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Understandably, focus will be on those planning to physically immigrate *to* the US and who now can’t. But spare a thought for your (likely junior) academic colleagues who already live and work here, but who are on *visas*. Their lives are abt to be even more precarious (1/9)
In normal times, producing the amount of research we’re supposed to within the pre-tenure time frame is MUCH harder for immigrants. Why? Maintaining/upgrading one’s immigration status can be equivalent to a part time job. So many hours, so much concentration. (2/9)
Don’t believe me? I’ve had ten visas between 2004, when I first moved to US, and 2019, when I finally got my green card. That’s ten trips out of the country to obtain a new visa (many at my own expense), and ten lots of paperwork (1-2 work days of time to prepare). (3/9)
And I was super lucky to have fantastic colleagues at @nyuniversity and @Harvard who did everything they were supposed to do each time to help me. (4/9)
What happens on a visa trip? Well, after you fill out a mountain of paperwork, you leave the country you live in, travel to another country, line up like cattle outside an embassy in the early morning, without phones/valuables, and hope interview goes well (5/9)
If it does, you get to go back to your hotel/accommodation, and wait for the visa to arrive. And get this: it can take weeks or even months. During this time, you can’t renter the US. You can’t even *check* on your application. (6/9)
I’ve been stuck *outside* of the US in the middle of a semester (waiting for a visa). I’ve been stuck *inside* the US and had to forgo family get-togethers and keynote speech invitations (waiting for my green card). (7/9)
And I’m one of the lucky ones: my green card came through late last year. Your junior colleagues without geeen cards are likely to be VERY STRESSED right now. Reach out. (8/9)
Emigrating to the US is difficult (but worth it!) Many people in academia seem not to understand this. Part of it is that profs love to say they are “from country X” but they’ve not immigrated from there (or not as an adult). Good luck everyone! (9/9)
