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USCIS Reaches 2014 H-1B Cap

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Re: USCIS Reaches 2014 H-1B Cap

#51

Post by tosseraccount »

krakensden wrote: post #33
manishsharan wrote: post #24

fyi - Exemption for U.S. Master's Degree: Under the law the first 20,000 H1B petitions that are filed on behalf of foreign nationals that have earned an advanced degree from a U.S. institution of higher education are exempt from the USCIS H1B quota. This essentially creates a separate pool of 20,000 additional H1B visa numbers each fiscal year that are available only to those foreign nationals who have earned a Maste…

Which is why there are master's degree mills for the people running bodyshops.

Putting Strayer and Phoenix in charge of immigration is not wise.

Re: USCIS Reaches 2014 H-1B Cap

#52

Post by jlarocco »

arenaninja wrote: post #32

I'm not an expert on the subject, but I distinctly remember Oracle's CEO complaining about H1B visas for our graduation speech. It was a stale speech, particularly when their company never even sent a Rep to our school's career fair. It took me months (7) to get a web dev position as a physics major, often because I was perceived as a weaker candidate. My git projects were never even looked at and I was once told to…

Your story doesn't back up the claims you're making.

To be honest, I'm surprised you got any developer position at all with a physics major. If you wanted to do web development, why did you get a physics degree? It's like saying "I want to be a doctor" and then getting a law degree. College is training, and you trained to be an entry level physicist. There are plenty of recent CS grads looking for jobs, and their major is at least somewhat related to the job they're applying for.

Yeah, it sucks you had a hard time, but it's not surprising, and it's hard to feel bad for you given the choices you made.

Re: USCIS Reaches 2014 H-1B Cap

#53

Post by zaatar »

c0mpute wrote: post #48
tptacek wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are our immigration attorneys crazy, or am I mixing up last year and a year before?

eliben is right. Last year the visas were available until June. The year before that it was sometime in November, and the year before that it was sometime in December. But, based on last year's pattern all attorneys predicted it would be reached on April 1st this year. IIRC, it was in 2007/2008 when the cap was reached on day1.

That is correct, 2007 was the first year this whole mess started, and resulted in the creation of a lottery system. It was the year I got my H1B, and I didn't know until late June - early July if I made it or not ...

Re: USCIS Reaches 2014 H-1B Cap

#54

Post by prostoalex »

WildUtah wrote: post #5

It's long past time to put these up for bid instead of lottery. Companies that really need talent and will pay fairly for it are being held up by cheap CRUD labor sweatshop employers that file mountains of applications. If we met the serious needs first, measured reasonably well by willingness to pay, there would be more than enough visas. That's in addition to other reforms this program needs like the right to switc…

While in short-term that would resolve the issue, the long-term strategy for many companies would be to just establish offices in other countries or hire outsourcing outfits with 1 local project management type employee and a 20-head development team elsewhere.

There's really no reason for government to artificially cap the number of available visas, provided that educational and other requirements are met. The governments are in the business of generating revenues, and H1-B employees pay all proper taxes, so net result is a win-win for both parties.

Re: USCIS Reaches 2014 H-1B Cap

#55

Post by c0mpute »

robot wrote: post #50
shaohua wrote: post #25

God. This is depressing. Only 52% of chance getting a Visa. Who wants to buy a 2011 Mini Cooper? I am selling my car and ready to go back to China.

I think it is more like %68.5 >>> 85.000 / 124.000 0.6854838709677419

Actually more like: 65,000/104,000 = 62.5%, assuming someone is not in Masters quota.

Out of the 124k, 20k will be for masters. The remaining masters join the pool of lottery for 65k. So there are 65k spots available for 124k - 20k(=104k)

Re: USCIS Reaches 2014 H-1B Cap

#56

Post by taurussai »

cletus wrote: post #20

Wow, I had no idea the H1B system reverted to a lottery at some point. I thought it was just a first-come first-served system. That just... sucks. Just a note for those of you who are looking for foreign workers or if you're an Australian citizen: you can get an E3 visa (2 years, multiple entry, renewable ad infinitum). There is a cap for these too but AFAIK it's never been hit (in the 5+ year history). The E3 has tw…

The cap is only meant for new H1B applications. Those with already existing H1B visa or held a H1B visa in the past are exempt from this cap

Re: USCIS Reaches 2014 H-1B Cap

#57

Post by mahyarm »

This is why bay area tech companies have to start accepting remote work more. It's easier to work with remote workers than to deal with the H-1B cap and waiting until next October. If you must restrict, just keep them within North & South America so you avoid major time zone issues.

Re: USCIS Reaches 2014 H-1B Cap

#58

Post by arenaninja »

jlarocco wrote: post #52
arenaninja wrote: post #32

I'm not an expert on the subject, but I distinctly remember Oracle's CEO complaining about H1B visas for our graduation speech. It was a stale speech, particularly when their company never even sent a Rep to our school's career fair. It took me months (7) to get a web dev position as a physics major, often because I was perceived as a weaker candidate. My git projects were never even looked at and I was once told to…

Your story doesn't back up the claims you're making. To be honest, I'm surprised you got any developer position at all with a physics major. If you wanted to do web development, why did you get a physics degree? It's like saying "I want to be a doctor" and then getting a law degree. College is training, and you trained to be an entry level physicist. There are plenty of recent CS grads looking for jobs, and their maj…

Except I'm not looking for sympathy. And your assertion that a CS degree prepares you for real life programming is almost laughable. Plenty of people work in areas that are only peripherally related to their majors without detriment to their trade. Your comparison of web dev to being a doctor tells me your understanding of the trade isn't all that clear.

Re: USCIS Reaches 2014 H-1B Cap

#59

Post by axk »

joonix wrote: post #22
cletus wrote: post #20

Wow, I had no idea the H1B system reverted to a lottery at some point. I thought it was just a first-come first-served system. That just... sucks. Just a note for those of you who are looking for foreign workers or if you're an Australian citizen: you can get an E3 visa (2 years, multiple entry, renewable ad infinitum). There is a cap for these too but AFAIK it's never been hit (in the 5+ year history). The E3 has tw…

> (but you do need to leave the country to apply; you can't adjust status while in the US). That's actually not true[1]. You can change status to an E-3 from within the US by filing Form I-129. [1] http://1.usa.gov/boasGi

Only if you don't intend to leave the country at all. Once you cross the border, even if it's a short weekend trip, you would have to apply for a new E-3 visa again.

Re: USCIS Reaches 2014 H-1B Cap

#60

Post by toomuchtodo »

acgourley wrote: post #23
jdross wrote: post #7

It's insane. I have a coworker who is an unbelievably talented and respected developer both at my company and in the open source community. He has been working on a student visa after he graduated from an Ivy League school in computer science last year. That the U.S. is even considering deporting him is batshit crazy to me.

It is insane. Despite getting in by April 1st we're now waiting on the lottery results to see if our first engineering hire can stay in the country. It's going to be extremely disruptive both to him and to us if he can't stay. Stupid.

Is the distance between him and your team really going to be that disruptive if he/she needed to work from another country?

Seriously people; this is Hacker News. We build things on The Internet. Since when is distance an acceptable excuse of a limitation for team members?

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