Immigration News

[garam.chadi]

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The slot of 20,000 visas in the H1B category reserved for those who have master’s degrees or higher from American institutions has been exhausted for fiscal year 2007, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has said.


The USCIS said that a determination has been made that the final receipt date for these exemptions is July 26, 2006 applications and that petitions received on July 26, 2006 are subject to a random selection process. “USCIS will reject petitions requesting a foreign worker with a master’s or higher degree earned from a US Institution of higher education that are received after the “final receipt date” unless the petition is otherwise eligible for a separate cap exemption,” the agency said in a statement.


There’s some news to cheer up Indian IT firms. Newly appointed minister of consular affairs at the US Embassy in New Delhi, Peter Kaestner, announced that the US is considering a proposal to raise the H1B work permit quota for India by 25 percent from the current 80,000 to 100,000.


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[GotPR?]

There’s some news to cheer up Indian IT firms. Newly appointed minister of consular affairs at the US Embassy in New Delhi, Peter Kaestner, announced that the US is considering a proposal to raise the H1B work permit quota for India by 25 percent from the current 80,000 to 100,000.-

Firstly, there is no 80000 H1B available.
65000(Total regular H1B) - 6800(H1B1) + 20000 (US master H1B) = 78200

Secondly, no country quota for H1B.

 

[techy2468]

you are saying that before the candidate is granted visa..........he has to prove what his work will be........not just simply that he is going to be an employ of xyz company..........with that argument are they saying the HR consulting is not a legal business.........and hence you cannot hire someone from abroad even though you are not getting candidates for your clients locally.......

who is to questions Dept of State or USCIS.....they are run by gods......and who is to reason with candidates with not much option in their home country.......who can stand in the queue of consulate from morning 4am.....so that they can be ahead in the queue......

demand and supply........some countries just have too many people...........and dignity for human life goes down...

 

[chanduv23]

Agree to some extent but not 100%

It is a complex issue. There is a lot of fraud and many people/companies abuse h-1b.

Although the companies like to call them consulting companies; the consulates and california service center has figured out that they are staffing agenices.

Staffing agencies outsource to other companies. The main way that dos/uscis can tell if there is a job is to get a contract from the place where person is going to work.

Purpose of h-1b isn't to sponsor 30 to 40 people and then when they come here they get marketed. If you didn't have a job for the person in the first place then why are you sponsoring them for h-1b.

DOS/USCIS is getting very tough (it is difficult to argue with them because what they are doing is absolutely within the law). There are enough people who have gotten their visas rejected because their sponsor couldn't produce the documents.

They are just cracking down. But most medium size (100+ employees) and big ones will manage to bring in their people without much hasstle, except for few fresh h1bs.

This is just a way to control. At the end you will see even small companies hiring locally. If someone can just make it here through an "Infosys" or a renowned company then that is more than enough to come over and trasnfer to a better job.

This has been a desperate measure on to crack down and filter. But "nothing really gets filtered". There is demand and supply will come from all directions. Offcourse, sharpening the process helps curtail "legal loopholes". But this is corporate America, every policy is framed with atleast 100 loopholes and workarounds and every law is passed with multiple interpretations and anything can be interpreted in any way.

The only intention behind crackdown on body shops is a desperate measure to control, whatever achieved is achieved, even if one benificiary is rejected on basis that there was no contract for the benificiary though there might be 100 other benificiaries approved who also wouldd not have had contracts before going.

 

[indian_gc_ocean]

It is not just consulting companies who are abusing H1s but there are some big companies who are asking experienced seniors from US to go to India but at the sametime doing everything in their means to bring in new H1s with average experience from their indian offshore companies. Bring one or two guys (for whom it will take 5-6 years to reach senior level) from offshore India team so that rest of the team motivated to work crazy there. Some call this as management for me it looks like abuse of H1 because they are also sending some people back home. The same cycle will repeat for the new H1s after their 6 years H1.

I am no way supporting the practices of some consulting companies, but consulates should also target these big companies, but will they? Good consulting companies at least do green card seriously but some big corporate companies just use and throw H1s without a US MS in CS after their 6 years.

In the same note, why can't INS think of increasing green card country quota for India. This makes me think INS is just supporting these corporates use and throw policy.

 

[neocor]

Right now it looks like Chennai, Singapore and Australia are trying to put consulting companies out of business.

If there is no contract with client stating your name and duties then you get no visa.

Chennai is asking for client tax returns, picutres, etc. Once again if you can't supply the data then no visa.

If you supply a project plan for internal development then they want to see a business plan which shows return on equity, sales growth, projections, etc.

If it comes to their attention when an h-4 is going for visa stamping that the primary didn't have paystubs from the time they entered usa then chennai is making referral to department of labor in USA for investigation.

