So that was really like I I think like bad for me in my mental health because it made me feel like very lonely because I would always be on the phone instead >> and even locally when there would be festivals, it would be like my friends who were local would go domestically to their family, right? And I was still left like alone like lonely. So I think that was one huge part of it was I'm like I'm I don't want to live kind of like this where I am right now and I need to change it. So two options is like hey I can return back to either India or I can kind of potentially go move towards buying a green card right and like that's the EB5 route which I was potentially pursuing to invest a

9:58 Million like dollars in the economy and then did my EB5 but that was also a long part and then also you have to have a million dollars which I had no clue about but I was slowly gradually building towards it like from 2020 I started building equities and once that that time came. So this happened in 2023 after 5 years. my I finally got the green light of hey you can finally like your I140 or whatever is approved and then you can go back home do that and 2023 I come back home and I meet my family after 5 years right and 2 weeks later my mom passed away very young she's she was 60 so I think that in itself gave me this huge wakeup call of what is truly important in my life and then what I have been chasing and why I have been chasing. I started

10:59 Questioning myself a lot. that led to me deciding that hey and and by this [clears throat] time 2023 2024 I had built up like the equity piece in like as an equity not like hard cash but equity but my next step would be to just sell the portfolio and then you know pursue that green card >> and then 2023 comes in and I'm like shocked and I'm like I don't know but my dad is still alive like like there are still family I can spend spend precious time with give them the life which they've never had. So 2024 started 2020 yeah 2024 I decided that at the end of my visa I'm not going to be here. I'm still going to pursue entrepreneurship because that's what I feel I always am. I like to build stuff.

11:48 I like to like scale like things. which I think like I'm still doing now but 2025 starting I decided I'm going to come back and as much as a hard decision it would be I feel today and this it's been exactly a year it's been exactly a year I've come back and I feel that's one of the best decisions I could like ever take in my life hindsight because when you're in that decision always like because I feel your identity is tied to it and you feel that you've put so much effort into this that hey I took an education loan I went through all of that I came here I educated I I got educated and then I got a job and I was battling through these visa issues and then I'm doing all of that right and just to give that all up it feels that your identity is tied to it so it was very hard for me as well to kind of let go because there also was this notion of

12:48 Like hey if you come back people might feel like you're a failure that hey you couldn't make it or like why didn't you get your green card and stuff like that so that societal conditioning and pressure was also there but then eventually I realized like nobody's living my life right I'm living my life I get to choose what I want and what happiness is for me that's when I took the decision of like coming back in 2025 and it's been a wild ride right for the last year like the things which I've been able to experience things back I've been able to give to people like you know like my parents or like other people who I like really care and love about and just also trying out new things which I I was so heavily restricted in the US to kind of like hey you can only work your job you cannot do anything else otherwise you will jeopardize your visa and I never wanted to do that but I still wanted to always build and I cannot wait another 10 years or like 30 years like in the waiting for a green card so I can start my journey.

13:46 So yeah 2025 I came back and now I'm here and I can like talk more about like things about like what has happened there. >> Thanks for sharing the all the details

13:57 And sorry about the loss of your mom and you know the reasons like the huge wakeup call that you felt and then you know just made the decision. >> Sure. So the first thing which I wanted to do was because I'm returning back home I wanted to be in my home base because I'm like hey I I don't want to just jump from one chaos to another chaos right I want to go to a place where I can you know slow down a bit like take decisions not just like hey I have to do this so I'll do that I don't want to be in that space so I was like I'll come back to my hometown And the first thing is kind of like just stay with my like my in my previous house like where I born and brought up. And I'm like I'll stay here for the next 3 to 5 months and then like truly decide what do I truly want to do. So that was the first decision. like hey I have a home base I'm okay to kind of move there and then

