Cheers to America — my new permanent home

I recently became a permanent resident of the US. I now have a green card! I always thought the term “green card” was an expression of the idea that you have a green light to stay, but it turns out that there is indeed an identification card, and it is green.

It’s a pretty significant personal moment, and I am very happy about it.

I came to the US as a teenager to attend college. While I was studying electrical engineering in college, I discovered quantum computing as a merger of my interests (computer science, physics, and mathematics) during my third year. I decided to pursue research in this field, and went to graduate school to do so.

That alone is a 10+ year journey. Add to that my jobs after graduate school, and we’re talking 15+ years now. That’s a long time.

During these 15+ years, my visas have all been temporary, in need of renewal in 1-3 years. Some of these types of visas have good chances of reapproval if you’re doing good work and keeping a clean record, and some of them are straight-up lotteries. So each time a renewal came up, it was an ordeal. I’m certain that having that kind of thing lingering in the back of my mind has really shaped my mindset toward being more conservative in taking risks to avoid any visa issues (e.g. work at a big company instead of starting your own company). It’s going to take some time to normalize my perspective.

The green card process itself took several years. At its (thankfully happy) conclusion, I expected that life would simply go on. I think this was a mix of engineering intuition (adiabatically perturb a system, and it will remain unchanged) and setting low expectations (it may not work out, and you may have to leave the country, so don’t get yourself too excited).

But once it happened, I felt a deep sense of relief, joy, and a desire to keep the joy going. I broke my personal best time climbing a mountain on a road bike, took some long walks to think about life in the longer term (and not just the next 1-3 years), and appreciated how fortunate I am to be where I am today.

I’m just a random guy from Ethiopia who happened to come to the US for college. Were it not for a compelling scholarship, studying abroad felt more aspirational than tangible at the time. But studying in the US has taught me several things. It taught me to aim high, to never underestimate myself, and to surround myself with people doing amazing things. I have been able to pursue a career in a field that I’d never even heard of coming to the US, and all because of the sheer amount of opportunity and world-class research that is readily available for anyone who has the grit to push through hard things.

Cheers to America — my new permanent home. 🙂