[timewarrior]

Just because I was able to overcome, doesn't mean the system works fine.

It took a lot of hard work and luck to get me to overcome this. So I would say that my life improved in-spite of H1. I was able to found a startup (and successfully exit) while on H1, which is extremely rare.

Around 2010, the Green Card wait for Indians went from 3-5 years to 20+ years. Many people who moved before or around that time got invested here (bought a house, grew family, kids going to school) and in a way are stuck in a limbo. Many of them are smart and hard working people, who used to have dreams of building companies. But after a decade in limbo, all they talk about is the next H1 renewal and the uncertainties around that.

Now, the best from India are instead choosing to stay in India and build startups there. While the current system is allowing staffing companies bring subpar talent which displaces good American jobs. So yes the H1B system is broken and it needs fixing.

If I had stayed, I would have had different set of opportunities in India. Difficult to predict whether they would have been better or worse!

And it is easy to say "that's fine" - when you are not living the life with constraints.