A Nepal-born software engineer who left a high-paying job at
Google after repeated visa setbacks has finally received his US
green card.
Pratik Karki, a San Francisco-based founder, shared the news in a viral post on X, saying he and his wife had both been granted permanent residency in US after a long and difficult journey with repeated H-1B visa lottery failures.
“GOT OUR GREEN CARDS TODAY! Here’s the full story, no BS, and a special thank you to my dad,” Karki wrote.
Karki said his personal link to US goes back to his father, who previously worked as a postdoctoral researcher at Harvard University and the University of California, Berkeley. His father later returned to Nepal following family circumstances, choosing to raise his children there instead of continuing his career in US.
According to Karki, that decision influenced his upbringing, as the family lived in modest conditions in Nepal after his father stepped away from his life in America.
He said: “Going back to Nepal was the only way. He walked away from everything he had built in America for us. We moved to my grandparent’s house in a small room in the attic.”
Years later, Karki moved to US and built a career in tech, eventually joining Google in a well-paid engineering role. He said his compensation package was worth close to $300,000 a year.
However, his long-term ability to stay in US depended on the H-1B visa lottery, a system that randomly selects applicants for work permits. Karki said he was unsuccessful four times while working at Google.
“Two years ago I got rejected from the H1B lottery at Google for the fourth time,” he wrote.
He added: “I sat with the email for a long time before I told anyone.”
He said the repeated rejections left him facing the possibility of leaving the US, potentially separating from his wife and the life they had built in San Francisco.
“I was looking at having to pack everything up. Try Canada, or go back to Nepal, and live thousands of miles away from the person I love,” he wrote.
Karki later decided to leave Google at age 27, giving up a “close to $300K in yearly comp.” He began exploring startup ideas in San Francisco, where he co-founded Anthromind with fellow founder Mannat. The company focuses on building what Karki described as “the definitive human data layer for frontier labs and enterprise AI teams.”
During this period, he also applied for an O-1 visa, which is granted to individuals with extraordinary ability. He said he prepared the application himself using evidence from his career, including hackathon judging and published writing, and the petition was approved.
“The case got approved,” he wrote.
Following that, Karki and his wife eventually received their green cards, ending years of immigration uncertainty.
“Today my wife and I are both holding our green cards,” he wrote.
He added: “Two immigrants, one company, one kitchen table conversation that changed everything.”
He dedicated the outcome to his father, saying: “Baba, this one is for you, thanks to all your sacrifices and lessons.”
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