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In this answer, I will share my opinion and perspective. This is purely my opinion and no way represents other people’s feelings about India or the US. I’m originally from Mumbai, India. I’ve been in the US since August 2014, firstly as an international graduate student in Boston, and later on an H-1B visa since September 2017 at Aon in Chicago. I will soon complete 5 years of living in the US and would like to continue living here, for the following reasons which matter to me :Cleanliness - Where I live (in Chicago), most of the time, the streets are clean. Walking to work on clean streets in the morning helps keep the motivation high and is a nice sight to see. Usually, people do not litter, and make good use of the many dustbins on the sidewalks. On Michigan Avenue, for example, there are beautiful flowers and trees planted as well. The flowers and greenery go well with the beautiful architecture near Millenium Park.2. Population - There are lesser than 3 million people living in Chicago. In Mumbai that number goes up to over 22 million. Having grown up in a city with as large a population as Mumbai, I was used to crowds and having to compromise on personal space. For instance, riding the local train in Mumbai at 8 am on a Monday morning is a hell of a challenge! Compared to that, the CTA Blue Line in Chicago is a breeze.Dadar Station (Mumbai) during peak hours3. Infrastructure - The infrastructure is better here in Chicago. By infrastructure I mean facilities for common people. For example, there are bike lanes on roads, every street/alley is properly named or numbered, there are bike stations available every couple of blocks. GPS is efficient and you can find your way practically anywhere in the city - it is tough to get lost here in Chicago! The US government has taken efforts to make life easier for the common people and, although there are challenges, standard of living on average is higher than back home in Mumbai.4. Discipline - I have seen that people follow traffic rules here and are more disciplined in driving than back home in Mumbai. People stay in their lanes, wait for the traffic light, and respect pedestrians crossing the street. I feel way safer crossing the street here in Chicago than back home in Mumbai. People do take efforts to keep the surroundings clean.5. Pollution - The air pollution levels are lower in Chicago than in Mumbai. The air is fresh and breathable most of the time. I’ve got used to Chicago air now, and when I go back home, it takes a while for me to get used to the usual polluted air and chaos.6. Beauty - Chicago is a beautiful city, it’s a great place to live in. There is the Chicago river, boat rides on lake Michigan, biking on Lakeshore Drive, fireworks at Navy Pier, and many other sights to see! Living in Chicago is a privilege and I am grateful to be a part of this wonderful city!7. Work Culture - I love the work culture here. There is respect for your credentials and you are given time to research and work on projects according to your designation. Politics exists, just like anywhere else in the world, but people respect your personal space. People do not go out of their way to make you look bad. Managers are approachable and it is possible to have more direct conversations without fear of upsetting the person. There is no “sir”/”madam” culture here in the US, which I prefer. In my experience, the work itself has been directly related to my graduate major, I find it interesting and engaging and am passionate to learn more every day!Due to these reasons, I am willing to face the uncertainty of visa stamping and want to continue to work here in the US. I understand that there is no free lunch in life, and that sometimes, there are compromises that need to be made to achieve your goals. I believe that the US rewards those who work hard, and right now at this moment in my life, I am happy where I am. I love India and have not ruled out the possibility of returning some time in the future. Thank you for reading :)

You mean the provision that defines an “exempt” employee to be one that makes at least $60k?Let’s back up for a minute. Most employers can sponsor an H-1B employee for any position that requires at least a Bachelor’s degree and pays at least the “prevailing wage” for that particular occupation in that particular region. H-1B employees are generally allowed to displace American workers.A handful employers face more stringent requirements: “willful violators” of the H-1B program and H-1B dependent employers. An employer is considered H-1B dependent if at least 15% of their workforce are H-1B employees. Among the additional requirements for H-1B dependent employers:They must advertise the job in the US for a period of time before hiring an H-1B employee to fill it.They must attest that they have made a “good faith effort” to fill the position with an American applicant.They must attest that the H-1B employee is not displacing an American worker.Alas, there’s an exception to the exception. If ALL of the H-1B employees in the company are making at least $60,000 a year or hold at least a Master’s degree, then an H-1B dependent employer is not subject to the additional documentation requirements.The H-1B program was introduced in the Immigration Act of 1990 under George Bush Sr. It contained no protections for American workers. The additional requirements for H-1B dependent employers were added in the American Competitiveness and Workforce Improvement Act of 1998 under President Clinton. The act was sponsored by Senator Abraham Spencer, a Republican representing Michigan.

The path I will suggest (over the years, I took most of these courses):Foundation data scienceThe Analytics Edge | MITIntroduction to Computational Thinking and Data ScienceIntroduction to R ProgrammingIntro to Python for Data ScienceMachine Learning - StanfordMachine Learning | UdacityFoundation computer scienceIntroduction to Computer Science and Programming Using PythonDesign of Computer Programs | UdacityIntroduction To Theoretical Computer Science | UdacityAlgorithms, Part I - Princeton University | CourseraAlgorithms, Part II - Princeton University | CourseraAlgorithms: Design and Analysis, Part 1Algorithms: Design and Analysis, Part 2Foundation mathStatistical LearningCoding the Matrix: Linear Algebra through Computer Science Applications - Brown University | CourseraCalculus 1A: DifferentiationCalculus 1B: IntegrationCalculus 1C: Coordinate Systems & Infinite SeriesAdvanced data science / specialized topicsMining Massive Datasets - Stanford University | CourseraDiscrete Optimization - The University of Melbourne | CourseraSocial Network Analysis - University of MichiganIntroduction to Recommender Systems - University of MinnesotaFunctional Programming Principles in Scala - École Polytechnique Fédérale de LausanneNatural Language Processing - StanfordData Science and Engineering with Apache SparkArtificial Intelligence for Robotics Course | UdacityReinforcement Learning | UdacityDeep Learning | UdacityThere is also a data science pathway on coursera