IO aging out of H-4 dependent status faces self deport |
A young Indian American software engineer, who has lived in the U.S. since the age of 14, faces the prospect of having to leave the country in approximately six months as she ages out of her dependent status. Sri Ponnada, an engineer at Microsoft`s headquarters in Redmond, Washington, moved to the U.S. from Jamaica with her mother and brother. The young woman was born in India, but has not lived there since the age of three. Ponnada`s mother Vara, a physician, came to the U.S. in 2008 with the family to do a residency in internal medicine in New York.She then served asa member of a research team for the Cardiology Department at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, before joining the Hancock County Health System in Northern Iowa. Vara was granted a national interest waiver for her advanced skills, which allowed her and her dependent children to remain in the U.S.Vara Ponnada has applied for a green card and has an approved I-140, making her eligible for a green card, but is stuck in a logjam, along with an estimated 1.5 million Indian Americans who are also awaiting employment-based legal permanent residency status.
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