A Washington D.C. man is on a year-long journey to all 50 states, hoping to spark change in a law he says discriminates against highly skilled workers, such as scientists and doctors, based on their country of birth.
Anuj Christian is an IT engineer who’s been in the US on a work visa for 14 years. He’s on a waiting list for a green card because of a US law that limits the number of green cards that can be issued each year.
The US limits each country to less than 10,000 green cards a year. For people like Anuj, who come from larger countries like India, the waiting list for green cards can be decades long.
Christian says the biggest problem with this cap is that people don’t understand the impact it can have.
“This issue is so dangerous for America, it’s like a bottleneck to growth,” Christian said. “The only reason it exists is because there’s not enough awareness.”
He also says that these highly skilled workers are often too afraid to voice their concerns about discrimination.
“They think that if we openly talk about it, when they apply for their work visa renewal or when they travel outside the country and try to get in, it might have a negative impact on them,” Christian said.
Christian hopes the scale of his year-long trek across the country will highlight the importance of the issue.
He plans to reach the remaining 18 states before the end of the year.
