The First Months
What to Bring From India and What to Buy After You Land
Baggage allowance is finite and American shops are extremely well stocked. The useful question is not what you might want but what…
Tarun Balakrishnan
Immigration writer, Chakk De America
Tarun explains how statuses and filings fit together without pretending to be a lawyer.
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14 articles
The First Months
Why Paper Mail Still Runs More of America Than You Expect
Coming from a country where everything arrives by SMS, the volume of consequential paper is startling. Missing one envelope can…
The First Months
Your First American Winter, and Why Layers Beat a Thick Coat
Cold that lasts for months is a different problem from cold that lasts for a week. The equipment, the housing and the daylight all…
Visas & Paperwork
A Visa and Permission to Remain Are Not the Same Document
One is a travel permission printed in a passport and the other is your position while you are inside the country. Confusing them…
Visas & Paperwork
How Immigration Scams Are Structured and the Tells That Give Them Away
The people targeting new arrivals are professionals, and their scripts are built around urgency and isolation. Knowing the shape of…
Visas & Paperwork
Travelling While Something Is Pending Is Attorney Territory
Leaving the country while a matter is being decided is one of the few decisions here that can be genuinely irreversible. This…
Visas & Paperwork
The Reporting Obligations That Come With Living Somewhere as a Non-Citizen
Most countries attach continuing duties to a foreign national's presence, and they are easy to overlook because nothing reminds…
Visas & Paperwork
Preparing for an Interview at a Consulate or an Agency Office
These appointments reward organisation rather than eloquence. Almost everything that goes wrong is a document problem or a nerves…
The First Months
Furnishing an Empty Apartment Without Buying Everything Twice
The first flat gets furnished under time pressure, which is why so much of it gets replaced within a year. A sequence exists that…
The First Months
Relearning the Shape of a Week in America
The working day, the shops, the meals and the weekend all sit at different hours here. The mismatch is small on paper and…
Visas & Paperwork
How an Immigration Agency Handles the Case File It Receives
A submitted application enters a process with stages, queues and internal handoffs. Knowing the general shape of that process makes…
Visas & Paperwork
Names, Transliteration and the Document Mismatches That Stall a File
Indian naming conventions and American form fields do not fit together neatly. The resulting inconsistencies cause delays across…
Visas & Paperwork
The Life Events That Should Send You Back to Your Attorney
Ordinary decisions about jobs, houses, marriages and travel can touch an immigration position. The pattern is easier to learn than…
Visas & Paperwork
Why Immigration Systems Are Full of Trade-offs Nobody Can Remove
Every design choice in an immigration system buys one thing at the cost of another. Understanding those tensions explains far more…