A New Game Turns the H-1B Visa System Into a Surreal Simulation

More than half of the nine developers who worked on the game either obtained a US visa or tried unsuccessfully to do so. Most of them are from China, but the team has also intentionally recruited talent from other countries in hopes of incorporating more diverse immigrant perspectives.

“Everyone knows someone who has a visa, but not everyone talks about that part of their identity,” says Andrea Saravia Pérez, a Colombian immigrant who joined the team in February as a narrative designer. “How can we develop an interactive project that shows people this immigration system that many Americans don’t know about?”

There is growing interest in the video game industry in creating political games, Yang says. When her team presented H1B.Life at the annual Game Developers Conference in San Francisco last week, she said it received a tremendous amount of interest and support because it was tackling an important societal issue without expecting to make much profit. (The game was backed by a philanthropic organization, and the developers also plan to raise additional funds through a future Kickstarter campaign.)

Yang says she’s also heard from people in Germany and Australia interested in licensing or adapting the game for different countries. “The whole world is turning to the right and life is getting harder for all immigrants,” she says.

“If we can just put people in our shoes, I think it can have a very positive impact,” says Saravia Pérez. “As long as the players come out and have fun and are able to empathize and understand a little more, I think we’ve done our job as a team.”

Courtesy of Reality Reload

Techniques versus emotions

The H-1B visa program, established in 1990, is one of the most reliable U.S. immigration pathways for white-collar workers with college degrees. In recent years, the program has issued about 85,000 visas per year, but because there are often more applicants than available spots, a lottery system determines who will ultimately be chosen. And if you don’t succeed, you’ll have to wait a whole year before trying again. Every person who has gone through this process has their own story of success or failure to tell, myself included.

The team behind H1B.Life began developing the game by interviewing immigrants. So far, Yang says they’ve spoken to more than two dozen people about their H-1B travels and used those interviews to make the game more realistic and accurate. The biggest challenge now is finding a balance between accurately explaining the complex immigration rules and ensuring the game remains entertaining.