It will be interesting to see how little people will actually get a visa from this year's quota.

I agree and moreover i will be not be surprised if only 25% of the people who got the Visa in 2006 made it to US eventually.

neo

 

[GreenCardVirus]

Staffing agencies outsource to other companies. The main way that dos/uscis can tell if there is a job is to get a contract from the place where person is going to work.

DOS/USCIS is getting very tough (it is difficult to argue with them because what they are doing is absolutely within the law). There are enough people who have gotten their visas rejected because their sponsor couldn't produce the documents.

Asking for a client contract seems valid. But I think the consulates question only if the companys are very small. I think they are looking for fraud.

On the other hand, without these "staffing agancies", filling up those 10's of thousands of contracting jobs is impossible. There are enough Americans for those jobs? I dont think so. Some of the job openings in the company I work for have been open for a long time. Eventually they had to fill it up with some desi contractors.

 

[GreenCardVirus]

I agree and moreover i will be not be surprised if only 25% of the people who got the Visa in 2006 made it to US eventually.

neo

This is a very alarmist statement. My pessimistic number is that 90% will have no problems getting in.

 

[techy2468]

this sounds like good news........because almost 30-40% of people from chennai used to be fake candidates......who used to sneak into usa using H1b visa...

 

[chanduv23]

They ask for it for companies over 100 people too. Enough people have contacted me over this issue.

Bottom line is that when you file an H-1 you are supposed to have a job for the person. If you don't have a job then you don't file the H-1b.

Most of the companies do speculative employment. Company is supposed to start paying you once you enter the country; it is the lesser of one month and when you report to them. Chennai has caught enough companies who didn't comply with LCA and have referred investigations. They will actually contact the person who signed company letter (client), they will then also contact the HR of said company to see if the person was authorized to sign the letter (I know of two people who got fired over this because they weren't authorized to write the letter).

I'm just telling you what I have seen.

In general, when Microsoft goes to campus interviews, they hire people and sponser H1b Visas. At this time they have no idea on what projects their new hires will work, but they hire them and train them atleast for months and sometimes years etc.. and put them for development work. At the time of hiring the candidate, the intent was "This candidate is smart and will be useful for our company" thats why we hire him. Consulting companies also do the same. We can bring him on board and place him. Not all big companies bring people with "jobs already available", they bring few with projects in hand, some come as backups, some come here because companies feel the candidate is bright "IIT guy" and we can utilise him by bringing him to US and market his resume. As long as consulting companies have a valid job location for the candidate to come and initially get training, and do a new LCA when the candidate moves to another place, the intent to hire cannot be termed "not valid".

Timeframe between filing a new h1b and the h1b actually getting apporved and stamping is atleast a "6 month" process and if it makes sense when someone says "There needs to be a job available with client desperately waiting for this candidate and willing to do anything to get him without doing a personal interview and even evaluating a candidate"then "bringing someone with intent to train and place also makes sense". These consulting companies or body shops are a creation of the system. These shops help bring in a pool of talent and put them in the US market. They help the INS agencies by pre filing h1bs in given timeframe ie quota start and quota end so that filing h1bs is hasstle free. They lockup promising candidates for employment 6 months down the lane and bring them and put them in the market for American corporates to use. It is all convinience.

Corporate America wants a pool of talent always at their disposal. I do agree with the point that companies have to PAY the stated salary and most companies bench you for periods because "Candidate cannot be placed". From what I understand and have experienced (When I went for stamping early this year in Chennai). The consular officer tries to evaluate the candidate. If the consulting company does not have good pay history and the candidate does not seem confident, the officer goes a bit rough and asks more details sometimes the candidate is also asked technical questions and issued 221g or 214b. This is regular. Maybe to make it more strict, the COs are being more stringent on these.

 

[chanduv23]

You are using "common sense" and "realistic" approach.

Law says: company is either employer and person is doing speciality occupation work at company location

OR

Person is being outsourced and working at a third party site. If person is working at a third party site then there needs to be a job and it has to be a speciality occupation. Since company sponsoring h-1b is not controlling the person's work they are not in a position to say it is a speciality job. That is why consulates/california service center ask for the job details and contract.

H-1b is not used to increase the talent/employment pool without a ready job.

the above is reality. There is many, many people caught in the situation. What I have stated above is the law. There has been too many high profile cases where company doesn't pay bench time, has no job, people are doing different jobs,e tc. that it cannot be ignored any longer by consulates.

yeah, I agree. The law says so. Basically any "Skilled Worker" comes and falls into the h1b category, be it speciaality cooks, software engineers, doctors, fashion models etc. everyone gets dumped into this category. My wife struggled hard to get into residency but managed to get into one because the hospital was a non profit organization which is not subject to h1b cap. The cap and quota does not make sense because residencies have academic year system and cannot change their system just because their h1b sponsered physicians cannot join them because "quota was over or chennai consulate got over booked with appointments".