14:58 Eventually for entrepreneurship or like building things I can always take that decision of moving either to Bangalore or like Mumbai or Dubai or any other place right that those things have changed now like from the previous planning but that when I was in that space that was the first it's like okay and then I started calculating hey how much money do I truly need because I don't need $3,000 $5,000 to live in a tier to city like Lucknau I would need significantly less. So my plan was that a whatever savings or like cash flow which I was getting I would just live for the 5 months year or five six months in LMA and then keep increasing that spread because now like my rents my fooding all of that has significantly gone down. So how can I create as much like extra leeway so that I can reinvest into something and I haven't figured that out as like what passive investments which I would like to invest in >> but I but I took that money in the last year but initially when I thought it was

15:59 More so I'll take that money and just park it into something which gives me that monthly revenue like for example it could be like 1 CR 2 CR 3CR which you just like passively put into something and then you're just living life and you're just ing like things out of choice instead of necessity that yeah I have to have a job I have to get a job otherwise and that's I think like majority of the concern what people has is like they don't want to come back to India and like get into the job market because again different cultures different way of working so that's what I never wanted to come back and like do a job that's when I transitioned I'm like hey I will just bring this much amount of money or like I'll sell a few properties here and then take that equity out and I just like keep it not park it anywhere but just for five six months I'll just utilize it for anything whatever I'm just taking it as like a startup capital for my life in India.

16:55 >> So I did that and that was I think close to around maybe like $30,000 like $30,000 which was more than enough for me to like in a deer to city for everything like all the expenses. and that what comes around to like $3,000 or something like dollars, right? Which is completely fine. and that was one thing like financials. The second one was obviously selling everything. That was chaotic. where I had to sell my car, I had to sell so many of my things. Obviously at the very moment I was a lot of the things didn't get sold. So I just like kind of like donated them as well. There were some things which were you know like for example like bigger PCs or stuff like which are much more expensive. So I just put them in like my friend's like garage and they were able to eventually sell or it's still like lying there. Maybe eventually if they return they'll like bring smaller stuff back or maybe if I go to the US like I'll bring it back myself.

17:57 Got >> that was more terms of the financials and kind of like the moving piece. and all the other pieces which I needed I feel like hey talk to this CPO like cross border CPO do this I think I joined your community and thanks for that as well. So that helped me with a lot of resources too that hey if you're doing this because there are a lot of things in India I have no clue about right because I went as a kid and I did not do taxes I was figuring all of that out in the US. So how India ran I had no clue. I did not even have aar card or whatever. So I had to get all of that. So just building on that from your resources as well. I reached out to CPAs and then kind of like just collecting resources here and there and that's that's how I was able to get and I'm still collecting resources, right?

18:46 >> It's I think it's always a constant journey but >> I feel just taking that one big step of like it's okay to do that because other people have done that and they'll show you the way. I think just that having that confidence is like so good to have. Great. Cool. No, thanks for sharing

19:03 That. So, let's talk about the life, right? I think you mentioned especially going back to your hometown, living in the place where you grew up, spending time with the with father. So, how did things evolve like how was the life after spending almost a decade in US? >> Oh man, huge contrast, right? Huge contrast. Like in the US, I didn't have family. I don't have freedom of choice. I felt I was always anxious of like either if I'm going to laid get laid off or there are going to be some policy changes which affects my visa and for example all the time and I didn't want to do that and when I came back to India that was the biggest thing which I feel just like went out of the window was that hey I am here in a place where I have

20:04 Freedom of doing anything. I can go out and become a stand-up comic or I can go out and build a business or I can just post. I don't have like there is no pressure on me or like I won't be like uprooted [clears throat] and be sent out to another country, right? Like or like move back to your country, right? That was one of the biggest things like relief which I felt in the first two weeks that I felt calm like like and then after that it was like okay like now let's start enjoying life like now let's start giving experiences to my parents who never had that lifestyle. So some of the big things which I did was I got a new home like in the same city in Lacno like we we moved from a place of like almost like poverty to kind of like one of the most like really luxurious place in Lucknau. So I wanted to do that for my family and that was a huge thing like a huge goal of mine which I feel was achieved where I always

