Mike Tyson Tattoos

According to my knowledge, going back to F-1 is your best bet. The reason is whether u are legal in the country or not while ur H1 application is pending is decided by USCIS by approving change of status. If they don't u will be out of status, u have to leave the country and come back. but if you r on f-1, u'll be in legal status all the time. Just make sure, u transfer ur SEVIS I-20 before 60-day OPT grace period expires. Then, u'll be able to avoid worst case scenarios of being out of status in case ur H-1 is approved but change of status is not.

Guys: I have invoked my AC21 and am a consultant PM though my LC mentions "Programmer/Analyst". I came to this country because it is a land of opportunity and have been in the US for over 9 years now. I can't let this stupid AC21 provisions of "Same or Similar occupation" scepter of fear stop me from moving forward.

I'm also looking for a Full-time job as a Manager and if I get it I intend on taking it in a heart-beat without worrying about the consequences. Hey, it's not like I'm doing something illegal but merely exercising my due growth in my career. So, I'm moving on and if something bad were to happen like a NOID or a RFE, I'm ready to pack my bags back home with a satisfaction that I was atleast in the driver's seat.

My 2 cents but please do what is right for you.

This bill is mostly for aviation safety. It doesn't necessarily applies to immigrants who are applying for permanent residency.

If one transfers H1 after I140 approval, employers should have no reason to withdraw the I140. Unless ofcourse for revenge :)

Right now, a lot of big companies withdraw I140 and reuse the labor for another applicant. With the new law in place, employers have no motivation to withdraw the I140.

Yeah..
In fact the act of withdrawing also costs money which many employers would not be willing to pay...
Good one....Never thought of it this way...

bump

Access to Job Market in U.S. a Matter of Degrees
Foreign workers with high-tech skills are in demand, but visa quotas snarl the hiring process.
By Anna Gorman, Times Staff Writer
July 3, 2006


This spring, a U.S. high-tech company recruited British citizen Gareth Lloyd for a possible engineering job.

But before the Irvine office made its hiring decision, the number of available visas for skilled workers ran out, in a record time of less than two months.

Lloyd, who has degrees in applied physics and electrical and electronics engineering, found another job in Germany.

"I was a little bit incredulous," Lloyd, 34, said in a phone interview. "It seems arbitrary to put some kind of quota on this."

Much of the national debate on immigration has centered on undocumented workers who fill agriculture, construction and service jobs. But highly skilled foreign scientists, engineers and computer programmers recruited by U.S. companies to work here legally also have a lot at stake in the outcome. "The major focus for all the laws and all the bills has mainly been for illegal immigrants," said Swati Srivastava, an Indian software engineer who lives in Playa del Rey and is waiting for her green card. "We kind of get pushed to the sidelines."

The Senate's sweeping immigration bill that passed in May calls for increasing the number of H-1B visas, which are available for professional foreign workers, from 65,000 to 115,000 annually. Foreigners with certain advanced degrees would be exempt from the cap.

Despite President Bush's urging to increase such quotas, however, the House bill that passed late last year does not include any provisions for skilled-worker visas. And a conference committee, which would negotiate a compromise, has yet to be selected. U.S. companies complain that they are losing prospective employees to other countries because of a shortage of highly skilled and educated foreign workers. As a result, companies are either outsourcing science and engineering jobs or making do with fewer employees.

"There aren't enough U.S. citizens pursuing those types of degrees," said Jennifer Greeson, spokeswoman for Intel Corp. in Santa Clara, Calif., where about 5% of the company's U.S.-based employees are on H-1B visas. "U.S. companies being able to have access to talent, no matter where it originates, is key to our continued competitiveness."

But critics of the H-1B program argue that there are enough Americans qualified for the jobs. Companies just prefer to hire younger, less expensive workers from other countries, such as India and China, instead of more experienced American workers at higher salaries.

"The bottom line is cheap labor," said UC Davis computer-science professor Norman Matloff, who has studied the H-1B program.

The six-year visas are available to foreigners with at least a bachelor's degree. Firms must pay foreign workers the prevailing wage.

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services agency begins accepting H-1B visa applications on April 1 each year. The agency received enough visas to hit the congressionally mandated cap of 65,000 at the end of May this year, compared with August in 2005 and October in 2004. Those who receive the visas can begin work Oct. 1, the start of the fiscal year.

There are also 20,000 additional visas available for foreign workers who earned a master's or higher-level degree in the U.S. The Citizenship and Immigration Services is still accepting applications for those visas.

