H1B quota over for 2007

[Rohan Sathye]

H1B quota for FY 2007 for non-US graduates got over on 26th May. See This So thats close to 60000 visas in 40 days flat. on an average 1500 visas/ day !

[ June 01, 2006: Message edited by: Rohan Sathye ]
[ June 01, 2006: Message edited by: Rohan Sathye ]

[Ulf Dittmer]

Ummm, where did you get the 40 days from? Allocation is usually based on the fiscal year, which starts in October. So that would make it more like 240 days.

[Rohan Sathye]

Originally posted by Ulf Dittmer:
Ummm, where did you get the 40 days from? Allocation is usually based on the fiscal year, which starts in October. So that would make it more like 240 days.

USCIS starts accepting visa application from 1st April under new quota. 6 monts prior to 1st october (which is the earliest start date for H1B visa in a year.) So this year also USCIS started accepting visa applications for the new quota from 1st april. And the quota got over on 26th May. So thats approximately 40 working days.

[Ramasubbhu Allur Kuppusamy]

Originally posted by Rohan Sathye :

USCIS starts accepting visa application from 1st April under new quota

What you are talking about is actually H1B Work Permit and not Visa.
Granting H1B work permit does not guarantee H1B Visa.
Visa applications will be considered only from October 1st.

[Robert Cooksley]

So does that mean someone who wants to work in the US has no chance of doing so until 1st October 2007?

I suppose the only alternative is the L-1, but one has to first work one year in a company that has a US presence??

I would be interested to know...

[Jeroen T Wenting]

If you get a work permit granted under H1, the process for which starts in April, you then can start the paperwork for a visa related to that H1. That process can AFAIK be started at any time after you get the work permit but the visa will not be active (so you won't be able to enter the country until October.

As all H1 applications for 2007 have now been granted, you cannot get an H1 anymore to work in 2007. You can apply for 2008 at the earliest, which process starts at 1 April 2007. But most likely the applications for that have essentially already been filled to capacity by now by bodyshops putting thousands of applications into the queue just in case.

[Robert Cooksley]

Thanks Jeroen,

When a bodyshop files an H1-B petition, doesn't it require details of the candidate they wish to recruit, or are these only required when the work permit is converted into a visa proper?

In other words, is it still possible for a foreigner to apply for jobs with a company with a sufficient number of H1-B petitions, that have not yet been filled?

It would seem strange to me that a non-bodyshopping US company, with a vital position to fill, which genuinely cannot filled by an American, can only offer the job to a foreigner between 1 April and 26 May.

[Luke Kolin]

Originally posted by Robert Cooksley:
When a bodyshop files an H1-B petition, doesn't it require details of the candidate they wish to recruit, or are these only required when the work permit is converted into a visa proper?

The petition is filed for a specific alien. Based on that petition, the alien can seek a visa at a US embassy or consulate. The visa solely provides permission to seek entry to the US. Some nationalities, like Canadians, do not require a visa - but they still require a petition.

It would seem strange to me that a non-bodyshopping US company, with a vital position to fill, which genuinely cannot filled by an American, can only offer the job to a foreigner between 1 April and 26 May.

It is strange, which is why the cap needs to be raised to a level that is sufficient for the needs of US employers. An artificially low cap means that legitimate companies are shut out of the H-1B pool, and this provides more ammunition to opponents of non-immigrant labor in general. The idea is to mess up the program so much that it is easier to kill.

Cheers!

Luke

[Jeroen T Wenting]

the cap is sufficient. But the application process needs to be seriously toughened up to prevent the current widespread abuse which causes H1 to have become essentially a program to get cheap junior programmers into the US from Asia.

[Rohan Sathye]

Originally posted by Jeroen T Wenting:
H1 to have become essentially a program to get cheap junior programmers into the US from Asia.

Generalization.. and not very correct.. IMO

Cheap - The rate for H1B consultant ( the rate which client pays) is not too far off the track AFAIK.
Junior - Most of the H1B consultants that I know of have minimum of 5 years of exp.

[Jeroen T Wenting]

then why the constant stream of people with only a few months experience at most who're asking which company to go to to get them an H1 (from which they apparently already have offers)?

no, the majority are low paid low grade programmers. You may not move in those circles, so you may not meet them.

