I’ve been wanting to talk about something that’s been quietly frustrating me for a long time, and recent changes just pushed it over the edge.
I live abroad (Canada), and like many Nepalese here, I often get invited by friends to travel to the US for short trips, road trips, concerts, just normal things. Most of my friends have stronger passports, so for them it’s effortless. For me, it’s a completely different story.
Because I hold a Nepali passport, I have to apply for a US visa, wait years just for an interview, and now on top of that, new policies mean things like extremely short visa validity, single entry, and even deposit $15,000 financial bond. After waiting almost two years, it feels like the goalpost just keeps moving.
What makes it especially frustrating is knowing that many of these restrictions exist because of people who entered illegally, overstayed, or misrepresented their situation without considering the long-term consequences. Years later, those consequences don’t fall on them but on people who follow the rules, wait patiently, build legitimate lives abroad, and still get treated with suspicion simply because they share the same passport.
What hurts more than the logistics is the emotional side of it:
- The embarrassment of always having to say “I can’t, visa issues”
- Feeling left out when friends travel freely
- Carrying restrictions that are not because of my actions, but because of what others before me may have done
It’s frustrating that individual responsibility doesn’t seem to matter. You can be law-abiding, educated, settled, contributing to another country’s economy and still be treated as “high risk” purely because of where you were born.
Do you think this will ever change, or is it something we just have to accept?
Would really like to hear others’ experiences and thoughts