Because the H-1B cap is reached more quickly each year, many companies prepare their paperwork ahead of time so they can be at the front of the line. But they say it's often difficult to make hiring decisions six months before the start date.

Orange County immigration attorney Mitchell Wexler has a courier ready on the first day to take his clients' completed applications to Citizenship and Immigration Services.

"The whole white-collar business community is kind of crossing our fingers" that the number of visas is raised, Wexler said. Highly skilled foreign workers, he said, are "the best and brightest" and should be invited into the economy.

"If we can't get them," Wexler added, "they will go to a country that will accept them, and they will get jobs in Canada, Australia and England and will compete against us."

One of Wexler's clients, Massachusetts-based Skyworks Solutions, develops and manufactures integrated circuits for cellphones. Connie Williams, senior human resources specialist at the company's Irvine office, said her firm was effectively cut off from a foreign labor pool that included Lloyd of Britain when the government stopped accepting H-1B applications.

Williams said she worries that if Congress fails to pass reform legislation, the door will slam shut even earlier next year. The company has just over 2,000 U.S.-based employees, roughly 100 of whom have H-1B visas.

"We need these highly skilled, highly educated, highly qualified engineers," said Williams. "These people are a needle in a haystack."

Once foreigners have H-1B visas, they face another hurdle � becoming permanent legal residents. Applicants are often forced to wait years because there are only 140,000 employment-based green cards available annually. A backlog at Citizenship and Immigration Services adds to the delays.

Swati and Aradhana Srivastava, 34, both Indian software engineers working in the U.S. on H-1B visas, began the green card process with their employer in November 2001. Since then, the sisters said they have not been able to change jobs, positions or salaries.
They have taken film classes and are eager to pursue second careers in filmmaking but cannot do so until after they get their green cards. They also are reluctant to buy property or start a business. If they don't get their green cards by the time they finish film school, the sisters may return home.

"It's like living in a holding pattern continuously," said Swati Srivastava, 28, a member of Immigration Voice, a new grass-roots organization of skilled foreign workers pushing for immigration reform. The Internet-based group formed late last year and has about 5,000 members scattered around the country.

"We work in [the] U.S. legally in high-skilled jobs, but we still get penalized for playing by the rules," Immigration Voice co-founder Aman Kapoor said in an e-mail. "Since no one was working on our issues, we decided to organize."

Sandy Boyd, vice president of the National Assn. of Manufacturers, said there is an urgency to fixing the problems facing highly skilled foreign workers, whether they're seeking temporary or permanent legal status. The Senate's proposed immigration bill would increase the number of available employment-based green cards.

If compromise legislation cannot be reached on the broader issues, Boyd said, Congress should pass a separate, more narrow reform bill.

"This is not an issue that can be put off until comprehensive immigration reform is passed," Boyd said, "because once we lose these jobs, it's very difficult for them to come back."

But industry lobbyists arguing against increases in H-1B visas say the program hurts U.S. citizens by lowering wages and increasing job competition. They cite a recent report by the Government Accountability Office that says the program lacks sufficient oversight from the Department of Labor.

"We feel for the most part there are not shortages of U.S. engineers and computer scientists that have the skills these companies are looking for," said Chris McManes, spokesman for the U.S. sector of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. "If the cap is increased, that will further hamper the ability of a U.S. engineer to find a job."

David Huber, a network engineer in Chicago and U.S. citizen by birth, said he twice lost out on jobs to foreign workers. He was passed over for one job and replaced at another, he said. Huber, who testified before the House in March, said he could not find work for nearly three years, despite his education and experience. "Too many of us cannot find jobs because companies are turning to H-1B workers as a first choice," Huber said in written testimony to the House.

Swadha Sharma, who lives in Arcadia, said she is not trying to replace U.S. workers. Sharma earned an electronics engineering degree in India but has long dreamed of becoming a math teacher. So while her husband worked here on an H-1B visa, she earned her teaching credential at Cal Poly Pomona.

Sharma, 30, started applying for teaching jobs early this year, but she said only one of three interested districts was willing to sponsor her for an H-1B visa. And that offer, from a Los Angeles charter school, came after the visa cap had been reached. Sharma now plans to pursue a master's degree but said the U.S. is "missing out on a catch."

"I am really qualified," she said. "Hopefully, I will be able to teach soon."

As for Lloyd, his plans to come to the United States are now on indefinite hold. He started his job in Germany but still laments the U.S. immigration system for limiting workers like himself from coming here.

"The H-1B scheme seems a little bit ridiculous," he said. "I would certainly be an asset to the American economy."

If you are ugly, you could go in formal shirts & pants.