The rules are violated quite openly on a massive scale, possibly with the full knowledge and cooperation of the INS (not unlike (parts of) the border patrol deliberately not doing their job of stopping illegal immigrants on the Mexican border).

Resumes are easy to fake, I've seen my share of them that were too good to be true but looked fantastic on paper.
So are salaries. Guy is hired by a PO-box company for $20K a year, rented out to a customer for $40K, with the official paperwork saying $60K, and only the latter amount is reported for calculating whether his pay is in line with that of domestic workers.

[Tim Cao]

Agree. I'd say the solution is to increase the application fee to, say, $10K. That'd give advantage to the "really good" people who can land well paid jobs with respectable, law-biding companies that are willing to pay premium for talents. In my experience, good companies spend lots of money on recruiting (both in US and overseas), so 10K is not an unreasonable amount. This also effectively eliminates (or reduces) the H1B abuse issues by dodgy "consulting companies".

Originally posted by Jeroen T Wenting:
the cap is sufficient. But the application process needs to be seriously toughened up to prevent the current widespread abuse which causes H1 to have become essentially a program to get cheap junior programmers into the US from Asia.

[Rohan Sathye]

I think its virtually impossible to get the visa after only few months of experience. If INS doesn't reject the application, the interviewing visa officer will. Also documents which you need to submit for the visa include all the past experience letters so even if its easy to fake your CV, its not so easy to fake experience letters. The consultant companies also will not take chances with less qualified candidates as the chances of getting it rejected are very high. And there are plenty of candidates with good experience to choose from.

[Eric Lemaitre]

Hi Tim !

Agree. I'd say the solution is to increase the application fee to, say, $10K. That'd give advantage to the "really good" people who can land well paid jobs with respectable, law-biding companies that are willing to pay premium for talents. In my experience, good companies spend lots of money on recruiting (both in US and overseas), so 10K is not an unreasonable amount. This also effectively eliminates (or reduces) the H1B abuse issues by dodgy "consulting companies".

I don't agree : if dodgy bodyshoppers pay some 30% below prevailing wages, as reports about H1B abuses usually conclude, then even $10K fee is fair for bodyshoppers since with standard $60K like wages such fee would be paid back in a few mounths, simple ROI issue still in favour of bodyshoppers for they abuse since years (since about 2002 IMHO).

The solution is simply to enforce already existing laws so as to check petitioners really have the skills they claim, they will be really paid according to prevailing wages, and won't take the job of a US citizen with the same level of qualifications. The H1B program is no issue at all if it is respected, it has become an issue because it is abused without seemingly any willingness or time or resources from US authorities to ensure law abiding.

Best regards.

[Eric Lemaitre]

Hi Jeroen !

The rules are violated quite openly on a massive scale, possibly with the full knowledge and cooperation of the INS (not unlike (parts of) the border patrol deliberately not doing their job of stopping illegal immigrants on the Mexican border).

You are showing too much anger against border patrol IMHO : keeping such a long border secure is simply impossible without extremely costly resources such as drones and satellites. With the weak resources they have they simply cannot be much efficient, they arrest many border trepassers but many others passed through anyway, some 1 million illegals or smuglers a year is simply too much for them. Dont forget too that a recent scandal revealed US government was convicted of announcing positions of its own border patrol officiers (and minutemen too) to Mexican government, officially to avoid armed clashes, which of course totally nullifies the effectiveness of border patrol men for all smuglers and illegals can easily avoid them, but this cannot be reproached to them.

Resumes are easy to fake, I've seen my share of them that were too good to be true but looked fantastic on paper.
So are salaries. Guy is hired by a PO-box company for $20K a year, rented out to a customer for $40K, with the official paperwork saying $60K, and only the latter amount is reported for calculating whether his pay is in line with that of domestic workers.

Such behaviours could be very easily avoided : some years ago already IEEE proposed to allow H1B holders to open an US bank account and use it to pay them directly, not through their company, which would have very easily eliminated such possibility.
I remained totally amazed by the fact that despite many simple solutions exist to avoid some blatant immigration issues, only unrealistic, ineffective and unworkable solutions seem to be systematicaly chosen by US government while many simple solutions proposed since years by fellow US citizens seem to be systematically ignored or avoided.

