Meet Ankur Nagpal: The serial entrepreneur whose 2021 social media post is creating major visa abuse controversy
A 2021 post by Indian-origin entrepreneur Ankur Nagpal is at the center of a major controversy as an investigative report has flagged his post as visa abuse. Nagpal wrote that if someone is trying to immigrate to the US on an O-1 visa and needs some references, they can reach out to Nagpal and he will happily sign their letters even if he doesn’t know them because it won’t cost them anything, but the US will get more skilled immigrants. In 2023, he added the same post and wrote that it was a good idea, as many people had benefited from him on their visa journey. The report accused him of being part of the Visa gaming system. It also reported that the social media posts were not removed and in the meantime, Nagpal became even richer as he set up several companies.
What is O-1 visa?
A person of exceptional ability, of national or international repute, can apply for this visa to work in his or her field of competence. Applicants include six to 10 letters of recommendation from independent experts and people with whom the visa seeker has worked. These are letters that Nagpal had said he would provide, even though he did not know the applicant personally. Many people wrote in the comments section of that 2021 post that they do the same and provide letters of recommendation for O-1 visa applicants. Nagpal also taught people how to “game” the O-1 visa system as he created a video course on it, the investigative report said. This is not a secret. Nagpal has spoken widely about his O-1 visa story and his curriculum vitae.
What is Ankur Nagpal’s O-1 visa story?
Ankur Nagpal was born in India and brought up in Oman. He came to America at the age of 17 on an F-1 visa. He graduated but it was difficult to get a visa and so he started his own consulting company to sponsor his own OPT. He also got STEM extension from his own company. But after it ended, he had no way of staying in the US and said he even considered green card marriage.Then they found the cheapest community college so they could get another student visa for the degree they didn’t need. Then he accepted a job he didn’t want, just to get a way to apply for an O-1 visa. He said this visa was life-changing and he immediately applied for his EB-1 green card and started another company when he was just 24 years old. By the time he sold the company for a nine-figure sum, he had become a US citizen. With a net worth of over $100 million, Nagpal is now the founder of Carry and Silly Money. They sold their platform, Teachable, for $250M. In an interview, he said how he was tired of starting so many companies at once. But he realized that he was good at starting companies and hence returned to entrepreneurship after a short break.
