Openai researcher who worked on GPT-4.5 has been rejected his green card

Kai Chen, a Canadian artificial intelligence researcher who works in Openai who lived in the United States for 12 years, has been rejected from a green card, according to Bumun, a pioneering research scientist in the company. In a post on X, Brown said that Chen’s knowledge of the decision on Friday should leave the country soon.

Brown wrote: “It is very interesting that one of the best researchers with whom I worked (…) was rejected from an American green card.” “The Canadian who has lived and contributed here 12 years ago should leave. We are risking the leadership of AIM in America when we reject the talent like this.”

Another Openai employee, Dylan Hun, said in a post that Chen was “decisive” to GPT-4.5, one of the leading AI models in Openai.

Green cards can be rejected for all types of reasons, and the decision will not cost to launch their function. In a follow -up post, Brown said that Chen is planning to work a distance from Airbnb in Vancouver “until (chaos) will be sorted.” But this is the latest example of foreign talents facing high barriers for living, working and studying in the United States under the Trump administration.

Openai did not immediately respond to a request for comment. However, in a post in X in July 2023, CEO Sam German called for changes to facilitate the matter on “high skills” immigrants to move to the United States and work in the United States

In a statement sent by email after the publication of this story, an Openai spokesman said: “This request was submitted a time before our employee joining Openai and we did not participate in the case. However, our initial evaluation, based on the information provided to us, may appear that there may be some paper business problems in the deposit.

Over the past few months, more than 1700 international students in the United States, including artificial intelligence researchers who have lived in the country for several years, have faced their visas challenges as part of an aggressive suppression campaign. While the government accused some of these students of supporting Palestinian militant groups or engaging in “anti -Semitic” activities, others have been targeted for minor legal violations, such as fast tickets or other traffic violations.

On Friday, the administration suddenly went to cancel student visas. But the decline may only be temporary. The government says it is working on a “new system” to review and end visas for international students.

Meanwhile, the Trump administration launched skeptical attention to many of the applicants for the green cards, and according to what was suspended, the treatment of permanent legal residency applications submitted by immigrants granted to refugees or asylum. It has also taken a strict approach for green cards holders that she considers “national security” threats, detaining and threatening many deportations.

AI laboratories, such as Openai, rely heavily on foreign research talent. According to Sean Raleston, the independent contractor who provides support to API customers in Openai, Openai has submitted more than 80 requests for H-1B visas last year alone, and has sponsored more than 100 visas since 2022.

The United States has just denied immigration to one of the main researchers behind the GPT-4.5 from Openai. 🤦🏽‍ Davidsocks https://t.co/rxd3vazj2p

Ali Parto (Apart) April 25, 2025

The H-1B visas, preferred by the technology industry, allows American companies to temporarily employ foreign workers in “specialized professions” that require at least a bachelor’s degree or equivalent. Recently, immigration officials have begun to issue “requests for evidence” for H-1BS and other immigration petitions based on employment, and they request the headlines and biological measurements, a change that some experts may lead to increased time requests.

Migrants played a major role in contributing to the growth of the American artificial intelligence industry.

According to a study conducted by the Georgetown Center for Emerging Security and Technology, 66 % of the most promising startups in the United States in the “AI 50” list of 2019, had a migrant founder. The 2023 analysis was found by the National Organization for American Policy that 70 % of graduate students in full -time in areas related to Amnesty International are international students.

Ashish Vaswani, who moved to the United States to study computer science in the early first decade of the twentieth century, is one of the creators participating in the transformer, which is the structure of the artificial intelligence model that supports Chatbots such as Chatgpt. WoJCIECH ZAREMBA, one of the founders of Openai, WoJCIECH ZAREMBA, has a doctorate at Amnesty International from New York University on a student visa.

Immigration policies in the United States, reduce grant financing, and hostility to some sciences have many researchers who are considering leaving the country. In response to a natural survey of more than 1,600 scientists, 75 % said they are considering leaving jobs abroad.

Updated 5:08 PM Pacific: added a statement from an openai spokesman.