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Engineer's Guide to US Visas

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Re: Engineer's Guide to US Visas

#171

Post by k3oni »

justadude wrote: post #57

With reference to the Green Card Lottery [1] "if you lose in the lottery, they'll refund the fees", there are no fees to enter the lottery, however if you win the lottery there are fees to start the interview and visa process. [1] https://www.dvlottery.state.gov/

Indeed it's free to enter, just make sure you qualify in the case you win. The required qualifications are minimal but worth reading into it so you don't pay any money and not get the visas.

We went through it and it took about half a year for everything to be ready.

Lucky wife :)

Re: Engineer's Guide to US Visas

#172

Post by kartikkumar »

ankzap wrote: post #135
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…

J1 waiver isn't too bad. Yes, it involves some paper-work, but nothing that would need an immigration lawyer. You can do everything yourself, and costs about $200 last I checked. Also look into the O1 visa that doesn't require a waiver, and has no quotas.

Ok, that's good to know. That's an order-of-magnitude less than I was told. I guess I should look into it in more detail. In the meantime I have accepted a postdoc position in Europe, so I'm in no immediate rush to get the visa situation sorted out. Would just be nice to be able to sort things out so that once my postdoc is done I've got a better chance of returning to the Bay Area.

With regards to the O1 visa, I've heard that you have to really stand out in your field of research, as the original article states, and unfortunately, during my PhD I haven't really achieved that level of success.

Thanks in any case for the info!

Re: Engineer's Guide to US Visas

#173

Post by j1throwaway »

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…

I applied for J-1 waiver last summer. It's a painful bureaucratic process but it's not too hard to follow. You have to fill up DS-3035 [1] and get a no objection certificate from your embassy or government. Most embassies in US have some standard procedure for sending no objection certificate directly. After that, they'll take about a couple of months to approve your waiver.

You can do it all by yourself and in total you won't have to pay more than $500 ($215 for DS-3035 + fee for no objection letter.) Go for it!

[1] http://travel.state.gov/content/visas/english/study-exchange...

Re: Engineer's Guide to US Visas

#174

Post by kartikkumar »

ma2rten wrote: post #124
kartikkumar wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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!

layar and Booking.com are intersting companies in Amsterdam.

Thanks for that! I was curious because Booking.com is the only company that I know of. Layar looks really awesome! I actually interviewed at Booking.com and got a job offer as Data Scientist. After a lot of deliberation I accepted a postdoc position instead but I'm going to keep my eye out for opportunities in Amsterdam for when my postdoc is done. Hope Layar is still doing awesome things when I check again!

Re: Engineer's Guide to US Visas

#175

Post by cdhdc »

jplmelanson wrote: post #63

The important difference is that the TN isn't dual intent, and you therefore can't apply for a green card while on it Is there a path to permanent residency for this specific visa or you're better off finding H1B sponsorship?

The information given regarding TN status isn't entirely accurate. I transitioned from a TN to a Greencard directly. There were several conditions that my immigration lawyer prepared me for so I wasn't violating dual-intent and there was a period of several months when I was unable to leave the US while I waited for my "Advance parole" travel documentation.

Re: Engineer's Guide to US Visas

#176

Post by bduerst »

jbarham wrote: post #169
eshvk wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 ca…

That's kind of unique to your situation though, isn't it?

That rule is in place to prevent employers from gaming the system - i.e. hiring someone as a scientist to get through approvals, then firing and rehiring them as a low-wage janitor.

Re: Engineer's Guide to US Visas

#177

Post by ankzap »

kartikkumar wrote: post #172
ankzap wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

J1 waiver isn't too bad. Yes, it involves some paper-work, but nothing that would need an immigration lawyer. You can do everything yourself, and costs about $200 last I checked. Also look into the O1 visa that doesn't require a waiver, and has no quotas.

Ok, that's good to know. That's an order-of-magnitude less than I was told. I guess I should look into it in more detail. In the meantime I have accepted a postdoc position in Europe, so I'm in no immediate rush to get the visa situation sorted out. Would just be nice to be able to sort things out so that once my postdoc is done I've got a better chance of returning to the Bay Area. With regards to the O1 visa, I've…

Start the waiver process now. It is multi-staged, and takes several months if everything goes smoothly. You'll need a no-objection letter from the embassy of your home country. This is usually the most tricky part. Once the US Department of State gets this, you can track your status online. Start now so you are done with it by the time you finish your postdoc.

Re the O1, read up on the requirements, and work on publishing more during your postdoc.

Re: Engineer's Guide to US Visas

#178

Post by why-el »

rglullis wrote: post #145
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…

Since we're sharing stories: come from Brazil to the US, it took me 2 months in 2008 (the height of the crisis) to get an interview in a place where they could actually sponsor H1B visas. Got job offer. The whole process to be able to start working took another 3 months. So I had to sit on my ass for 5 months doing nothing but wait for the USCIS. I was working at a research lab that was part of Harvard Medical, there…

Similar story with Germany. I got the offer, applied for a visa in my home country on Friday, they called me with good news on Monday, and collected it on Thursday since Tuesday and Wednesday were off for new year's.

By the way I worked in Brazil for 7 months and the visa was just as quick. Lovely country. ;)

Re: Engineer's Guide to US Visas

#179

Post by cbr »

rglullis wrote: post #145
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…

Since we're sharing stories: come from Brazil to the US, it took me 2 months in 2008 (the height of the crisis) to get an interview in a place where they could actually sponsor H1B visas. Got job offer. The whole process to be able to start working took another 3 months. So I had to sit on my ass for 5 months doing nothing but wait for the USCIS. I was working at a research lab that was part of Harvard Medical, there…

    I quit my job ... forget about unemployment checks, even
    though I paid for Social Security like everyone else
If you quit a job in the US you're not generally eligible for unemployment.

https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/unemployment-benefit...

Re: Engineer's Guide to US Visas

#180

Post by spiralpolitik »

huherto wrote: post #66
rjzzleep wrote: post #51

i'm surprised no one is mentioning the eb-2 visa. if you have a masters or higher in cs and are not born in the india or china the wait times seem to be reasonable. [1] the h1b is a dangerous game. it's essentially a do whatever i say, and i "may" sponsor your green card "eventually", with an emphasize on the may. not everyone uses it that way, and i would would be leaning out of the window saying most do, but it's d…

I have a MS from a good US university. I am one of the principal software engineers at my company, and I lead the technical development on some of the most critical systems. It is medium size company. But, I don't do any state of the art research, or highly specialized academic work, or anything worth publishing on academic journals. How hard is to do the Labor Certification for the EB-2 green card? Edit:grammar

It depends. Do other people doing a similar role in the company also have similar qualifications to meet the EB2 criteria?

Generally doing the labor certification isn't hard, just time consuming and a lot of paperwork. 1-2 years is not uncommon even with the new PERM system. After that it depends what country you come from.

The main gotcha is you cannot use your experience of doing the position on your H-1B towards your labor certification application if you are currently employed in the position so you'll have go on your previous experience.

As ever consult a lawyer. This goes double for immigration related stuff.

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