Also agree that "H1b" sponsering employers/body shops/consulting companies must abide by law in addition to bringing in candidates to create a talent pool with "Valid job" and "Valid pay". Most of these laws and rules are kind of 'Grey Areas". This may actually make consulting firms do some filtering on their side so that they bring in people who they are confident that can be productive in the shortest period and do not take up much of bench pay. I live in NEw York City and I see so many people who are working odd jobs but came here on h1b visa or f1 visa with families and kids going to school. So many folks land up directly into Gas Stations and Groceries but will have 1 H1b as a Java programmer. But it is just not Chennai, it is a very common thing all over the world. People come from various countries and do things that their visas restrict them to do. Probably Chennai handles bulk applications due to the fact that many software companies are in and around Chennai and for some reason "small companies are idenfied for visa misuse". So these companies workaround by asking their candidates not to go to Chennai for stamping.

Mr UN, I agree that complying with laws and supporting causes and justifying reasons are very important and the crackdown is just because some companies from Chennai have been identified as not complying to laws. If strict enforcement is enforcement not only in Chennai but all over the world, then definitely that "crackdown: makes good sense, but crackdown is made just in Chennai just because of the bulk of applications, then I can say that law makers flip laws in either directions and sit down as "Lords" to decide avenues and ideas to crackdown.

 

[AGC4ME]

yeah, I agree. The law says so. Basically any "Skilled Worker" comes and falls into the h1b category, be it speciaality cooks, software engineers, doctors, fashion models etc. everyone gets dumped into this category. My wife struggled hard to get into residency but managed to get into one because the hospital was a non profit organization which is not subject to h1b cap. The cap and quota does not make sense because residencies have academic year system and cannot change their system just because their h1b sponsered physicians cannot join them because "quota was over or chennai consulate got over booked with appointments".

Also agree that "H1b" sponsering employers/body shops/consulting companies must abide by law in addition to bringing in candidates to create a talent pool with "Valid job" and "Valid pay". Most of these laws and rules are kind of 'Grey Areas". This may actually make consulting firms do some filtering on their side so that they bring in people who they are confident that can be productive in the shortest period and do not take up much of bench pay. I live in NEw York City and I see so many people who are working odd jobs but came here on h1b visa or f1 visa with families and kids going to school. So many folks land up directly into Gas Stations and Groceries but will have 1 H1b as a Java programmer. But it is just not Chennai, it is a very common thing all over the world. People come from various countries and do things that their visas restrict them to do. Probably Chennai handles bulk applications due to the fact that many software companies are in and around Chennai and for some reason "small companies are idenfied for visa misuse". So these companies workaround by asking their candidates not to go to Chennai for stamping.

Mr UN, I agree that complying with laws and supporting causes and justifying reasons are very important and the crackdown is just because some companies from Chennai have been identified as not complying to laws. If strict enforcement is enforcement not only in Chennai but all over the world, then definitely that "crackdown: makes good sense, but crackdown is made just in Chennai just because of the bulk of applications, then I can say that law makers flip laws in either directions and sit down as "Lords" to decide avenues and ideas to crackdown.

Give me that which u smoke. India is the single biggest beneficiary of H1B and it might be that Chennai has the most applicants and hence chosen for audits like this. Such consultants who bring in people as laborers without a project in hand do deserve this. I say Kudos to USCIS to recognize this blatant seat-reservation-and-selling of H1Bs.

 

[chanduv23]

Give me that which u smoke. India is the single biggest beneficiary of H1B and it might be that Chennai has the most applicants and hence chosen for audits like this. Such consultants who bring in people as laborers without a project in hand do deserve this. I say Kudos to USCIS to recognize this blatant seat-reservation-and-selling of H1Bs.

Yes, and make the body shops "avoid Chennai" for stamping purposes. Solves overcrowding in Chennai Consulate.

 

[can_card]

It is good to know consulates are making very strict enforcement. I heard that the system was so abused that one time a police constable from south India came/or appled for H1B visa thro body shoppers. There is no term "bench" in H1B. Some one is talking about microsoft that hires young engineers train them and waiting for project. One can not compare this situation with bodyshoppers. Microsoft pays the prevailing wage even during training.

DOL/DOS/CIS should take very strict stand against bodyshoppers. In my view they (H1B dependent employers) should be prevented from participating in GC sponsership, as there is no permanent fulltime position with bodyshoppers and their recruitment efforts may not be open .

 

[chanduv23]

It is good to know consulates are making very strict enforcement. I heard that the system was so abused that one time a police constable from south India came/or appled for H1B visa thro body shoppers. There is no term "bench" in H1B. Some one is talking about microsoft that hires young engineers train them and waiting for project. One can not compare this situation with bodyshoppers. Microsoft pays the prevailing wage even during training.

