More than his 20-minute visa interview, Kaladhar Reddy remembers a 90-minute visit to ‘The Visa Temple’, officially called the Chilkur Balaji Temple on the banks of the Osman Sagar in Hyderabad. On a Thursday evening in June 2015, Reddy, a 20-something systems analyst, was part of a throng of thousands jostling through the temple, seeking divine intervention for what would turn out to be a successful, if nervy, visit to the American consulate in Mumbai.
For Reddy (who requested his name be changed) and thousands of others targeting an onsite stint or, better yet, a relocation with a technology outsourcer, divine intervention is the last-gasp step to sealing the deal. Reddy now lives in San Francisco. But for many others, the challenges remain daunting. “The process of moving to the US was nerve-wracking,” says Reddy. “Even now, there’s always a concern, at the back of the mind, about how much time you have in the US and whether your visa will be renewed.”
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