Milestone for H-1B, a passport to the American dream

A digital arts exhibition on the H-1B visa has opened at the world’s largest museum in the U.S. to mark the 25th anniversary of the popular work permit falling on November 29. A large number of Indian IT professionals have been issued the visa over the years.

In the exhibition that began at the Smithsonian museum on Monday, 17 South Asian and Asian American artists explore America’s immigration story through this visa. They use it as a visual inspiration to comment on their immigration journeys. The works depict the range of emotions —anxiety, dignity, isolation and opportunity — associated with living in America.

“Our H-1B visa exhibition explores a historic part of the American story from the perspective of South Asian Indians,” Konrad N.G., director of the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Centre, said. The works capture the experience of people who come in search of the American dream, he said. In a statement, the museum said several generations of young scientists and engineers from all over Asia had come to be part of a “New America” and shape the United States’ culture of innovation and entrepreneurship.

For many, the H-1B visa was more than a piece of paper affixed on a passport; it determined so much of life in America and the opportunity to become American.

“The problem of an indentured service is not new. However, the H-1B visa put a new twist on the matter,” Lilaben Leher, a participating artist, said.

The H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows U.S. companies to employ foreign workers in specialty occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise in specialised fields.

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Source:Thehindu