Why I Moved Back to India After 14 Years on H-1B: Aditi's Story

3:35 Other fields that you're really really passionate about I think that was one of the reason well I also want to point out one another major factor I I was actually very very frustrated by the whole Visa processing right it would take years for me to get my green card then it is you know very H1B is very very limiting you can only do one job you cannot do multiple jobs you cannot have a side business or a side hustle you're just limited to doing one job and I just felt like that was very very limiting for me and I wanted to explore entrepreneurship and other things on the side that I wasn't able to in us so I was like probably it's time for me to go back to India and explore other passions of mine thanks for that overview so just wanted to check a little bit about I think in the last 3 to four years you have the idea about rning back to India and so if you can so from that idea

4:35 To action how did you come up with like this is the time I want to move back so if you can talk a little bit about it that would be fantastic sure absolutely so to be very honest with you I think

4:46 Back in 2017 or 2018 time thing I started having Visa issues I was getting RSC for literally everything whether it was extension whether it was i140 so then it kind of struck me that you know my l i mean my the life that I've said in us might not be permanent it can end anytime so to be very honest with you I had started preparing from 2017 what I started doing is that I with the suggestion of my father I started enrolling in the mutual fund sip plan here in India I started investing in India just to you know have a backup setup in India because I wasn't sure how long will I be able to continue in us just because and then what happened now fast forward to early 2023 actually I just noticed that you know whatever money that I invested in mutual funds in India just grew 110% so then I started having a

5:48 Discussion with my father I'm like oh my God what is going on in India right now like I didn't have that kind of a growth in us when I was investing but the money the way the money it like not even doubled tripled in India so that kind of took me by surprise yeah and then I started having discussion with family and friends and as I told you my parents were visiting me literally every year they would come and stay with me here so I would also get to know experiences of people back in India through them they would tell me all the stories so I kind of got very very inspired again I was I was just thinking and then right around the middle of 2023 I just started noticing people around me getting laid off I just started seeing US economy not doing that great and then I think probably it was this year in January when I just thought you know things are not looking good around me as of now so I just

6:51 Thought it's a sign from the universe that it's probably time for me you know to go back because as it is I have like a 25 or 30 long way to get my green card probably I'll I'll retire after that I'll get my green card so then I was like you know I think it's time for me to just back up and go back to India and just explore new possibilities and New Opportunities and I was just excited learning about the India growth story yeah and I was like I not only I want to contribute but I also want to you know get a you know spy of it or really benefit from what is going on in India right now okay so that was my yeah that's how everything unfolded to be honest with you that's great so sounds like all these you know different trigger points kind of made to make the decision so just wondering was there anything that you have done from a career planning perspective or you know have you started applying or or you

7:53 Wanted to take a break or you wanted to apply after moving back to India just curious on that anything that you have done from a career perspective before moving so again I'm very honest with

8:06 You last three4 years have been very challenging both mentally and physically like I was feeling very very stressed out I was feeling lonely I started feeling a bit depressed so from a career standpoint U I didn't do any extensive planning but what I did was I was like you know it's time for me and both for 12 straight years and even back in the days when I would come on vacation to India it was just like for two or three weeks so I've never so I decided to give myself a gift gift of sabatical yeah so I decided to take a break for like four five months just travel around spend time with family I have seen entire us but I have not seen my own country so now my goal is to you know you know see incredible India I visit every state i' I've like covered almost 34 to 35 States in US yeah but within India I haven't I've hardly seen anything yeah so so I

9:08 Decided to take a break to rejuvenate to refresh because I just felt u i I just I I last last couple of years was very very tough so U I decided you know it's time for me to take a break from the hustle and bustle and just lead a peaceful life for four five months spend quanity time with my family there was a time back in 2020 during Co I could not even attend my own sister's wedding right because travel ban then not getting appointments for stamping so I have just missed out on so many important family milestones and events so you know that kind of made me so uneasy so I was like okay you know at least 2024 couple of months I just want to dedicate not only reconnect with my my close family but also with my extended family really old friends right friends that I've known for you know 20 years 25 years so so yeah so I just

10:11 Decided to take a break and also on the side I wanted to explore certain business opportunities right so when I was in us I was owning a house and I was doing Airbnb and while doing Airbnb I learned the the Airbnb business yeah so and then I did a lot of research in India and then I was like you know probably it's a great time to invest in a property in India and probably start at aabn business I'm still in the research phase I'm talking to different Property Owners I'm figuring out which city is the best city for investment so yeah so I am pursuing other passions on the side right I'm not working at all but yeah I have kind of now begin the process of looking for a job but but I'm not in a hurry or I'm not like no I want to get a job right away wherever it happens it happens but on the side I'm pursuing other business opportunities I'm also doing travel entrepreneurship so I just recently got into that space

