Ex-Nvidia techie shares his ordeal after USCIS rejected his Green Card application citing this Apple reason
Yuchen Jin's green card application was denied by USCIS, citing insufficient impact compared to Apple.
Yuchen Jin, a computer scientist and Chief Technology Officer of the AI startup Hyperbolic Labs, has had his green card application denied by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).
Jin, who co-founded Hyperbolic Labs and secured $20 million in funding for the company, was surprised to learn that USCIS cited a lack of sufficient impact “beyond that of Apple, Inc.” in their rejection. The case was further complicated by an error in the decision letter, where the agency mistakenly identified Jin as Apple’s Chief Technology Officer—a position he has never held.
The PhD in computer science holder took to X (formerly Twitter) to share his frustration with the agency’s rationale, calling it “careless and inconsistent.” He wrote, “WTF? I have NEVER worked at Apple! I got my CS PhD, cofounded an AI startup, and raised USD 20M. Yet, after waiting an entire year, I’m rejected with this absurd reasoning.”
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USCIS concluded that his work did not meet the “substantial positive economic effects” and national impact criteria required for his green card category.
Follwoing the rejection, Jin has appealed to the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), a federal initiative spearheaded by President-elect Donald Trump to reform high-skilled immigration policies. DOGE, led by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, aims to streamline government processes and reduce regulatory obstacles.
“I really hope DOGE, with @elonmusk,@sriramk, and @DavidSacks, can fix the system and accelerate high-skilled immigration.”
“High-skilled immigrants are America’s secret weapon. It should be merit-based—not left to some USCIS officer carelessly reviewing documents and copy-pasting rejection reasons!” he argued.
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When asked on X whether he would appeal the decision, Jin replied, “@deedydas told me the chances for the appeal are slim, and some people said a pending appeal may affect refiled applications, so I decided to just refile. I hope this time the system matches me with a better officer.”