21:05 Had that in mind that hey someday someday someday I'll like do that do that like over the last 10 years but then just coming back you forced into taking that decision and I'm like yeah that's I'll do that. So I think that was a huge thing which happened. and then the second thing kind of I think because I went through all that pain in the past 5 years of like hey I'm not I feel like stuck to a job. I don't know about what finances are like like what is a 401k? What is a Roth IRA? Like I don't know anything like nobody taught me like these things. So and then I started hey this is my pain and always has been my pain for the last five six years. I'm sure other people are facing that as well. So then just as a trial I started like just helping out people like hey where are you stuck hey how can I give you resources hey these are resources these are free resources you should look into and then eventually that kind of moved into people reaching out is like hey how can I get more help from this and that's when I kind of like

22:07 Started building a community out of it to help kind of immigrants or people who are on visas to just invest in real estate or any asset class to start getting cash flow so that they can like get some kind of passive income and it could be even just $3,000, $4,000, $5,000 so that they are comfortable to take that decision that hey if something happens I'm comfortable moving back home and I do not need to work back like work back home. So I started doing that that has been also growing. I visited traveled I think like 11 cities. 11 cities like and I took my dad my caretaker like people who are in my house. I I feel like I don't distinguish because that's like I don't know like I'm born and brought up into that. So I take all of them. So it was amazing that I got to give my dad his first flight experience. He's never been on a flight, right? So, also my caretaker, like my father's caretaker, like he he's like

23:09 Amazed and I think it was so nice to get those pieces of joy is that you're seeing someone because for me inherently it's so just normalized, right? Like getting on a flight. So normal for me, but you bring this person who's never seen like a like a tarmac or like at an airport being there and they're just like looking around. Just having that emotion of feeling is so good >> and I wanted to do that more. Yeah. >> So, traveled with my dad, went to a lot of different cities. attended like I think like seven or eight of my friends wedding and then them having kids, I was able to be like present there. >> amazing experience. Really really good. Like I I was able to spend festivals. I was able to like do my birthday, spend my dad's birthday like you know like I made him wear a cap and like just proper birthday feeling. was like so nice and it felt really really good. for example even like last week I hosted like a potluck at my home like

24:10 All my friends and everything bought food and we were like all there chitter chattering which was so which were so many things which I was missing in the US and I feel this just one year of like just doing so many things I feel it's it's not a year I feel it's been like 5 years like the amount of things which I have been able to do. No. sounds like

24:31 All positives, lot of things you know experiences in the last one year. So on the flip side, are there anything that you miss from US you know in the last one year? >> Yes, I definitely do. and again I'm not going to bash India because I understand like every country has its pros and cons, right? India if majority people would be like oh there's pollution oh there is u constant like no privacy like for you or the infrastructure right those things are very generic which you can see from like a third world country point of view right but I think like when people have to make a decision it's really like what do you at this phase of life truly want in your life right and maybe in your 20s it could be the flashy like kind of like going like hard and doing things but I feel like as I'm growing gold I also like kind of like peace and doing things my my base and kind of doing that and that is something which India has

25:31 Provided me but obviously there are so many things which I miss for example like I I really miss having speed and efficiency right speed and efficiency for example if I want to hypothetically in my business if I want to buy a home right I I still buy homes sitting in India in the US and the streamlining of that business of like hey I put in an offer like I have someone who signs on behalf of me there is a company title company who checks all the numbers and they make sure everyone's in place everything is done and boom I do that I think that is so hard over here doing that because there are so many red tape around like so many things and you'll have like bits and stops and you'll have to probably not always but probably pay someone to like move your things in line. That's one thing. And also that certainty of like hey if I do X Y will happen like if I like if I'm like doing this I know what the result

26:32 Is going to be. >> So sometimes here it's very no if this happens oh now you might have to do this as well or you might have to do do this as well. So that's one thing which I feel I lack. Obviously the friends and like people who I made connections with that's a second like second thing which I really miss but also and this is a part which I'm questioning right now because I feel like I'm in love maybe if I move to Bangalore or like another tier one city I will change my mindset towards it but I think like the financial leverage and opportunities which I've had in the US kind of like hey I'll go out to a bank and I can get a credit card very easily right But I still cannot have a credit card unless I put like into a BF like a secure and then borrow 80 or 90% towards it. Over there I was a student I just applied and got a credit card and I can still get a credit cards right so the ease of having like access to money and then also opportunities because it's

