LCA and Salary

[Noela]

Hi,

I am about to pertition for H1B.

I am a sociologist, with and MA, and close to finishing a Ph.d (by July 2004).

I currently work as a Research Scientist/Analyst for a Public Health Informatics company, engaged in applied research.

What job title should I use in applying for H1B (Sociologist, Social Scientist, Research Analyst, Research Scientist).

And how do I go about Prevailing Wage Determination ? What sources are currently most acceptable?


How do I determine whether I am Level I or Level II ?

What about the salary level? What if the Level II salary quoted at DOL website is way above what my employer is paying me?

Would it be better to apply now - is the cap reached?

Thanks in advance for you assistance - Noela

 

[serega.com]

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Your employer is most likely already paying you the prevailing wage, to find out, go to the department of labor website, check the prevailing wage section. Your employer may also submit the ETA online, get results within minutes as a .pdf file, print it and sign it. It usually gets approved right away if you don't give them your fax number, follow all directions and fill out the form correctly. And, as far as I understand, there is no limit on filing online applications, so if you mess up, no worries. It happened to me, I just ran it again.
http://www.workforcesecurity.doleta.gov/foreign/wages.asp - for wages info. They have the online wage library, where you can find your job description and prevailing wages for your state/county.
http://www.lca.doleta.gov/ - for online ETA application.
You can actually do it yourself, if your employer doesn't want to mess with it, just make sure you have all the info you need before you begin, so you get approved.
Job title - I would choose the one in the DOL classification that closely matches your current occupation. As long as you can explain what you do and what for, and that you have adequate training/experience to do it, and that the job requires BA or above - you're OK. I would file everything as MA not PHD, that way your salary will look more adequate.

Hope this helps. Good luck.
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Not a legal advice.