DOL/DOS/CIS should take very strict stand against bodyshoppers. In my view they (H1B dependent employers) should be prevented from participating in GC sponsership, as there is no permanent fulltime position with bodyshoppers and their recruitment efforts may not be open .

Atleast 80% of GCs are sponsered by consulting companies. The H1b dependent employers are a creation of the system. The system wants a pool of talent ready to "go out and fill temporary", 'Temporary to perm" jobs. it is all corporate convinience. No one can predict a "future job". ie it is all how one abides by rules and learns how rules are framed and interpreted

 

[can_card]

Atleast 80% of GCs are sponsered by consulting companies.
---This is the exact problem. Filing bogus LC, Opening sattilte office in Wyoming or Maine just to get fast LC, Selling those in black marcket in the name of labor subsitution, bringing the peoples to USA in H1B without bonafide job offer etc.., These guys created mess in the both in H1B and GC process.

The H1b dependent employers are a creation of the system.
--- Creating bad system by abusing the law. Their system was described above.
The system wants a pool of talent ready to "go out and fill temporary", 'Temporary to perm" jobs.
---greatest joke ..
it is all corporate convinience. No one can predict a "future job". ie it is all how one abides by rules and learns how rules are framed and interpreted

 

[chanduv23]

Everyone abuses law in one form or the other. Law makers abuse law, implementors abuse law. Laws have various interpretations.

Policies and laws are framed in such a way that they can be *worked around* . Big corporates have strong lobbyists and lawyers to make sure laws are framed according to their convinience. Laws are framed in such a way that they can be *worked around*

Overall, whatever needs to be done gets done At the end of the day, Chennai or USA or body shopper or attorney or clinet or employer or INS or IRS everyone are beneficial, It is just the *sincere*, *honest*, *hard working* bears all the bashing while the system extracts most from these contributors and be it they are from *Chennai* or Singapore or Australia. If the individual looks at this as "way to sharpening survival skills" and get better, then he is in the game otherwise the individual has to be satisfied with whatever he gets.

 

[alexberg]

law-breakers should go to jail

The body shops are clearly breaking the law (what is bench time!?). It is illegal, it needs to be stopped, the law-breakers need to be punished and punished hard. There should be jail time and they should be stripped of the profits they made.

And it is very rude to say "Law makers abuse law, implementors abuse law." Especially without a quantifier like 'some'.

 

[chanduv23]

I am deeply involved with the many issues facing these companies.

Yes, part of problem is that the employees yield to things like *willing to stay with the employer without bench pay*. As far as I know, when employer has decided that you will not be paid as services are not being performed "that day you are basically out of H1b status" . This thing is common not only to Indian shops but to shops from othr places too. The difference is that they ddon't make enough noise. I had a chinese collegue being exploited by her employer (Wages and no bench salary) and she was so sad everyday so I forwarded to her a WH4 form so that she complains to DOL. But she said she will live with it because her employer is processing her GC.

I can tell you that USCIS, DOL and department of state are on a real war path currently.

Well, it is a challenge. There are thousands ..... out there.

One thing to keep in mind is that if it wasn't for the consulting companies, there would be very little employment base immigration to USA.

Not just Indian or Chennai but Russian, Eastern European, Chinese, Korean, Phillipines etc.... this trend is picking up and spreading.


The only people who would be getting H-1b's were people who went to school here. Even with that, most american companies still won't sponsor h-1b.

Hmm.... if you look at LCA database, you can see almost every American Employer has filed H1b for some *deserving* case. I think when rare commodities are recognized, employers do go an extra step.

Yes these body shops bring the candidates directly to the doorstep of employers for use. In some way they benefit the corporate thirst.

 

[chanduv23]

Russian, ,eastern europe, etc. they get h-1b's because they went to school here.

OR

their family friend, family member is exploiting the loophole and bypassing family base immigration through h-1/L-1. Similar to India.


H-1b is the most exploited/abused way to get people to usa.

I am with you on this. My wife had to stress out to get a residency as she had to go for H1b or J1 option though she had excellent scores. She managed to get H1b from non profit org that does not count under cap.

People view these methods as an ""Avenue" to enter United States and prosper.


But don't you think that the DOL is aware of issues with benching since a long time? When I came to US in 2000, people were coming in hoards and bunches. The visa interview was "waived" unless there is some discrepency and most times, the visas were also issued in drop boxes.

If DOL or USCIS is going to go back and crack down, basically they have to dismantle the infrastructure that has been created which is not as easy as said. I have always encouraged my friends not to "get not paid unless you are on vacation or sick' and if employer lowered wages or did not pay, complain to DOL.