U.S. Agency Is Swamped by Requests for Visas

[Trompe le Monde 1,107]

He was initially hired through the London office, he came to the US using VWP "on business" for two 3 month periods and then was eligible in the next visa year to get a H1-B, in which case he was transferred over to the US.

[mawilson 2,133]

He was initially hired through the London office, he came to the US using VWP "on business" for two 3 month periods and then was eligible in the next visa year to get a H1-B, in which case he was transferred over to the US.

VWP "on business" for two 3 month periods is pretty dodgy, isn't it?

Why should companies and individuals be forced to break the law just because of a few

abusers?

If your company had a London office, they probably could have hired him as an

intra-company transferee.

[Trompe le Monde 1,107]

He was initially hired through the London office, he came to the US using VWP "on business" for two 3 month periods and then was eligible in the next visa year to get a H1-B, in which case he was transferred over to the US.

VWP "on business" for two 3 month periods is pretty dodgy, isn't it?

Why should companies and individuals be forced to break the law just because of a few

abusers?

If your company had a London office, they probably could have hired him as an

intra-company transferee.

I though so at the time, but that's what they did. Intra-company transfer was out of the question, for some reason, probably because the position was always LA-based.

Personally, I'd rather of had an Indian techie get the HB1 number than this guy. At least he would have worked hard.

[mawilson 2,133]

Personally, I'd rather of had an Indian techie get the HB1 number than this guy. At least he would have worked hard.

That's what you think

[Trompe le Monde 1,107]

Personally, I'd rather of had an Indian techie get the HB1 number than this guy. At least he would have worked hard.

That's what you think

Well, it wouldn't take much to work harder that's for sure.

[bszoom42 0]

how much of an impact do you think this will have on k-1 visa process times? i really want to go back to PI if its going to delay them much...but, i don't want to burn all my vacation now & get approved before my anniversary date at work.....it would suck on a whole new level to get approval & not be able to go get Jennilyn.(& she's not doing the POE alone..she's gonna be scared enough already)

BTW: we filed mid july.....anniversary date at work is may 19.... you think its safe for me to go back & not get stuck waiting for more vacation days?

I think this would definitely impact 1-129F NOA1 & NOA2 times as they are processed by USCIS.

Based on your specific timeline and the current queues, you should be looking at a Novemeber - January NOA2 without any RFEs. If there are RFEs, then who knows. also, the queues can change at any time - we only find out USCIS progress after the fact.

I just have one request - can they please limit the number of H1 visas available to Indian

and Chinese nationals so that Europeans have a fighting chance of getting an H1?

This is not likely to happen. However, if you can garner enough congressional support, anything is possible!

[Dr_LHA 3]

Also, H-1B visas are not just for Indian techies - they are also used to hire professionals in

other occupations -- nurses and other health-care workers, university professors, lawyers,

engineers, architects, etc. These days, unless you're an Indian programmer, you can forget about it.

Just FYI: Universities are not subject to H-1B quotas, so they don't have to compete with others for H-1Bs.

[bszoom42 0]

Just FYI: Universities are not subject to H-1B quotas, so they don't have to compete with others for H-1Bs.

Thats very interesting! So, what we need to do is ask Congress to change the law to add Indian techies to the list of classes not subject to the quota. Then his European firms will stand a chance at filling an H-1B!

[Dr_LHA 3]

Just FYI: Universities are not subject to H-1B quotas, so they don't have to compete with others for H-1Bs.

Thats very interesting! So, what we need to do is ask Congress to change the law to add Indian techies to the list of classes not subject to the quota. Then his European firms will stand a chance at filling an H-1B!

A couple of things are needed to fix H-1B. DOS needs to tighten up the prevailing wage calculations (for example DOS calculated the prevailing wage for my job to be about $30,000 a year less than what I was being offered, and I'm not that well paid), and DOS needs to limit the number of H-1Bs to companies that clearly abuse them.