Best regards.

[Jeroen T Wenting]

I've no problem with most of the men and women of the border patrol. They're almost certainly at least as frustrated by the failure of their task due to politics as the vast majority of people north of the border (and people who see a great nation go to pot and don't like that).

It is indeed mostly politicians and some highlevel functionaries who ruin the border and US legal immigration systems for those who do want to gain legal entry into the country.
Only a few days ago a liberal politician in LA announced publicly to illegals that they can come and vote, no registration required, no need to show proof of citizenship.
Your congress and president grant residence permits to tens of millions of illegals instead of rounding them all up and putting them to work building border defenses (as a ways of working off the damage they did to the country while there) before kicking them out.
That kind of behaviour is (to put it mildly) apalling. Tens of thousands, probably hundreds of thousands, of people want to become American citizens every year but can't because of the bureaucracy not allowing them yet here we have people coming into the country illegally (a crime in itself) being told that it's all fine and dandy and they're welcome to stay, and oh here's your welfare check.

[Eric Lemaitre]

Hi Jeroen !

It is indeed mostly politicians and some highlevel functionaries who ruin the border and US legal immigration systems for those who do want to gain legal entry into the country. Only a few days ago a liberal politician in LA announced publicly to illegals that they can come and vote, no registration required, no need to show proof of citizenship...

I perfectly understand, in France too we are having much trouble because of communautarism and lack of civil behaviour which leads people to extremism : in 2002 our president was elected by 82% (a totalitarist worth score) at 2nd row as a reaction to his challenger being our official fascist leader (kind of John Kerry against Ku-Klux-Klan leader at presidential 2nd row for US citizens), and you heard of our recent immigration riots. Excessive laxism against citizenship rights and duties costs dearly when times comes to pay the bill, laws must be applied or havoc finally occurs.

But let's try not to drift too far away from the practical matter, even if H1B abuses due to laxism of lawmakers not caring to enforce the laws they voted is a purely political matter indeed, the Javaranch Sheriff who watches this thread is no lawmaker...

Tens of thousands, probably hundreds of thousands, of people want to become American citizens every year but can't because of the bureaucracy not allowing them yet here we have people coming into the country illegally (a crime in itself) being told that it's all fine and dandy and they're welcome to stay, and oh here's your welfare check.

And don't forget the crowd of valuable people who simply won't ever be considered at all. Since as a generalist (among the best 20%) I don't interest anyone in US for sponsorship (must be nowadays either a top-notch expert for US companies or an average canon fodder for bodyshoppers), I simply had to give up the idea of immigrating to US. I will have to make my own company (on the way, paper stuff done) and emigrate to Spain instead, as emigrating nowadays to USA for an EEC citizen like me is simply impossible (except some 1% chance like DV lottery).
If I succeed I will be a wealthy alien boss with alien employees only well before any US official simply wonders whether it might not be a bad idea to let some valuable generalists in, surely like many others....

Best regards.

[Robert Cooksley]

Salut Eric!

It's depressing to hear about the lack of interest you received from US companies, and am myself wondering when I should cut my losses and look elsewhere. As a UK citizen, I'm not even eligible for the green card lottery - so much for the "special realtionship" huh?

[Luke Kolin]

As a UK citizen, I'm not even eligible for the green card lottery - so much for the "special realtionship" huh?

Eligibility for the DV lottery is solely based on the number of immigrants a particular country sends to the US in the previous few years (five, I think). If that number is over 50,000 then aliens chargeable to that nation are ineligible. The following countries are ineligible: CANADA, CHINA (mainland-born), COLOMBIA, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC, EL SALVADOR, HAITI, INDIA, JAMAICA, MEXICO, PAKISTAN, PHILIPPINES, POLAND, RUSSIA, SOUTH KOREA, UNITED KINGDOM (except Northern Ireland) and its dependent territories, and VIETNAM.

It has zero to do with politics, but if you were born outside the UK (your citizenship is irrelevant, only your place of birth matters) or you marry someone eligible for the DV lottery you can apply.

Your other option is to apply for Cuban citizenship, since once you obtain said citizenship you can automatically get a Green Card by setting foot on US soil.

Cheers!

Luke

[Eric Lemaitre]

Hi Luke !

