US H-1B visa reaches mandated cap of 65,000

[ChromeFoundry]

Source: The Economic Times of India

28 Jan, 2011, 09.37AM IST,PTI

WASHINGTON: Applications for US H-1B visas, the most sought after by Indian professionals for working in America , have reached the Congressional-mandated cap of 65,000 for the current fiscal with USCIS receiving an unusually high number of petitions in the first four weeks of this month.

In a statement, US Customs and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it has received a sufficient number of H-1B petitions to reach the statutory cap for fiscal year 2011.

Given that some 11,000 H-1B visas were still available at the end of 2010, USCIS received an unusually high number of applications in the first four weeks of this month.

The H-1B is a non-immigrant visa in the US which allows American companies to temporarily employ foreign workers in specialty occupations.


Read more: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-industry/services/travel/visa-power/us-h-1b-visa-reaches-mandated-cap-of-65000/articleshow/7376792.cms

[Newsjock]

1. And they all live in the same apartment in Sunnyvale, Calif.

At least that's what they tell the U.S. government.
http://www.mercurynews.com/top-stories/ci_17151508

[The_Casual_Observer]

2. This reminds me of those classified ads with detailed job requirements

for very highly skilled specialized computer jobs that advertised salaries at like 20,000/yr.

[SlipperySlope]

3. The run those here too (Colorado)

You can't hire the H-1B worker unless you have advertised the job in the United States and claim nobody could fill the opening.

[The_Casual_Observer]

4. It's a god damn crime

It would almost be worth claiming all those skills & shit just to foil/slow down Gupta's job scheme.

[trud]

7. I saw an ad from HP

when I worked there. In the local paper, it said something like "Jobs, HP" and the main company phone number. That was the total ad content. I asked HR, what the heck is this, and was told it was advertising a job to meet government requirements.

[WilmywoodNCparalegal]

9. H-1Bs don't require advertisements - labor certifications do.

FYI...

[Name removed]

5. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Xipe Totec]

6. +1 nt

[trud]

8. 350,000 odd Indians

"350,000 odd Indians" = 350,000 illegally unemployed Americans.

[pampango]

10. Canada instead: "Canada is also unusual among western nations in the widespread popular support for

high rates of immigration, and in recent years support for immigration has increased in Canada."

"All of Canada's major political parties support either sustaining or increasing the current level of immigration. While its predecessor the Reform Party (merged with and became part of the Conservative Party) expressed concern about immigration the current Conservative government has no plans to reduce immigrations levels. ... The previous Liberal government was even more strongly in favour of a high immigration rate, proposing increasing immigration by some 20,000 people per year. The high immigration policy is most often justified through economic arguments."

"The Canadian system puts great emphasis on finding skilled immigrants. Immigrants to Canada are more skilled than immigrants to the United States. George J. Borjas compared immigrants to Canada and the United States finding those to Canada being better educated and receiving higher wages once settled. He accredits this to Canada's points based immigration system, and argues for the United States to more closely emulate the Canadian method."

"Within the Canadian economy, immigrants are most found at the highest education levels. In Canada, 38% of male workers with a post-graduate degree are immigrants to the country. 23% of Canadians are foreign born, but 49% of doctorate holders and 40% of those with a masters degree were born outside Canada."

"One important effect of this steady influx of highly skilled immigrants is the reduction of income inequality in Canada. A steady stream of doctors and engineers into the economy reduces wages for these professions. In the United States immigration patterns are reversed, and income inequality is much higher as a partial result."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_impact_of_immigration_to_Canada

[cosmicone]

12. Illegally?

By that logic, we should stop all immigration don't you think? That way, every job will go to a native-born person!!

[WilmywoodNCparalegal]

11. In fact, H-1B figures also include H-1B3s for fashion models

There are about 1,000 to 2,000 of these H-1Bs for fashion models and I guarantee you very very very few of them are from India.

Moreover, posters above indicate advertisements for the H-1B. That is false. If you see an ad that is weirdly worded, chances are it is for a labor certification (stage I for professionals already in the U.S. with a valid visa and employment), which is a totally different ballgame and it is overseen by the U.S. Department of Labor, not USCIS.

