[rasikjain]

I can understand your situation and going through the RFE phase. Would like to have a conversation with you. Can't find your email since it is a throwaway account. My email is in the profile. Can you please reach out to me?

[throwawaymjabba]

I assume you wanted to know about the RFE. Please see me other comments on what type of questions where in the RFE and what happened to other colleagues who got RFE. As for time line, my h1b was in premium. Got RFE within 10 days. They gave about 3 months to respond. My employer for some reason (seems to be the standard practice with my employer) waited till the last moment and filed it 5 days before the last date. Got it approved within 2 days of it reaching USCIS. This was in August 2018. Even though they asked why do I need 3 year extension, they still gave me 3 years, which is surprising and sad at the same time because I had already made up my mind to return and it made it even harder to leave.

Please feel free to ask me anything else though I am not sure I can answer. I don't really know the internals of the visa process. Everything is handled by the immigration team of my employer and their attorney, and we rarely have any idea or control over what's going on. I got to to see the RFE only because the delivery head of my unit escalated my case.

[rasikjain]

Thanks for your detailed response on RFE. I just wanted to have conversation on your post move on how you are getting adjusted. Good luck :-)

[throwawaymjabba]

I have been thinking about our conversation here and wanted to add something more in case that's what you were wondering about.

Do I regret coming back?

Yes, I do on some days, especially when I go to Indian stores similar to BestBuy. I see all the big screen TVs and see them priced at 150k, 200k and above, and I suddenly feel poor. When I was in US, I couldn't buy them because of the uncertainty of being in US. Now, I cannot buy because I don't have a job. That makes me wish I shouldn't have come back. May be, my thinking would be different if I had a job in India.

Another issue is place of stay. I am staying at my in laws house, and I have to "act" to keep them happy. If they ask me to leave, I would be jobless and homeless also.

So, if all these RFEs are making you want to come back, I would say keep going. Things will most likely get better. If they deny your visa, come back. Otherwise stay. Save some money and retire early.

All the best.

[throwawaymjabba]

Its been about 2 months since I came back. I haven't started looking for a job yet. I haven't even started preparing for interviews. Feeling very lazy. Weirdly, I am not even that worried.

As for money, I have a good savings in bank thanks to the 6 years in US. And my wife has a government job. We were in a dilemma on whether she should give up her job and come to US. All these talks about revoking h4 ead made that decision easier. Wife and I are staying at her parents house (they gave part of their house for us to stay). So, I dont have any immediate financial constraints. We don't have any kids either.

Other than driving in Indian traffic and the oocassional family drama involving my parents and in laws, things are going smooth so far.