A long-awaited Green Card celebration!

By William Johnson

Back in 2016, Rhea spent considerable effort to find an experienced geotechnical engineer. This endeavor was not an easy task, but we were lucky that we met Sandip Uprety. The catch was that he needed to gain U.S. residency, or he would have to return to his home country of Nepal.

You might think that an educated geotechnical engineer would be a prime candidate for U.S. residency, considering we have a shortage of engineers with his specialty and experience, but little did we know what the process would entail.

After Sandip started with Rhea in May 2016 working on his student visa, we obtained a 3-year work permit (H-1B permit). This was a complex and uncertain process that included placing a newspaper ad to determine if there were any qualified U.S. engineers who could perform his job. In parallel, Sandip began the process of obtaining permanent residency, which stalled for several years and was additionally delayed by the coronavirus pandemic.

These delays forced us to apply for an H-1B permit extension-- yet another process with an uncertain outcome. Finally, as a 5-year employee “living on the edge,” Sandip finally received his green card! Congratulations and celebrations are in order!