In cases when an employer wants to petition for an employee to obtain his/her green card via employment, the labor certification is step I. The language is weird because there are very specific criteria the USDOL has established for the writing of these ads.

Employers that do this process are investing a lot of money and resources to the process. By law, the employee cannot pay these recruitment costs either.

Once the DOL approves the labor certification, the petitioner (employer) can file the I-140 Alien Worker petition and the I-485 (Permanent Residence) application for the employee and his/her spouse and minor children as long as they are already in the U.S. in valid status.

There is no advertisement requirement for H-1B visas unless the DOL or USCIS has determine that the employer is H-1B dependent (more than a certain percentage of its workers have H-1B visas) and/or if it has been found to violate H-1B rules and/or in other very limited and rare circumstances.

In other words, this is a very rare scenario.

An H-1B petition requires the employer to file a labor condition application (LCA) - note that this is NOT a labor certification. The LCA is form produced under the guise of the USDOL which attests that the employee will earn at least 100% or more of the prevailing wage for the position offered in that geographic location, based on a qualified wage survey (USDOL has stringent guidelines about this).

Most use the DOL's own wage survey... For instance, this is the prevailing wage survey for a Computer Software Engineer - Systems in the Raleigh/Durham/RTP, NC, geographic area:

You selected the All Industries database for 7/2010 - 6/2011.


Your search returned the following: Print Format

Area Code: 39580
Area Title: Raleigh-Cary, NC MSA
OES/SOC Code: 15-1032
OES/SOC Title: Computer Software Engineers, Systems Software
Level 1 Wage: $27.98 hour - $58,198 year
Level 2 Wage: $35.13 hour - $73,070 year
Level 3 Wage: $42.29 hour - $87,963 year
Level 4 Wage: $49.44 hour - $102,835 year
GeoLevel: 1


Level 1 would be a new college graduate, for instance. You can go to http://www.flcdatacenter.com/OesQuick.aspx to search around you. Moreover, employers must attest that the benefits provided (including insurance, vacation, etc.) to the H-1B worker are the same as those provided to other workers, among other attestations. All of these documents are kept in a "public access file" which means that anyone can review it, especially when USDOL has an audit.

It costs the employer at least $6,000 between filing fees and lawyer fees to petition for an H-1B worker and there is no guarantee the petition will be approved.

I also need to add that any foreign degree has to be evaluated by an independent USCIS approved agency to ensure it is equivalent to a U.S. bachelor's degree, since the H-1B requires that the occupation to be filled must be one that can only be performed by someone with at least a U.S. bachelor's degree or equivalent.

Some of the prospective employees who received their education in India had 3-year degrees and that was a challenge for the equivalency agencies. These agencies rely on books that explain each educational institution's entrance requirements, the institution's prestige, etc. Therefore, some of these 3-year degrees are legit, some are not.

This is just a taste of the H-1B process.

[OhioChick]

13. Given the US unemployment rate, this is utterly disgusting.

Recession Rocks IT Profession

http://www.govinfosecurity.com/articles.php?art_id=2066

Nearly half of H1B visa holders from India

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-industry/services/travel/visa-power/nearly-half-of-h1b-visa-holders-from-india-us-report/articleshow/7290694.cms

Recession hit older tech workers harder, labor data shows

http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9206360/Recession_hit_older_tech_workers_harder_labor_data_shows

India sending 30 Billion home

In India, these decisions have raised hackles. India's IT sector is
seen as a source of national pride - an area where Indians see
themselves as competing successfully on the global scene. Moreover,
the millions of Indians living overseas send back more than $30
billion a year in remittances, making up 3 per cent of the country's
GDP, according to estimates by the International Labor Organization.

http://www.rediff.com/money/2009/mar/07bpo-worries-grow-about-obamas-outsourcing-policies.htm

U.S.: H-1B workers outnumber unemployed techies

http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9133529/U.S._H_1B_workers_outnumber_unemployed_techies