Sir

It was with great interest that I read your News Feature “As one door closes...” (Nature 427, 190–195; 2004), on restrictive visa requirements in the United States and the impact they are likely to have on science. As a postdoctoral researcher from Australia, working in Alabama, I recently discovered how US visa restrictions can affect career choices for people already working in the United States.

Last June, after working in the United States for about five years, I submitted an application to renew my H1B visa. In February this year, the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) finally began to look at my application. In the meantime I had applied for an academic position in my native Australia. To my delight I was granted an interview; this was a dream job for me. But after applying for a US visa, you cannot leave the United States without jeopardizing your application. So I was faced with a tough choice: to go to the interview and risk losing my current job, or to stay in the United States and miss the job opportunity. With employment prospects as limited as they are in the natural sciences, I decided to travel to the interview.

A few weeks ago I was told that the INS would not be considering my visa renewal, and I would have to leave the country. Fortunately for me the gamble paid off, as I got the job in Australia. Nonetheless, I will have to cut my research short in the United States and, had I not got the job, I would now be unemployed. In my view, the way that the INS can effectively stop you pursuing jobs for protracted periods will make the United States even less appealing to foreign postdocs and academics.