Returning to India after eight years in the US was the best decision, says Hemant Pandey, a former Metta technical expert.
Hemant Pandey, a former Metta Technician who decided to return to India after living in the US for eight years, reflected on his life decision and said that he and his wife are happier in India because of the social circles.
In a podcast with career coach Pritish Jagani, Pandey said he decided to leave the US because he did not like the H-1B restrictions, and even though there is a huge pay gap between the US and India, Pandey said he would always choose India and not any other country, like Canada or any European country. Pandey said the US is best for a career, where one can earn and save a large amount of money, but his second preference would be India – though he said he misses the blue skies and blue oceans.Pandey said he started creating content away from his tech job in the US, but was not allowed to monetize his content because he was an H-1B, which was one of the reasons they left the US.
How much money do NRIs need to return to India?
Pandey said he came to the US in 2016 to pursue a master’s degree in computer science. His first job was at Tesla. He was lucky enough to be selected on his first try in the H-1B lottery, but was laid off from Tesla. He got another job where he was also selected for an H-1B visa and the company was also processing his green card application.
In December 2024, Pandey returned to India and continued working remotely for a few months for Meta. Then he took a break from work, went on vacation, and has now been working for LinkedIn for the past few months – out of Bengaluru.Regarding the ‘Back to India’ fund, Pandey said it would depend on individual cases whether they have parents in India, or whether they have children but one should not chase a number and not focus on a particular amount.
For some NRIs, even a corpus of Rs 5 crore will not be enough if they have children who will have to attend international schools in India, or who are planning to buy a villa in India, Pandey said. Pandey said he had a number in mind and they returned to India after reaching that number.
Without revealing this figure, Pandey said that he had allocated money to buy properties in a first-tier city in India. In addition, neither he nor his wife were close to retirement, so the money fund was in addition to their Indian income.Earning a third of American income in India is a good enough amount to consider if NRIs plan to return to India, Pandey said.Pandey said that instead of seeking a specific amount of money, NRIs planning to return to India should set a date by which they must make the move as this part is more difficult.
Life in India vs USA
Hemant said that life in the United States seems boring because people do not know their neighbors there. The work culture is such that colleagues do not spend their time after office unlike in India. People do the same thing every day, which leaves a lot of room for self-improvement, meditation, etc. In India, life is chaotic, but there is home help, delivery in 10 minutes, which saves a lot of time, and this time is spent getting to the office.
But he is happy that he does not have to apply for a visa to meet his parents.