27:32 A melting pot right like all of different ideas and like things happening. So exposure to those like opportunities has been bogged down a little bit which is fine because I understand that's a huge change but now I can truly also move to Bangalore and then be surrounded by those people and potentially like some other country as well. but I don't know yet like that's something which I'm also constantly exploring and deciding but I think like I just had to take that one step for me to come back here and think clearly which I wasn't able to do that but I think yeah India has in general like I've realized that I can create a very different environment around me to neglect those things so for example if I would say like there's trash there's all of that I would live in a community which for example is like very clean or like one of these highrises or well cleanliness and like rules and all of that is very like taking taking place. I know warm if I go outside

28:33 Completely that's going to be a different story but I can create a very different kind of environment around me for example I get people would say pollution yeah I can have an air purifier in the house right and I know those are extra costs which I shouldn't be bearing >> but I feel those are all excuses people might like have where they might not think of a solution but they instead of just justifying that hey if this is x I won't do that right so I'm trying to do that a lot as well if I don't have entrepreneurs I'll move to Bangalore I'll surround myself with entrepreneurs. If I have X problem, I'll do Y. I think that's what the mentality I have like grown into or have built that. and for that I think like just moving back to India has been I think pretty easy I would say. and also partially because of the fact that I had built that portfolio which sustains me right now because if that wouldn't happen I might be in chaos but I know I since I have the freedom of building everything or anything over here I can build anything or like make like I would say

29:36 Not money but like I can create value in some shape or form very quickly if and that would kind of result in like an money afterwards right >> I think the key thing here is having

29:48 That kind of a financial stability right to pursue different things you know that kind of eases the mind to follow what your heart is saying and you know the options that you have. >> So thinking back I mean what advice would you give for people who are considering about moving to India you know from your experience? -huh. the biggest thing I would suggest people I think is a consider where you are in life and what do you truly truly need instead of what do you feel society is telling you to like do or act in a certain way because I faced that where when I actually had that conversation with a lot of people.

30:39 I was met with a lot of resistance of why are you doing this like you built this and you know this is going to happen or like you don't have any security just so many excuses right but then you truly have to truly realize because inherently we always keep telling ourselves that oh we'll move in the next 1 year in the next 2 years in the 3 years 4 years and I was having conversation with this guy who has three kids in the US all are US citizens and like they've like grown up and he also had the same thing but life kept on coming in the way and as it's always going to be more responsibilities going in the future it's never going to be easier for you to like take that decision regardless of what stage of life you are in I think >> if you are adamant on taking that decision do it now and decide give yourself a very short period of time of like hey in the next 6 months or a year I don't know we are going to move we'll figure everything else out and just have a hard date of doing that and then just

31:40 Take that step because I feel like having taken that step that was such an important thing for me where the clarity came much after that like because I was in panic still I'm like what am I going to build I don't have anything here I don't know anyone I don't have any resources I literally in India just have my dad and nobody else I don't know how business work how taxes work how but all of those things are figured routable right everything [clears throat] is figure outable and that's what I feel is like if you are in that boat of taking that decision just take one step like just take one step it could be also just booking a flight ticket back home right year from now and just having a hard date just one step so that's something which I would say >> yeah I think the decision is the most important one and then I think the other things fall in place yeah >> correct thanks a lot go really appreciate you taking the time sharing your journey How you know couple of things change has given a huge wakeup call. I mean because

32:42 You are in two minds and you are a person who find resources right I think you know when something you're trying to solve the problems and create and how to navigate and move it forward. So good luck with everything. I know you have big ambitions and and I wish you all the best and thanks again for joining us and sharing your story with us. appreciate it. >> Thank you so much. Thank you so much for having me on the call as well. >> Yeah. And keep doing the awesome job which you're doing for other community members as well. We appreciate Thanks.