Your other option is to apply for [b]Cuban citizenship, since once you obtain said citizenship you can automatically get a Green Card by setting foot on US soil.
[/B]

You are technicaly absolutely right, but please allow me 2 remarks :

_ As a Cuban you can automatically get a Green Card by setting foot on US soil PROVIDING THAT you REACH "dry US soil" (what's the name already, wet feet policy ?). We have seen many Cubans denied US entry because they had been intercepted while being still in water.

_ As Many Cubans are ready to die (and got killed or drowned indeed) to escape Cuba (as any other communist country), I hope you will forgive our British friend if he doesn't accept such fabulous opportunity to become a Cuban citizen. After all, even if iron curtain with death for trepassing was designed for not letting people out, never for not letting them in (who could ever be dumb enough to enter a communist country willingly), if so many people are ready to die to leave it they must have excellent reasons.

Best regards.

[Eric Lemaitre]

Hi Robert !

It's depressing to hear about the lack of interest you received from US companies, and am myself wondering when I should cut my losses and look elsewhere.

I am not depressed at all in fact.
After all, if US is no longer a land of opportunity as it was before for entrepreneur cubs, then the opportunities will simply grow elsewhere. When you cannot enter US to build your company there ... you simply have to build it abroad by definition. A great man (could be Winston Churchill ?) stated once "everyone said it was impossible to achieve, until came someone who hadn't heard of it". If european entrepreneurs stop being attracted inside US like a magnet because visas don't let them in any longer, then this is very good news as a fabulous opportunity for Europe. If I remember well, the large majority of foreign entrepreneurs in US had european roots, so let's stop whining and build our companies at home for our countries sake.

As a UK citizen, I'm not even eligible for the green card lottery - so much for the "special realtionship" huh?

Yes, but this is a pure mathematical quota, as "diversity" implies nations already well represented in US are not eligible to lottery so as to bring diversity, nothing against british citizens. This is the only logical asset in this incredibily stupid policy of selecting immigrants by pure chance, while all other countries (even rampant socialist minded France) are developping immigrant selection based on labour skills at rocket speed.

Best regards.

[Luke Kolin]

Originally posted by Eric Lemaitre:
We have seen many Cubans denied US entry because they had been intercepted while being still in water.

Well, the trick is to enter the US in some fashion other than via a boat, and preferrably not by escaping Cuba in the first place.

I guess the fact that very few people take this approach to getting permanent residency means that it's not all that practical, but never let it be said that I cannot provide creative solutions to people's immigration difficulties.

Cheers!

Luke

[Tim Cao]

Just came across this article on H1B, a bit old but might still be relevant for H1B holders

http://news.com.com/2100-1017-256477.html?legacy=cnet

[Jay Ashar]

Originally posted by Tim Cao:
Just came across this article on H1B, a bit old but might still be relevant for H1B holders

http://news.com.com/2100-1017-256477.html?legacy=cnet

A bit too old, I would say. It's from 2001, although not much have changed as far as H1B exploitation by consultants is concerned. It is what it was in 2001 or any other year.

[Eric Lemaitre]

Hi all !

A bit too old, I would say. It's from 2001, although not much have changed as far as H1B exploitation by consultants is concerned. It is what it was in 2001 or any other year.

Anyway I believe all could be said before about H1B won't be relevant this year, for with midterm elections nearing and as the political situation is extremely tense, no speculation can be made this time.

We still have on one side business lobbies claiming for lack of IT skills and at the extreme opposite citizens associations like IEEE claiming on contrary no such lack exists, both extreme positions being not conciliable at all. The congress just voted laws in favor of business lobbies with H1B cap increase, the HR on contrary just voted laws in favor of citizens associations, and now both must compromise but both sides say they won't move.

What is more even if many republicans at power must face reelection while polls are strongly in their defavor so strongly promote H1B cap decrease, Bush stands firm whatever bad polls may be along with congress to promote the contrary.

We simply all have to wait until november to see the result, no speculation can be made. Even if republican lawmakers are not realy threatened now, the fact that since year's begin all US politicals facing reelection in favor of immigrants were fired may force lawmakers to shift side abruptly before november so as to keep their job. Chances change just too quicklly. So wait and see.

Best regards.