If you are smart and sexy, you could go naked! :D

See this and if it helps you courtesy Murthy.com (http://murthy.com/news/n_tscnsc.html)

Second I-140 Allowed without Revocation of Earlier I-140 Petition

The TSC confirmed that, in some cases it is possible for the employer to file two or more I-140 petitions for the same beneficiary, based on a single labor certification, in multiple EB categories. If the job requirements are proper for EB2, the case could be filed in either category. Thus, multiple I-140s could be filed in some cases. If the first was filed in EB3, there would be no need to withdraw it in order to file in EB2. The TSC recommended submitting copies of the approved I-140 with the later-filed I-140 petition.

This could be quite helpful in situations where the I-140 petition is incorrectly filed in the wrong, lower category. We do hear about such instances from time to time. It seems that if the I-140 was filed in EB3, but the case would meet EB2, the TSC would permit the re-filing of the I-140 petition without revocation of the earlier EB3 filing.

08/15/2006: Multiple I-140 Petitions: Uniform Policy in Negative Fashion?

* We reported on August 3, 2006 USCIS lack of uniform policy on multiple petitions on a single EB-2 labor certification application. It appears that the disease has spread to the TSC adopting a similar negative policy of denying EB-3 petition when EB-2 and EB-3 petitions are filed concurrently using single certified EB-2 labor certification application on the ground that "original" of the certified application was not available for the EB-3 I-140 petition since the original had to accompany the EB-2 I-140 petition. Obviously this is a deviation from the traditional INS/USCIS policy in a negative way and we hope that the USCIS leaders are not turning around from the liberal policies under Yates-Divine era to the narrow-restrictive policies.

The good indication of anyone 485 is pre-adjudicated, if LUD changes continously for 3 or 4 days on their online account with uscis. To notice thist, one has to moniter every day. If they receive RFE, it is the good indication of the application will be pre-adjudicated based on the aswer to the RFE. If they recive answer to RFE, the LUD will normalyy change with in 10 days continously. Pre-adjudicatred does not mean that it is 100% pre-approved. They may ask a question at the time of approval, if the 485 is pending for pro-lonnged time after it is pre-adjudicated.

Need not necessarily be the case. Soft LUDs are not reliable and sometimes the online system never reflects LUDs, but offocurse when there are soft LUDs it is obvious that the file is being processed and status getting updated.

There could be cases that are preadjudicated but we never really see any continuous soft LUDs and there could be cases that arenot preadjudicated but we see tons of LUDs hitting.

I spoke to a person who recently received his GC - no LUDs nothing, no status change after responding to RFE and no approval email - the GCs were lying in the mailbox one fine day.

BTW, what are some of the online MS / MBA schools that the H1B community is attending ? Please share this information as I plan to take up one, and wanted to learn from your experirnce.

Thanks in advance.

My immigration status is H1 (485 pending EB2/INDIA). I am on the verge of completing my 2 year Masters in Computer Information Systems (MS-CIS) from Missouri State in Springfield, Missouri. Its a distance education Masters program with one week of on-campus residency every semester. The program is geared towards working IT professionals and its accredited by AACSB. The quality of education is excellent and fees is very nominal. I even got my employer to reimburse me for the tuition. Please see the following website for additional information on the program.

http://missouristate.edu/

http://mscis.missouristate.edu/default.asp

http://mscis.missouristate.edu/applicationprocess.asp

Please email me at arshstl@gmail.com for additional information.

jobs, which require unskilled labor (walmart jobs, starbucks jobs, farm jobs, janitorial work - all are examples) should be paid a living wage. Which means, if a person works for 40 hours a week, he/she should be able to live with the salary.

I can throw in some numbers for Washington, DC area. For a family of 4.
Living wage: Accommodation ($800 apartment) + Food ($500 a month) + Vehicle, since most of America is not well served by public transportation ($400) + Entertainment, Communication, Clothes, Medicine etc ($500). Total = $2200 a month. Divide this by 160 hours a month and you will get $13.75.

So this is the minimum wage all jobs in Washington, DC area should be paying. Companies often get away with paying way below this amount. Then the society ends up paying the difference.

Congrads brother. You have posted one of the "most ridiculous and hillarious" posts ever!! Comparing Starbucks to picking strawberries??? Wow! why not compare strawberry picking to hollywood acting? Why is hollywood not employing ilegal aliens even when reportedly they need millions to produce a single movie? Tough questions eh?? or does it seem ilogical and crazy reasoning??
If you "pay enough" to the laborer, then who will pay for the produce at the walmart?? and how much is "pay enough" as per the current expectations?

