New Delhi, Aug. 16 -- For a 29-year-old Indian techie, the American dream was operating on a ticking clock. After facing three consecutive H-1B lottery rejections, Sohan Sethi had roughly 100 days left on his student visa.

In an essay for Business Insider (BI), Sethi, a healthcare AI and data analytics professional, shared that instead of packing his bags, he pivoted to one of the most rigorous immigration pathways available-and won.

After completing a degree in computer engineering at the University of Mumbai, Sethi told BI that he saved money working as a business analyst before moving to the US in January 2022. He attended his dream school, the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC), and spent roughly $60,000 on tuition.

After graduat...