US can seize travellers laptops - Über Desi

Alberta is wooing H1B holders with cheesy shots of its picturesque downtown
img: via Philly.com

On one hand, Alberta seems to have a lot to offer in terms of quality of life, infrastructure and employment opportunities.

An oil boom. A robust economy. Universal health care - free next year.
….

There’s more. Highly lauded schools. Low crime rates. Low unemployment. Low taxes. A surplus of jobs.
….

…. anybody, would probably enjoy living in a province where the largest city, Calgary, population 1.1 million, had just 30 homicides in 2007. And the health care will be free, thanks to all the oil and gas royalties. Prices for new houses rose nearly 5 percent in 2007.
….

There’s no provincial sales tax, the equivalent of state sales tax. The lowest provincial income-tax rate in Canada. (A flat tax of 10 percent for singles earning over $16,853 and $39,655 for a family of four.)

On the other, they’re finding it difficult to attract highly skilled workers.

But there’s the rub: Not enough workers to fill the positions, expected to top 110,000 over the next decade, according to estimates provided by Alberta. So, government representatives have been visiting cities worldwide - including a stop today at the Westin Philadelphia Hotel - to entice potential employees to think Alberta.

To attract highly skilled workers, mostly the equivalent of US H1B holders, Alberta seems to be laying out the red carpet including ads in papers, offers of permanent residency and even a website touting its wares.

My personal opinion? I’ll pass. Not only is the cold weather a factor in my decision (I live in the Sunshine State of the East Coast) but the overall reputation of Canada also. Rightly or not, the desi community is chock full of stories of Canada with this reputation of easy immigration laws to lure immigrants who find it difficult to find employment once they reach there. On the other hand, if I was struggling to find employment or my H1B was in danger, who knows?

Being that a large section of our readers hold H1B visas or at least know someone close to them who holds a H1B visa, what is your personal opinion? Hypothetically, would you move to Alberta, Canada, with its promises of more opportunities and better life quality? If yes, why, and if not, why?

This is also an opportunity for someone with more expertise on Canadian immigration to chime in and dispel or reinforce some of the myths surrounding it.

Think H1B. Think Alberta??? - Über Desi

The I140 will be processed within 15 days for a fee of $1000.

Desis held in immigration scam
7 desis in NJ linked with an IT company have been held on charges of running an immigration scam. [ET]

New Jersey-based Nilesh Dasondi has been charged with using his CyGate Software and Consulting company to petition for fraudulent work visas and green cards on behalf of people for a fee.

Newsday reported that the three Long Islanders — Kishor Parikh, 42, Devang Patel, 31, and Chetan Trivedi, 40 — made monthly payments totalling between $70,000 and $100,000 to Dasondi between 2004 and 2007 in return for false pay stubs, pay checks and health insurance payments submitted to the government as “proof” of their employment as computer experts.

The three Long Islanders had no technical skills, and Parikh and Patel ran greeting cards and gift items stores, the paper said.

Immigration Update: Premium processing for some I140s, desis held in scam - Über Desi

A: Both are here on a H1B visa. [Information Week]

Apparently it’s not just software engineers who’re “stealing American jobs”. Shame on you, oh 5 foot 11 busty blond Victoria’s Secret catwalker.

Catwalkers share H1B quota - Über Desi

OPT extension challenged in court - Über Desi

H1B rejected? H3 maybe? - Über Desi

This year is no different. [NYT]
USCIS had the proverbial application window open for 5 days and received nearly twice the number of applications (163,000) compared to open spots (85,000). 65,000 visas go to foreign workers currently outside the nation and 20,000 to first time applicants currently in the US, namely students on F1 visas.

Meanwhile, some politicians backed by technology firms, have renewed efforts to raise the annual limits by using previously unused visas.

From NYT:

The visa announcement brought renewed calls from American technology companies to raise the annual limits. On Thursday, senators led by John Cornyn, Republican of Texas, introduced a bill that would raise the H-1B cap to 145,000 visas each year through 2011. It would also allow businesses to use, over a three-year period, some 150,000 visas that were available in past years but were never issued.

Other politicians, meanwhile, have laid the blame on Indian companies for the H1B visa famine. [Rediff: tip Sai]

From Rediff:

On April 1, when the US Citizenship and Immigration Services began receiving thousands of applicants for the new H-1B visas for fiscal year 2009, Senators Richard Durbin, Illinois Democrat and Charles Grassley, Iowa Republican, sent a questionnaire to the top 25 recipients of approved H-1B visa petitions in 2007.

Two influential US Senators have renewed the campaign against the biggest users of H-1B visa workers in the US, including Indian heavyweights Infosys, Wipro, Satyam and Tata Consultancy Services.

They fired off a missive to these companies asking how they employed professional and skilled workers, majority of whom hail from India.

