TL;DR: My US work visa runs out in a month, so I’m leaving for about a year to go travel. I start on August 2014.
…actually, that’s it.
FAQ
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Wait, you’re not American? I’m an Israeli citizen born in Ukraine. I came to the US for my undergraduate degree. I kind of sound American because I went to the American International School for elementary through high school in Israel.
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So what’s the story with the visas? I was able to stay in the US on my F-1 (student) visa for two a half years after graduation through OPT and STEM. This year, I applied for an H1-B visa with a sponsor - there were 172k people for 85k slots. There was a lottery, and I didn’t make it. Could have been worse.
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Well, that sucks. Anything I can do to help? It’s fine, really. Thanks for your concern! I’ve been meaning to travel for a while, so the timing works out. If you’d like to help,
- Recommend particular cities that you think would be great places to live for 2 months
- If you know any good companies that do remote work, I might be interested
- …actually, if you have the space and aren’t planning to move for a year, I wouldn’t mind storing a bit of stuff in your basement
- What’s the plan? Largely TBD, but the tentative plan is to live in six different locations for about two months each.
The first stop is Tallinn, the capital of Estonia. Why? Wired swears by it, and my further research confirms Tallinn should be an interesting place. I don’t know if I want to work on my own ideas or contract remotely yet - time will tell. Plans are still up in the air for the next destination, but I am hoping to get a couple of months of skiing in over January & February.
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That sounds fun! Can I come visit? Absolutely. My plan is, rent prices permitting, to have a guest bedroom in every place I’ll be living in.
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…so, are you coming back? I certainly plan to. I love it here.
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Our immigration policies are ridiculous! That’s not a question. Also, politics is hard! If you want to help, consider supporting fwd.us or one of many other immigration reform groups.
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Let’s hang out before you leave! Totes. Email me and let’s try to find a time and a place.
Tags: #reflections