Victor is a professor of Latino Studies and an H-1B visa recipient. Initially unaware that his career path could lead to a work visa, Victor was surprised when he was offered H-1B sponsorship after completing his PhD and accepting a faculty position at a university.
Uncertain whether his accrued unlawful presence in the U.S. would trigger a re-entry ban, Victor consulted with Path2Papers to assess whether he would need a D3 waiver. It was determined that he did not require one, but he did need to get Advance Parole as a safety net. After traveling to El Salvador for his consular interview, Victor’s visa was approved and he safely returned to the U.S. in January of 2025 before inauguration.
As a studio art major in college, I was exposed to many mediums, but I found myself especially drawn to civil rights era printmaking. I wanted to understand the cultural impact of political posters, especially on the Chicano and Latino movement. I started exploring these questions in an American Studies course, and my professor told me that I had the chops for research. That’s what started me on the pipeline of an academic career. Essentially, I had a lot of curiosities that I had no choice but to go into the research realm to be able to answer. I went straight through from undergrad into the PhD, and then into my faculty position. So there were no breaks to contemplate or reevaluate my path. It’s just something I chose and ran with it.
I always thought work visas were exclusively for people recruited by U.S. companies from outside the country, not currently living in the U.S. like myself. So, to me, a visa was completely outside of the realm of possibilities. But after I accepted the job offer at my institution, a faculty member in my graduate program told me she thought they could sponsor me for an employment visa.
I was confused at first, but she put me in touch with another DACA recipient who had recently gone through the process. This person was in a higher education environment too and after asking them some questions, and then talking to my faculty advisors and future employer, I realized the visa was likely an option for me. But it wasn’t until the dean’s office staff told me they could sponsor me that it actually started to feel real.
I didn’t find this out until after I got the visa but apparently, when I was first hired, they had already assessed the possibility that I might be eligible for an H-1B, but they had respected my agency not to disclose my status to them at that time. They waited until I actually told them directly that I had DACA and asked about my options.
It was surprisingly easy to get the process started because there’s a protocol in place at my institution. They have a law firm on retainer, so I reached out to them and set up an appointment. It seemed like it was a well-oiled machine. It was very different from what I was used to.
I didn’t find this out until after I got the visa but apparently, when I was first hired, they had already assessed the possibility that I might be eligible for an H-1B, but they had respected my agency not to disclose my status to them at that time. They waited until I actually told them directly that I had DACA and asked about my options.
Being in an academic setting, we are trained not to expect students to disclose a particular part of their identity. There’s a whole culture around not forcing people to out themselves. Just to see that being practiced with me was really interesting, because historically I have always had to disclose my status when I was in dire need of something. But in this case, there was already a process in place that I didn’t have to educate my employer on. These are the kinds of privileges that I didn’t know I would have access to as a professor. Now I understand that this is what it’s like to have the full-fledged support of an elite institution.
It happened really fast. The start date for my job was July 1st, 2024. I’d initially started to explore the H-1B as an option a few months earlier, after I signed my offer letter. Back then I was still hopeful that we were going to have another Democratic president and that maybe DACA wouldn’t be terminated. But when it started to seem like we were likely going to have a Trump presidency, the wheels got turning really quickly. Almost immediately after the Election, the lawyers for the college reached out and told me we needed to get going. I sent them all the information they needed and by Thanksgiving my petition had been approved.
The law firm my employer works with was concerned about whether the amount of unlawful presence that I had accrued in the country could trigger either a three year or a 10 year bar. They suggested I reach out to Dan Berger at Path2Papers, who then put me in touch with Krsna Avila, another Path2Papers attorney. Serendiptiously, I’d already met Krsna during my time in undergrad. Together we did the math about whether or not I needed a D3 waiver. Luckily, it turned out that I just needed to secure Advance Parole to be able to come back in the event that I didn’t get the visa.
I got my Advance Parole approved the day before I had to travel to a consulate in El Salvador where my interview was for my work visa. It was around the holidays so there were a lot of office closures and the number of available appointments at my field office was very limited. In one day, I drove across the state and back in the middle of a snowstorm. Then I got home, packed, and left the following day for El Salvador.
I remember that the window to schedule a consular appointment was also very limited because they only had appointments available every Monday and Friday, which cut down the amount of dates before inauguration. Meanwhile, I was adjusting to a new position after making a big cross-country move. I was trying to make sure I didn’t falter in my teaching, or my research, or my publications. It was a stressful few months.
I felt relieved once I landed back in the States because I thought if I were to get stuck, at least I’d already made it back to the country. But my next flight got delayed and the gates kept changing, so I was still on edge. Once I got home, I opened up my bag to check my I-94, my record of entry, to make sure that it was accurate—and it wasn’t.
I’d been advised to leverage my academic title as much as possible during the trip. And surprisingly, airlines do treat you better when they see a PhD next to your name. But this time, the people at the desk added it as if it were part of my last name. So I had to email the CBP office at the airport and ask them to correct the record. It wasn’t until 72 hours later that all my papers were in order, and I could finally breathe.
My dad called me right after the process was finished to ask me what it meant to have H-1B status. I told him that it has to be renewed after three years but there was a possibility to enter legal permanent residency. And he said, But in the meantime, you still have to live on a three year clock? He laughed and told me it sounded just like DACA with an extra year.
So, yes it still feels a little uncertain. There is some relief in knowing that under this status, what happens next is up to me. All I have to do is publish, which is already what I’m expected to do in my job, and teach at the level that I’ve been teaching already. Then, down the road, it’s just a matter of gathering experts who can attest to the fact that I’ve done that. In that sense it feels like there is more under my control.
There is some relief in knowing that under this status, what happens next is up to me.
It was very strange. Everyone kept telling me how great it was that I was returning to my country and how beautiful it was going to be. But in the back of my mind I was thinking, This is not me reconnecting with my homeland. It’s not a vacation. It is strictly about getting that piece of paper so I can come back.
Logistically, I structured the entire trip so that I wouldn’t be too far away from the embassy. I got to see some of my relatives but it was very rushed and I couldn’t relax. Even though the interview went fine, the time between the interview and actually getting my passport back was stressful because it’s a country that I don’t know anymore. And so the possibility of being stuck there for more than a week was really scary.
In addition to building out my research portfolio, my plan is to publish my dissertation as a book. My dissertation focuses on an artist who was formative in the development of Chicano art in Los Angeles, but has been completely omitted from the history in large part because of how whimsical his work was. It didn’t look anything like the militant style that was popular in the movement at the time. I think that’s what attracted me to it, because when you grow up with the status that I grew up with, it can be very easy to be consumed by the negative. But we have to find those moments of joy and playfulness. It’s essential to our survival.