H-1Bs should be used for cases where you need a foriegn expert to do a job, not where you just want to bring in cheap labour. One of the reasons Universities are not limited by the quota is that Universities don't abuse H-1Bs like companies do. H-1Bs are a vital and necessary way of bringing in foriegn academics to work here in our Universities because like it or not, when you get that specialised, you can't alway find someone to fit a position.

I myself am one such case, I got an H-1B to come here 8 years ago after my employers spent 6 months trying to find an American to fill my position. My last 3 jobs I've been offered the position almost immidiately at the interview because my qualifications are rare and focused. Of course the down side is that jobs I'm qualified for are few and far between!

Unless you're doing something really obscure I just don't think that IT falls into this category, there are plenty of USA people that can do 99% of IT jobs. So bringing over foriegners to do these jobs is simply abusing the system in the majority of cases.

The fact that there's now a mad rush to get in to the quota for H-1Bs just proves that the selection criteria are now broken. I don't believe we should be punishing countries for this (by limiting for example, Indians), but I do believe that the criteria for giving out a H-1B should be much harder to meet.

[Heracles 417]

I myself am one such case, I got an H-1B to come here 8 years ago after my employers spent 6 months trying to find an American to fill my position. My last 3 jobs I've been offered the position almost immidiately at the interview because my qualifications are rare and focused. Of course the down side is that jobs I'm qualified for are few and far between!

In the UK and Australia we have an education minister an employment minister an immigration minister etc... Is there an equivalent in the US? or is it up to any senator to introduce a bill? It just seems to me that there is no accountability under the US system.

While the country should welcome professionals, it says something that in a country of 300,000,000 they could not find a candidate.. Which goes back to my long standing view of the country's priorities being in the wrong direction and on the wrong issues. IE EG Health, defense and Education.

Edited August 18, 2007 by Boo-Yah!

[Heracles 417]

PS not being on those three areas that is..

[Dr_LHA 3]

While the country should welcome professionals, it says something that in a country of 300,000,000 they could not find a candidate.

I don't think this is really a criticism of the US education system, and it wasn't meant as such.

I think that you're underestimating how once you start putting certain specialised requirements on a job and combining them, you start getting down to less than 1000 people in the world who are qualified for that position. Number of people in America who can fill that job, 10 maybe, and probably all of them are employed.

[Caladan 19]

While the country should welcome professionals, it says something that in a country of 300,000,000 they could not find a candidate.

I don't think this is really a criticism of the US education system, and it wasn't meant as such.

I think that you're underestimating how once you start putting certain specialised requirements on a job and combining them, you start getting down to less than 1000 people in the world who are qualified for that position. Number of people in America who can fill that job, 10 maybe, and probably all of them are employed.

Exactly. Take your top-flight research position at an R-1 university. I forget exactly what the stats are for Americans with Ph.D.'s, but it's less than one percent. But you can't hire any Ph.D. for any position, so you narrow it down by field. Then from field to subdiscipline. Then, consider the people who are moveable. E.g., my advisor here is one of the tops in his field, but he has two small boys going through school here, so he's considered unmoveable.

It gets international pretty quick once you commit to hiring the best. Canada does it a bit differently... to hire a foreign professor in Canada requires that you say no Canadian is qualified, not just adequate. So the U.S. university can get a visa if they say Dr. LHA is the best, but the Canadian university has to say that no Canadian would be adequate. (Which leads to some awkward situations if an American is offered a position and then declines it, because legally it can't be offered to a Canadian.) It means more Canadian academics can get jobs, but it also means the talent stays in the U.S.

[Nancy2015 2]

I myself am one such case, I got an H-1B to come here 8 years ago after my employers spent 6 months trying to find an American to fill my position. My last 3 jobs I've been offered the position almost immidiately at the interview because my qualifications are rare and focused. Of course the down side is that jobs I'm qualified for are few and far between!

Dr_LHA, can you tell us what is it that you do? I'm curious what professions are rare, in demand and will be in demand in the near future.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Personally, I'd rather of had an Indian techie get the HB1 number than this guy. At least he would have worked hard.

Nah. You might have ended up with someone of AJ's caliber. You know: Hanging out on message boards all fcuking day.