Engineer's Guide to US Visas • Hacker News Board

Re: Engineer's Guide to US Visas

#41

Post by fitzpasd » Tue, Mar 04, 2014, 12:03 PM UTC

Great guide, I'd love a similar one for Green Cards.

For instance, does a Masters in CS qualify you for an EB-2 filing? A search shows that the employer would have to give evidence of the advanced degree being necessary for the job. Usually you wouldn't need a Masters degree for a programmer role but I'm wondering how strict this is in practice.

Concretely, if you were to enter the US on a H1-B for a SDE role with BigCorpA and had a Masters degree in CS, could you immediately file for a Green Card under EB-2 category?

Re: Engineer's Guide to US Visas

#42

Post by 616c » Tue, Mar 04, 2014, 12:08 PM UTC

jbarham wrote: post #38

I'm Canadian and worked for over four years a software engineer in SoCal on work visas (TN then H1B). My wife, an Aussie and high school teacher with several years of teaching experience in top international schools in Asia, couldn't legally work in the US. So she volunteered teaching ESL at a local adult school. Ironically many of her students were Hispanics who had originally entered the US illegally. Doubly ironic…

I am an American working and living abroad. I am very interested in your comment about being self-employed in Australia. Can write up about how to start a business there and the pros/cons?

I would love to read something like that.

Re: Engineer's Guide to US Visas

#43

Post by yardie » Tue, Mar 04, 2014, 12:12 PM UTC

TravisLS wrote: post #34

What's the perceived benefit of not allowing the spouse to work? Is this a "they took our jobs" situation, or is there something substantive behind that policy?

I'm assuming it's 2 things:

1. These visas are for specializations. This implies that the job is unique and pays well above average salaries so a spouse shouldn't need to work.

2. They want to be attractive yet not too attractive. I'm sure in the subcommittee negotiations on quota it came down to spouses or quotas, (we can let 35,000 families or 70,000 workers). If you watch the government channel they negotiate endlessly over petty things like this.

Re: Engineer's Guide to US Visas

#44

Post by nodemaker » Tue, Mar 04, 2014, 12:12 PM UTC

jbarham wrote: post #38

I'm Canadian and worked for over four years a software engineer in SoCal on work visas (TN then H1B). My wife, an Aussie and high school teacher with several years of teaching experience in top international schools in Asia, couldn't legally work in the US. So she volunteered teaching ESL at a local adult school. Ironically many of her students were Hispanics who had originally entered the US illegally. Doubly ironic…

Similar story here. Indian citizen with a US masters degree. Left after working in the US for a year, travelled around SE Asia ,and then moved to Amsterdam! Can choose to work four days a week, have side projects and take 26 days of vacation a year.

H1B is totally a sucker's game.

Re: Engineer's Guide to US Visas

#45

Post by Dewie » Tue, Mar 04, 2014, 12:22 PM UTC

devnonymous wrote: post #16

FTA:"However, in my experience, it's absolutely worth it. Moving here was the best thing I ever did. It's an incredible country, and the opportunities here in tech are second to none." I wonder if given the current political, social and economical situation in the US, whether this (still ?) is the prevalent view within the tech community ? Having been to the US multiple times between 2005-2012, I was completely turne…

That person is from England/has lived in England. I'd say that the only thing one could say is that tech worker from England thought the US was better.

Re: Engineer's Guide to US Visas

#46

Post by raverbashing » Tue, Mar 04, 2014, 12:30 PM UTC

It's not worth it

You can get a "similar to H1B" visa in Ireland in 2 months time and a lot less paperwork. Germany (and other countries I believe) has a similar schema.

With some requirements slightly higher than an H1-B you can be a permanent resident of Canada (maybe Australia and England as well, though I'm not sure how the conditions are on the latter today)

So, why bother?

Re: Engineer's Guide to US Visas

#47

Post by potbelly83 » Tue, Mar 04, 2014, 12:33 PM UTC

jbarham wrote: post #38

I'm Canadian and worked for over four years a software engineer in SoCal on work visas (TN then H1B). My wife, an Aussie and high school teacher with several years of teaching experience in top international schools in Asia, couldn't legally work in the US. So she volunteered teaching ESL at a local adult school. Ironically many of her students were Hispanics who had originally entered the US illegally. Doubly ironic…

Your wife didn't do much research. As an Australian she would have been eligible for an E-3 Visa.

http://www.us-immigration.com/us-immigration-news/us-visas/u...

Re: Engineer's Guide to US Visas

#48

Post by jbarham » Tue, Mar 04, 2014, 12:39 PM UTC

potbelly83 wrote: post #47

jbarham wrote: post #38

I'm Canadian and worked for over four years a software engineer in SoCal on work visas (TN then H1B). My wife, an Aussie and high school teacher with several years of teaching experience in top international schools in Asia, couldn't legally work in the US. So she volunteered teaching ESL at a local adult school. Ironically many of her students were Hispanics who had originally entered the US illegally. Doubly ironic…

Your wife didn't do much research. As an Australian she would have been eligible for an E-3 Visa. http://www.us-immigration.com/us-immigration-news/us-visas/u...

I had the job in the US, my wife didn't. Even if she did have her own E-3 visa that could have been jeopardized by my including her on my green card application on my H1B visa.

EDIT: The principal at the school where my wife was volunteering actually wanted to hire her as she was better qualified than some of the paid instructors she was helping. But at some level higher up the chain they had a policy of not sponsoring work visas, so that went nowhere.

Re: Engineer's Guide to US Visas

#49

Post by kartikkumar » Tue, Mar 04, 2014, 12:45 PM UTC

nodemaker wrote: post #44

jbarham wrote: post #38

I'm Canadian and worked for over four years a software engineer in SoCal on work visas (TN then H1B). My wife, an Aussie and high school teacher with several years of teaching experience in top international schools in Asia, couldn't legally work in the US. So she volunteered teaching ESL at a local adult school. Ironically many of her students were Hispanics who had originally entered the US illegally. Doubly ironic…

Similar story here. Indian citizen with a US masters degree. Left after working in the US for a year, travelled around SE Asia ,and then moved to Amsterdam! Can choose to work four days a week, have side projects and take 26 days of vacation a year. H1B is totally a sucker's game.

That's cool! I was born in India but was brought up near The Hague. Any chance you might be able to share where you're working at the moment? Interested in know what opportunities there are in and around Amsterdam and Rotterdam. If you'd rather not post publicly, feel free to shoot me an email: me@kartikkumar.com. Thanks!

Re: Engineer's Guide to US Visas

#50

Post by jbarham » Tue, Mar 04, 2014, 12:51 PM UTC

616c wrote: post #42

jbarham wrote: post #38

I'm Canadian and worked for over four years a software engineer in SoCal on work visas (TN then H1B). My wife, an Aussie and high school teacher with several years of teaching experience in top international schools in Asia, couldn't legally work in the US. So she volunteered teaching ESL at a local adult school. Ironically many of her students were Hispanics who had originally entered the US illegally. Doubly ironic…

I am an American working and living abroad. I am very interested in your comment about being self-employed in Australia. Can write up about how to start a business there and the pros/cons? I would love to read something like that.

Keep in mind that thanks to my Aussie wife I have permanent residency.

In terms of "starting a business" I just had to register for an ABN ("Australian Business Number"). That may not even be a legal requirement but IIRC it had tax advantages. It's a couple years since I did it but as I recall I did it all online in a couple of hours and it didn't cost much. I then just include that number on my invoice. Very civilized.

At some point I need to register to charge GST but I'm sure I can do that online too. At no point have I had to visit a government office or get a bureaucrat to sign anything to start a business in Australia.