Bigger India
The ‘Golden Cage’ Visa Forces Immigrant Men to Be Stay-at-Home Husbands
The little-known H-4 visa lets spouses of workers stay in the country, but can also be a trap.
Every morning, Tufail Ahmed calls his parents in India at around a quarter to nine, or before what he calls “office time.” But Ahmed has no office to go to. He hasn’t been employed since he came to the US in 2014. Ahmed is on an H-4 visa, a dependent on his wife’s H-1B visa, which means he cannot work legally in the US. He is a househusband. But he doesn’t want his parents to know. So every morning, Ahmed calls them before “office time” and pretends like he’s going to work.