This kind of witch hunt seems counter intuitive to me. Is it the Indian companies’ fault that they are so successful, they can afford to employ and sponsor visas for all these people?

Here’s the kicker for this year’s applicants, their fate will be decided by a lottery.

Sometime next week, the agency will conduct an electronic lottery to select 85,000 immigrants to receive the H-1B visas, which are valid for three years and can be renewed for another three.

At this stage, I’m unable to find any information on how this “lottery” will be conducted. Are the most qualified applicants going to be selected based on education, experience, etc and then a lottery conducted? Or is it just going to be one massive game of bingo - “applicant number 123456, it’s your lucky day”?

The entire process starting with issuing H1B visas for first time applicants to issuing permanent residency for the same high tech workers is, pardon my French, FUBAR. Color me biased on this one, but it’s truly time for Congress and the USCIS to step back and take a look at how they’re treating highly skilled technology workers.

Other resources:
Listen to industry experts like Vinod Dham and Vivek Wadhwa express their frustrations at the current immigration process and how political rhetoric is hampering the process instead of solving it, in this discussion on SAJA BlogTalkRadio. [SAJA BlogTalkRadio link]

Other Über Desi posts on the H1B visa:
What Lies Beneath - A tale of the H1B visa and broken American Dreams [link] - January 23 2007
The Great H1B Gold Rush [link] - April 4 2007
The H1B Saga: Students affected most [link] - April 10 2007
Anatomy of a H1B fraud [link] - July 10 2007

H1B applicants to be selected ….. randomly?? - Über Desi

“This rule will enable businesses to attract and retain highly skilled foreign workers, giving U.S. companies a competitive advantage in the world economy,” said Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff. “By extending the training period by an additional 17 months to students who are employed by businesses enrolled in E-Verify, we are further ensuring a legal workforce in the U.S. and aiding good corporate citizens.”

Given the kind of mad rush that takes place for the H1B visa these days, this step probably eases the time pressure for F1 students who miss out on this year’s, what can only be termed, H1B lottery.

To be eligible for an OPT extension, an F-1 non-immigrant student must:
-Currently be participating in a 12-month period of approved post-completion OPT;
-Have successfully completed a degree in science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM) included in the DHS STEM Designated Degree Program List from a college or university certified by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Student and Exchange Visitor Program;
-Be working for a U.S. employer in a job directly related to the student’s major area of study;
-Be working for, or accepted employment with, an employer enrolled in U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ E-Verify program. E-Verify is a free, internet-based system operated in partnership with the Social Security Administration that helps employers to determine the employment eligibility of newly-hired employees; and
-Properly maintain F-1 status.

In other words, F1 students need to maintain their status and stay out of trouble. If you’re one of the fortunate to receive this extension, rejoice, but also spare a thought to the students before you, some of whom lost their American dream because their 12 months OPT ran out without them getting a H1B visa.

Update: University officials dealing with International Students at FSU warn students from jumping the gun on this press release from DHS because the information appears to be too vague.

From: Important info for F-1 status students (immigration-related)
Date: Fri, Apr 4, 2008 at 4:48 PM
Subject: [IC-F1 immigration] Interim Rule to Extend Period of OPT

IC-Immigration Mailing List: For Florida State University International Students only (F-1 Visa Status)
Dear Students:
Some of you may have heard of an interim regulation proposed by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to extend Optional Practical Training (OPT) from the current 12 month period allowed by federal regulations to 29 months for those meeting eligibility criteria.
The information currently available is incomplete and vague; however, the DHS has said that there will be clarification available sometime in the next week. Once we obtain more specific information, we will send another email update about this new rule and how it will be implemented. Until then, we are not in a position to answer any inquiries related to this rule, nor can we accept any applications for OPT extensions. Please be patient and know that your International Center advisers are monitoring the information and working on this.

Thank you,
Your IC Advisers
IC-immigration mailing list
https://lists.fsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/ic-immigration

17 Month OPT extension for F1 students (Update: Current Information is vague) - Über Desi

There seems to be consensus on what a “1.5 generation” is - someone who was born elsewhere but immigrated before they turned adults. Assuming that a 1.5 genner is someone in between, 1st generation must be someone who immigrated as adults and 2nd generation, someone who was born in that land. Still assuming that a 1.5 genner is someone in between ,the converse, 1st generation is someone who was born here and 1.5 generation is someone who immigrated as a kid, makes no sense, because going by that logic, a 2nd genner would be someone who immigrated as an adult.

There I said it. If I (or you) moved here (US, in this case) as an adult, I’m first generation. If you moved here as a kid, you’re 1.5. If you were born here and you’re parents moved here, you’re 2nd generation. Just something I had to get off my chest.

* FOB, in this case, is strictly used for clarity in this argument.

Immigrants: First generation or not - Über Desi

Southie film industry involved in visa scam - Über Desi