11:11 So yeah so I have like travel entrepreneurship Airbnb I'm also trying to do some freelancing like IT consulting freelancing work which just takes up maybe probably 3 four hours a day not much so I can have a good work life balance like really enjoying this break right now oh it makes sense so you know giving yourself the time I think the time is the most important thing and having the flexibility to follow your passions I think that's one of the thing you mentioned is the reasons to move back so that you have the flexibility to do whatever you want right and not just work for one job correct correct so how

11:45 Is the life in India so far for you it's amazing it's amazing it's so convenient right I feel like in us you just have to do everything on your own but here you have the lunch of hiding domestic heal and I just feel like public transportation system is just so amazing here in India even if you cannot drive here in India I me obviously there is Uber and Ola but there is Ras now there are EAS and there are like you know public buses and now they also have metros and the connectivity is just so amazing and another important point I would like to highlight is like India is a food Heaven yeah sometimes and the food is available 24 by7 I'm like you sp everything closes at 20 p.m right here i' go for a morning walk and then by the end of my morning walk around 73 p.m. I'm able to

12:46 Get a juice from a street side wendor plus I can have a breakfast right on the streets I don't have to wait until 9: or 10:00 a.m. for restaurants to open so it's just these little things make your life so convenient right and yeah definitely having hous heal I think that's the biggest factor for me because I think in US you are just so pre-occupied in doing so much of the household work all by yourself right it just takes away so much of your time so that kind frees up here in India and you can focus on other important things yeah one has been great and overall I just feel like like like I live in nakur yeah and back in the days Nur was still a good city but now nagpur has grown and developed like anything the roads are amazing there are fly overs everywhere they have developed fabulous Metro system and now you have

13:46 All kinds of shopping malls and big restaurants and small cafes like there's just so much to do in that for it was not possible 20 years by and I used to live in Raley North Carolina and I would definely say right now naur even though it's a tier two city in India is so much more happening than Raleigh I am busy like every day I have something to do in Nur but that was not the same Cas in rale yeah right so there's just so much going on in India India has become so happening so I'm I'm just having the best time right now that's fantastic so I know I think you covered lot of you know awesome things that are happening in India you know the developments you know how everything is s just so convenient are there any challenges that you have encountered or anything that you know that was a little bit of struggles that you have to go through I

14:40 Think one thing that I noticed there any like some simple processes also sometimes we take a lot of time to process like getting a driver's license we take we take a couple of days like in in US definitely like during Co time we were having the challenges getting appointment but now on now you have started getting appointments quickly and you can just get done with your driers license but here in India I feel like in general U processes move a bit slower it takes a while there is a bit of a red taping you have to go through multiple people so I thought that was challenging and then it also similarly voice down to like if I want to open something of my own like I heard if you want to start a we you have to get licenses and all which takes like one months two months three months but in R I didn't have to do anything right or I just went to the website and check the city law said oh you can open airbn

15:40 You don't need any information from us and you just get started but in in India you have to just the processes are too long sometimes I feel like and to just understand it it takes a while right so I feel like in India right a lot of people have talked about this what jard yes hard to figure out jard to you know make certain things happen especially on the business side of the thing right with or getting it's very simple thing as a driver's license or a passport right for a passport like you pay 2,000 Rupees but then you have to pay extra 3,000 Bri to someone to get it process so yeah I think that's the that's the challenge I've noticed so far cool so I know you think you kind of touched a little bit about about on a financial planning right I think you started investing in India while in US itself is there anything that you wanted to cover for someone who is thinking about moving back to India I mean again based on the growth story based on your

16:41 Own experience anything that you would guide or suggest on how they should think about from a financial planning perspective absolutely so what I did was I was saving almost because I was a single person I was able to save almost 30 to 40% 30% of my salary and I was making sure so in initially I didn't understand the US market that well so I was just putting it in my savings account but the the money that was so I made sure that some some fixed amount and sending back to India like literally every month and then that money was eventually being invested in mutual funds and I enrolled in a plan called as sip is called as systematic investment planning yeah and U so you have to send every month a fixed amount of money and another best part about India is that you can easily hire financial advisers in India they are not very expensive unlike in us

17:45 Where you have to invest a certain amount to be able to even get a financial advice but in India it's very very convenient and very easy to hire a financial advisor so me and my father we both have a financial advisor sir he's a common financial adviser to both of us and I would just send money to India and on behalf of us he was investing money in different mutual funds so I feel like in India you need active investment right someone who's monitoring your investment because India is a growing economy whereas in US you can also invest in passive funds like index funds and all of that I don't understand stocks that well so just to be on the safer side I was just investing in some index funds S&P 500 index funds in us but if India I was having like a proper active actively managed investment and because of that I feel like it really really helped me and then obviously there are other ways also that you can invest

18:45 In India like fds I feel like the fds return is way higher than the FD returns in us like CD offers you 3 to 4% whereas in India you get almost sometimes even 8 to 9% right so MPS are also good but I was purely focusing on mutual funds or say and that time it was growing but I would say in last two to three years it is growing like fabulously yeah so so I would recommend everyone to not let your money sit in the savings account but actively invest in India India is a growing Market your money in 10 years will grow like anything not double but I I think for four times even five times that's what my prediction is so I would highly recommend everyone even which other country they are in the Western World to start investing in India okay cool is there anything that we haven't covered that you want to bring up and convey to our

