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Engineer's Guide to US Visas

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Re: Engineer's Guide to US Visas

#161

Post by bertil »

raverbashing wrote: post #91
bertil wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most European countries have a health-care system that depends on you being part of the system: children of someone insured, student, employee, spouse, unemployed who was employed before and often manager of a company. Having worked abroad and recently coming into the country after non paying taxes (with presumably your life in disarray because the company you dedicated yourself too fired you, closed or proved to be…

In Germany if you are hired by a company you join the public health system (through a "public" health insurance company), you can pick a private insurer if you earn more than 5k€ per month if I'm not mistaken

That’s the thing: it can take months, especially if you have a troublesome work history.

Re: Engineer's Guide to US Visas

#162

Post by bertil »

davidw wrote: post #72
bertil wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most European countries have a health-care system that depends on you being part of the system: children of someone insured, student, employee, spouse, unemployed who was employed before and often manager of a company. Having worked abroad and recently coming into the country after non paying taxes (with presumably your life in disarray because the company you dedicated yourself too fired you, closed or proved to be…

Here in Italy, if you're a citizen, you are covered, period, as far as I can tell. Naturally, you have to be in Italy, but other than that, I don't think there's any reason for them to refuse to treat you.

It is a common misconception. The official website is very clear: it reads “The Italian Social Security offers all people working in Italy” Until you find a job, you don’t have any benefits.

http://www.welcomeoffice.fvg.it/common/are-you-a-non-eueea-c...

Re: Engineer's Guide to US Visas

#163

Post by bertil »

HarryHirsch wrote: post #146
bertil wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most European countries have a health-care system that depends on you being part of the system: children of someone insured, student, employee, spouse, unemployed who was employed before and often manager of a company. Having worked abroad and recently coming into the country after non paying taxes (with presumably your life in disarray because the company you dedicated yourself too fired you, closed or proved to be…

In Britain, if you are a resident, that is if you have accepted a job in Britain or are a spouse or child of a person who has, you are automatically covered through the NHS. This is based on residence in the country, not on an employer-employee relationship. If you have been legally present in Britain for a year you continue to be covered even without a job, and if you intend to settle there you are covered from day…

> if you are a resident, that is if you have accepted a job in Britain or are a spouse or child of a person who has, you are automatically covered through the NHS. This is based on residence in the country,

I see a contradiction in what you wrote: for all resident; but you have to work, or be the spouse of someone who does? These are different things.

I have personally been in that position, and I was refused coverage when I moved to UK for a new job, and was made redundant after three months. I then went back to Spain where I had work prior, and was refused coverage there, because my previous dues were only good as long as I stayed in Spain.

Re: Engineer's Guide to US Visas

#164

Post by eshvk »

bduerst wrote: post #157
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…

Mind if I ask how you were getting paid a below market salary? Part of the H1B approval process is that you get paid more than the average salary for the same job in your area. If your salary is below the regional average for your job, then immigration doesn't approve the visa.

Yeah, I too would like to know the answer to this question. I know quite a few people who are on the H1B in the Bay Area, there is nothing to suggest that those people get paid less than their counterparts on Green Cards/Citizens. I was briefly on the H1B for less than six months; the only thing I can imagine depresses wages is the fact that it is not easy to jump jobs. However, I can't imagine that creates that much of a wage differential.

Re: Engineer's Guide to US Visas

#165

Post by eshvk »

tarunkotia wrote: post #139
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…

This is my 10th year anniversary in this country and you guessed it right, I am still on H-1B visa. Although my employer has filed for the green card, it is still a couple years away. I can decide to wait for my Green Card or I can start today. I decided the latter. Having said that, I've started on this path just recently and believe me I am facing difficulties at every step, even the the ones I thought would be the…

A point to note is that only those who were born in India/China have to deal with this long lead time. If you weren't born in any of these countries that have high immigration rates into America, you should have < 3-4 years path to a Green Card.

Re: Engineer's Guide to US Visas

#166

Post by davidw »

bertil wrote: post #162
davidw wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here in Italy, if you're a citizen, you are covered, period, as far as I can tell. Naturally, you have to be in Italy, but other than that, I don't think there's any reason for them to refuse to treat you.

It is a common misconception. The official website is very clear: it reads “The Italian Social Security offers all people working in Italy” Until you find a job, you don’t have any benefits. http://www.welcomeoffice.fvg.it/common/are-you-a-non-eueea-c...

You're looking at the pension system for the Friuli Venezia-Giulia region. That's like social security in the US - very different from health care.

If you're in Italy and a citizen of Italy, you are covered. There are likely gray areas for non-Italian citizens. They generally see you first, and ask questions later though, especially if you have the health service card, which any Italian would. I (US citizen) went to the emergency room once before getting mine, and the bill was €0.00, although I did have to buy some stuff at the pharmacy and was charged full price for it, for which the pharmacist was quite apologetic.

Re: Engineer's Guide to US Visas

#168

Post by crucialfelix »

rabble wrote: post #110
cookrn wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

An interesting option for Americans looking to move to the Netherlands (or their territories) is the Dutch-American Friendship Treaty http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DAFT_(treaty)

Interesting, i know a lot of americans go to Berlin but German laws make being a freelancer quite tricky. Interesting to see it's easier in the Netherlands.

It was quite easy for me to get a German visa as a freiberufler. Basically I just needed health insurance and to show that I had past income as a freelancer. It's been renewed each year without a problem.

Akaik it's harder to get a fixed job because the company must prove there are no locals who could do the job. It's just more paper work for them.

Re: Engineer's Guide to US Visas

#169

Post by jbarham »

eshvk wrote: post #164
bduerst wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mind if I ask how you were getting paid a below market salary? Part of the H1B approval process is that you get paid more than the average salary for the same job in your area. If your salary is below the regional average for your job, then immigration doesn't approve the visa.

Yeah, I too would like to know the answer to this question. I know quite a few people who are on the H1B in the Bay Area, there is nothing to suggest that those people get paid less than their counterparts on Green Cards/Citizens. I was briefly on the H1B for less than six months; the only thing I can imagine depresses wages is the fact that it is not easy to jump jobs. However, I can't imagine that creates that much…

> the only thing I can imagine depresses wages is the fact that it is not easy to jump jobs. However, I can't imagine that creates that much of a wage differential.

In my case I got a 40% raise taking a new job after being laid off from the previous one in a company downsizing. For the H1B in particular the visa is issued for a particular role at a particular company with a prescribed salary. If you want the green card you have to stay in that role for that company at that salary. Everything resets (unless you're at the very end of the process) if you switch employers.

Re: Engineer's Guide to US Visas

#170

Post by kartikkumar »

maccman wrote: post #94
kartikkumar wrote: post #31

This is the main reason I've given up. It's not an effective use of anyone's time to wade through the US immigration mess. My J-1 visa expired last October. I was in SF for my PhD research on a J-1 and had to suddenly return to Europe last April due to unforeseen family circumstances. I was in the process of filing for a waiver when I was in SF and had a long call with someone at Google about a position I'd applied f…

It sounds like you may be eligible for the O1 visa.

I thought of exploring that, but TBH, my understanding is that you have to be a "publishing machine" to even stand the chance of being considered and unfortunately I haven't been as productive as I had wished during my PhD in terms of number of papers. Maybe I should investigate this further, but the original article also seems to indicate that an O1 is a long shot.
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