A Canadian researcher at OpenAI has been denied a US green card, according to the company’s lead research scientist Noam Brown. Kai Chen will soon have to leave the country, with no clear explanation for the decision.
The denial is part of a broader crackdown on international students and researchers facing challenges to their visa statuses over minor infractions or perceived threats. The Trump administration has taken a hardline approach to green card applicants, suspending processing of requests for legal permanent residency submitted by immigrants granted refugee or asylum status.
OpenAI relies heavily on foreign research talent, with the company filing over 80 applications for H-1B visas last year alone. Chen was critical to the development of OpenAI’s flagship AI model GPT-4.5.
Other researchers have faced similar challenges, including Ashish Vaswani, co-creator of the transformer, and Wojciech Zaremba, co-founder of OpenAI. The US’ immigration policies and hostility towards certain sciences have led many to contemplate moving abroad for research opportunities.
The government has issued a statement saying that Chen’s application was filed prior to her joining OpenAI and that there may have been some paperwork issues in the filing process. However, experts warn that the new “system” for reviewing and terminating visas for international students may be only temporary reprieve.
Source: https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/25/an-openai-researcher-who-worked-on-gpt-4-5-had-their-green-card-denied