Young Chinese Émigrés Confront America’s Brutal Visa Lottery

For the past three years, luck failed David Zheng in the lottery for the American work visa known as the H-1B. He was in good company: Hundreds of thousands of immigrants apply for a limited number of H-1B visas every year, and a vast majority fail to make the cut.

Mr. Zheng, a Chinese national, came to America for higher education, earning a master’s degree in computer science in 2021. He wanted to stay in the United States and work in his field, but he was running out of time: His education visa allowed him to work in the country for only three years after graduation.

In July, while continuing to work full time, he enrolled in another master’s program to maintain his legal status.

“Sometimes, I wonder if this country wants people like me or not,” he told me.

For decades, the United States has been the top choice for young Chinese people seeking educational opportunities. Until the coronavirus pandemic, some 80 percent of them eventually went back to China because their country offered more opportunities. Now many want to stay because their home government is becoming increasingly authoritarian, their country’s economy is faltering and the job market is bleak.

But the U.S. immigration process, which is unpredictable and often prolonged, coupled with the degraded United States-China relationship, has left many in limbo. I interviewed six Chinese émigrés, and messaged with a handful of others who were trying to secure visas to establish professional roots in the United States. They described an experience that was vexing and sometimes traumatic — using words like “hell” and “nightmare.”

Some people I interviewed asked to be identified by only one name for fear of retribution from China, or fear that speaking out could be