I have a priority date of March 2004 (EB2 India) and I am still waiting for my Green Card. I think majority of the 2004 filers are in the same boat except for a lucky few who were able to get the green card after the July fiasco.

So don't buildup your hopes too high. I firmly beleive that very soon there will be a repeat of what we saw last year in July and the green cards will be distributed once again out of order.

So if you are one of those luck ones, you might get it.

Good Luck!!

You must have applied for I-485 after july 1st, correct?

Windows Media: http://wamu.org/audio/wamu.asx
Real Audio: http://wamu.org/audio/wamu.ram
MP3: http://wamu.org/audio/wamu.m3u

Guests:
Robert Hoffman, Vice President of Government and Public Affairs, Oracle

Ron Hira, Assistant Professor, Public Policy, Rochester Institute of Technology; Author, "Outsourcing America: What's Behind Our National Crisis and How We Can Reclaim American Jobs"
Mark Bartosik, Software Engineer; Member, Immigration Voice

Yes,
I would also like to the H3 and L1/B1-B2 processing from F1(OPT) for the intermediate period of OPT(May end) to H1 (Oct 1st).
Can anyone on this forum let me know what is the process & requirements for these to stay in US during those 4 months..

:confused: Thanks.:confused:

Didn't you earn all the dollars in this country? Then where is the pain man? Remember Geeta --- Jo liye Yehin pe liye, Jo diya yahin pe diya (Whatever I got I got here, Whatever I gave, I gave here)....so think that and write checks to Lawyer, Doctor, USCIS. I hope Geeta will reduce your pain.

One time one IO told me once you file your 485 or any application means USCIS is working on your case. You have to wait until they mail a decission. (what are we going to do though :p)

Here under review means same above meaning. Since your PD is not current. Even though they are working on your case doesn't mean any thing. :p

Good luck though. (we are seeing on forums that people are getting GCs without PD's are current.) :mad:

Cris,

I just called teh number and was able to talk to the officer.. he said the case under review.. means.. Any idea.

Thanks again.

Alright.. I had the power (zee.. I am so powerful) to give you some reputation in IV society and I did that because you sound like a very nice person. :D

Now go and do some good work for this society like donating money to IV or doing volunteer work.. something of that nature to build up more reputation. :D

It's good to find humor in difficult times like yesterday and today. I have seen so many funny posts today that I have been laughing my head off despite the uncertainty surrounding VB fiasco.


Man, this is so funny, Somebody give me some good or atleast some bad reputation :D :D :D :D

People do not earn Ph.D. for money. A Ph.D. gives you prestige and you literally stand tall in the crowd for the rest of your life. People call you 'Dr.', which has more value than anything. Most importantly faculties NEVER lose their jobs once they are tenured......NEVER. There is NOTHING in this universe that can fire a Professor (excepting criminal offenses, academic dishonesty etc.). They never fear that their employer will ill treat them, not pay them, yale at them etc. etc. It takes years of blood and sweat (and intelligence) to earn a Ph.D. Society treats them with reputation and not no mention they live a peaceful life (professionally) throughout their lives.


Yes true ....its not easy to get into the ivory tower of tenured prof.
Most phds dont make into that. Mainly phds from top schools make into the ivory tower that you are describing.
Perhaps you are working in univ as faculty due to your phd...good for you....but all dont work as prof.

i don't normally go for tricked-up stuff, but this one kind of hooked me. I did the "Ansel Adams" conversion to B&W which gave me a contrasty and "antique' look. Then I merged it with the original at about 45%.

This gave the shot a very surreal look.

Don

Nice technique Don......... definitley gave it a ~look~ to it

I think it is best to get your H1B stamped in India and also carry AP with you (if possible) as a back up. Stamping in home country is the BEST and SAFEST. I do not know why so many people get it stamped in Mexico and Canada. Previously, when you could still enter US from Canada with a refused visa,it made sense, but now if they reject your visa you need to fly to India!!!

But, once you enter using your AP, can you switch back to H1B or you have to use your EAD?

Not a lawyer.

we lost a golden oportunity to do a fund drive. Historically during good news period a lot of members participated in the fund drive, but because the IV website is broken and the threads are displayed irratically and not in the latest order the funding drive threads are hidden and irrelevant one post threads are showing up. We might have lost out on a 10 to 20k worth of funding because of this mistake. I request the core team to please fix this immediately. A lot of new members have joined IV and they might not particiapate in the funding drive because of this thread mistake.

Let us all pledge to give atleast a $20, $50 monthly payments.