Immigration Status

Being a citizen of China, I have to maintain a proper immigration status so that I can live and work legally in the United States. When I first came to the United States, I was a graduate student. During the course of study, I was on an F1 visa, which is for international students. After I graduated from school, I started to work for Microsoft. In the first 4 months there, I was still on an F1 visa. Although an F1 visa doesn't allow students to work legally in the United Students, I could use the OPT (Optional Practical Training) to work for Microsoft. The OPT allows me to work legally for one year. Also, for the STEM program students, there is a 17 months extension application, available for applying, to allow me to work another 17 months. After 29 months, if I will be forced to leave the country if my immigration status is still an F1.
Luckily, Microsoft provided  an H1B sponsorship for me. An H1B is a working immigration visa, which allows foreigners to work legally in the United States. However there is an annual  quota for the number of H1B visas annually. Even though Microsoft wanted to provide a the working sponsorship  for me, there was a chance that I still wouldn't get the visa, as there were more applicants than available visas. It was a lottery. I won got the lottery, so I changed my immigration status and was able to continue working in the United States, pursuing my dreams and improving my life.
However, not everyone is as lucky as I was. This Monday I had to say goodbye ,reluctantly, to one of my colleagues, because his immigration status expired. He comes from Macedonia and went to MIT as an undergraduate student. He is smart, brilliant and friendly. He is not an American, so he had to maintain his immigration status as well. Unluckily, he didn't  win get the H1B lottery, so after 29 months working in the company, he was forced to leave the company and the country.
It is such a pity to watch him leaving. Though I only worked with him for 3 months, I was impressed by his brilliance and his willingness to help others.
Life is tough and sometimes bad things happen. Some types of bad things are unavoidable, but this is definitely not one of them. Every year there is a heated discussion about immigration reform, but every year situations remain the same. Hopefully some real changes will take place in the near future.
My best wishes to my dear friend and ex-colleague.