Karnataka-born tech founder overcome years of visa struggle, become US citizen
Karnataka-born CEO Saiman Shetty. (Instagram/@saimanshetty)Karnataka-born tech founder Saiman Shetty has officially become a US citizen, capping off what he calls years of visa hurdles, career knockbacks and a false bid to have him thrown out of the country.
Announcing the news on Instagram, Shetty looked back on the path that took him from a small village in Karnataka to American citizenship, recalling how he landed in the US as a cash-strapped international student with no contacts, no cushion and no fallback plan.
Who is Saiman Shetty?
Shetty grew up in Karnataka and moved to the US to study, later completing his engineering degree at Visvesvaraya Technological University and a master’s at Arizona State University.
He began his career as an intern at BSNL before working at companies including Tesla and Lyft, and went on to launch his own company in 2023.
Starting out with nothing
In his post, Shetty said he arrived in America as a student with almost no money, no one to rely on and no backup plan if things went wrong. He described the years that followed as a constant struggle rather than an easy welcome.
He wrote about carrying heavy debt, facing repeated job rejections, and missing out when he entered the H-1B visa lottery. He also mentioned walking away from a secure, high-paying job to build his own business, a move that brought fresh challenges of its own.
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The false complaint against him
Shetty wrote that people he once knew had reported him to US immigration authorities, falsely accusing him of fraud. He said the complaint was built to cause him harm and was passed on to officials without real grounds.
According to him, the claim did not hold up once it was properly reviewed. He credited the country’s justice system for the outcome, writing that in the end, “that’s exactly what showed up. Justice.”
Shetty turned his post into a message for others facing similar struggles, including students on F-1 visas, workers holding H-1B, O-1 or L-1 visas, and those still waiting on their green cards.
His advice was simple: stay patient, follow the rules and keep working at it. He added that the whole experience had made him more determined to support other immigrants going forward.
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“Trolls wanted me deported. Instead, I’m an American,” Shetty wrote, adding that he remains “still, very much, an immigrant” and intends to keep fighting for others navigating the same system.
The post drew a wave of supportive comments. Many congratulated him on the milestone, while others asked how long the citizenship process had taken him. The publication reporting on his story has reached out to Shetty for comment and says it will update the piece if he responds.
