http://www.rediff.com/money/2007/apr/04visa.htmThe numbers does look astounding but given the fact
that the craze to get to the US increases exponentially
every passing year, its not really unthinkable/unimaginable.
The quota to catch the H1B bus starts April 1st every year.
(ah, what a date!!)
When i applied couple of yrs back, the quota of 57000
visas (and not 65000 as there is some 8000 visas set aside for
some singapore-chile agreement or something such)
got over in Aug. Last year, it got over in May and voila this year,
it lasted just for the D-day !!!
So, whats in store for next year?
57000 visas for a year is literally peanuts. This number
is not even enough for South TamilNadu leave alone the
Rajugaarus,Patel brothers and the like !!
Quite frankly H1B sucks. It really does. Its the most
torturous struggle i have ever had in my life !!!
The struggle to get school 1st in 12th, join good college
and subsequently spend 5 yrs in an MNC is nothing compared
to this.
To find a good consultant (99% this is just an oxymoron),
negotiate a good salary and medical insurance, fight with him to
remove the bond from the offer letter, finally accept a 1yr bond,
send 1 lakh deposit to an unknown office in chennai/hyd, keep
mailing him knowing that he wont respond, keep murthy.com as
homepage, go thru all the speculations in the world around h1, atlast
from mid-march follow up hard with him to file H1 on time etc...
and yeah,all this without the knowledge of ur current
"eyes-la-velakkennai-vittu-paakura" manager. u name it !!)
its such a PITA !!
When i read the above news in rediff, though i consider myself
lucky(???) , i really feel b(s)ad for my friends back home who are going
thru the same struggle which i had. Those whose petition
dint reach IRS by Apr 3rd should wait for one FULL YEAR now.
Those who did apply on Apr 2nd should pray that their stars shine
when the random selection policy is applied to their petitions !!! WTF
Herez an 'official' note from
USCIS =============Cap Procedures: In keeping with USCIS regulations, USCIS will use the following process to handleH-1B petitions subject to the FY 2008 cap.
• USCIS has determined that as of April 2, 2007, it had received enough H-1B petitions to reach the FY 2008 H-1B cap and has set the “final receipt date” as April 2, 2007.• In keeping with its regulations, USCIS will subject H-1B petitions received on the “final receipt date” and the following day to a computer-generated random selection process.• USCIS will reject all cap-subject H-1B petitions for FY 2008 received on or after Wednesday, April 4, 2007.• USCIS will reject and return along with the filing fee(s) all cap-subject H-1B petitions that are not randomly selected.• Petitioners may re-submit petitions on April 1, 2008 when H-1B visas become available for FY 2009. This is the earliest date for which an employer may file a petition requesting FY 2009 H-1B employment with a start date of October 1, 2008=============Now,if you define something called "final receipt date" , what is the logic
behind including the petitions from the following day? I am at an
absolute loss trying to think what sense does it make esp given the
fact that on the very first day, there has been a whopping 1,50,000 visa
application. This makes those who applied on Apr 2nd lose it over someone
who applied on 3rd based on pure luck !!
Literally, no one can sleep well until they get their petition number which
happens to be several weeks from now :(
Getting H1 is now just like winning a lottery.
The worst thing is that this affects a lot of really talented smart ppl
who want to work in the US. I know of a lot of my friends and juniors
who got placed in top notch MNCs (MS/Oracle/Intel/Yahoo etc) and
worked there for 3 to 5 yrs. Inspite of good academics and MNC experience,
they are forced to either gamble with a body-shopper (and go thru
the pain points listed above) or join a service company hoping that they
will take the pain !!!
Its high time USCIS either increases the numbers or still better
come out with a good system to accept talented immigrants.
P.S : Just an outburst after reading the news. Those who could relate,
share ur experiences. For the rest, vandhadhukku chumma oru 4
comment potu ponga :)
P.S 2: I didnt take time to align this post. So, adjust with blogger !!