19:49 Audience yeah I think sometimes when we live in a different country

19:56 Away from our families we some don't tend to talk about mental health yeah right I think personally I I did struggle last four two four years with my mental health right I was depressed I I was anxious I was nervous about how things will unfold in us then you are away from family also and then also there comes a point especially in your 30s right even your Social Circle starts shrinking because everyone is getting married having kids people moving out of the city moving out of state even leaving the country altoe yeah right so there comes a point where your Social Circle is also shrinking or you no longer have you know physical or direct connect with your family members because they live in India so you start feeling very lonely alone U you're doing everything on your own and and it kind kind of takes a toll on your Mental Health Plus add to that the the the

20:59 Pressure of you know when will the you know there was a possibility even there's a possibility right now where people are still thinking oh they might get laid off right so there is a added pressure of layoff then there is a pressure of Visa issues then U and U again I feel like India is a very community based society whereas America is a very individualistic yeah so I used to live in in this community where I hardly even knew my neighbors but here the moment I landed here in India right all my neighbors you know they people will just come over and start talking to you right but in us that's not the case so so there came a point where I was feeling very you know very anxious and very depressed I wasn't feeling very happy or fulfilled right so so I was going through a lot of mental health issues I would say and and that kind of completely disapp we the moment I

21:59 Came to India right because here you don't feel lonely not even a single benon you are always surrounded by people you're always talking to some of the other people right so I just feel like a lot of people U when they have in us they forget to focus on their mental health and it's not necessarily their fault it's just how the situation circumstances are surrounding it right so so I think this is a very important point I would like to bring up if you are living in any Western Country please please focus on your mental health because at some point it's definitely going to bother you and if you are not doing Mally well it also affect other aspects of your life right whether it is work whether it is personal relationships so I feel like you know mental health is very important that people tend to ignore no very very valid point then thank you very much for bringing it up and sharing you know such a handedly right I think this is such a

22:59 Common thing that maybe people might not acknowledge it but especially when you are you know it's an individualistic Society it just makes it much more harder right you know because then you're by yourself you're not having that kind of conversations you think within yourself which makes you anxious and you know and just not a good cycle to be in you know from a from that so no thanks for sharing that and really appreciate it is there any advice that you want to give for people who are considering to moving back to India

23:31 From your perspective absolutely so see if for example if you are someone who has a family I think in that case you definitely have to do meticulous planning are plan out one year or at least two year in advance right because you have kids and then you have entire family to take care of and when I say start planning in advance I also talk about start planning about or whether you want to do a internal transfer from your company you're in America or whether you want to you know take a break for a while if you want to take a break can you take care of yourself and your entire family or then figuring out you know which city to settle down in where your kids will be comfortable which school you want your kids to go to all right and also preparing your kids I feel like preparing them mentally one year in advance that he will be moving back to our whole country and just kind of assessing how they feel about it

24:33 Right but I think the more the most important aspect is financial right you even if you're planning to take a break make sure you are financially in a very very good place that you can actually live so there is a possibility that you will not be able to find a job right away do you have enough money to live by yourself as well as support your family for at least next one year yeah so and that in that one year not only you should be able to take care of all your home expens expenses but also Tak kids their school and the kids also tend to go to other activities you know basketball karate so that is one important aspect and and then if you're planning a internal transfer again for that I would say start thinking about it one year in advance start talking to your pro colleagues or your superiors just to get an idea how your company will be comfortable doing

25:34 That and and yeah if you are a single person I I think being a single person I think it's just it gets way more easier yeah because all you have to do is take care of yourself yeah so so for me I I just three to four months to get everything wrapped up but I've seen when families are moving they definitely need to figure out the it's very hard to do it in just two to three month and for single people I would also advise that you know because you don't have any responsibility you know just take a break take a breather for like three4 months take us sabatical travel the world travel India experience India right see the Grassroots of India so I would highly recommend that highly advice it will just broaden your horizon you know you will start seeing the world in a much more different way right Al so so that will be my advice for

26:36 Single people that if you have the opportunity just take a break for a while it will definitely change your life no very very valid and good advice I mean especially like you know the planning is the most important aspect and if you have the flexibility nothing better than when you have time energy and the flexibility to do that I think it's best time to do Flor and it just opens up so much so many things thank you very very much for all your time and for sharing your journey with us and really appreciate it thank you so much ABI it was great having the chat with you that's great thank you all for joining us on this insightful journey of Dy return if you enjoyed this episode and want to explore more stories and expert advice make sure to subscribe and hit the notification Bell don't forget to leave a comment below with your thoughts and experiences by the way check out the links in the description below for our Facebook group and social media for updates and engaging discussions as well

27:38 As connecting with fellow Thea wrers thank you once again and until next time may your Thea journey be filled with joy growth and endless possibilities