Image via Wikipedia To avoid long security lines at the airport Verified Identity Pass (VIP) contracted with TSA and developed a program called "Clear" where members pay $120/ year to have their identities verified. The registration card allowed them to bypass long security lines.

One of the laptops gone missing which contained sensitive personal information like Greencard number of permanent residents, name, address, phone numbers and birth dates, as well as drivers' license. TSA temporarily suspended this program. This is a good move by TSA as they want all the data on all VIP devices needs encryption to avoid the possibility of landing of this sensitive info in the wrong hands.

New members will not be able to sign up for the program and have to wait in long security lines until TSA clears the "clear" program.

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Labels: Business, Business Services, Consultants, Fire and Security, Immigration, Security, Transportation Security Administration, TSA, Verified Identity Pass

Image via WikipediaWorcester's Snowhill resident Mohammad Ijaz bribed USCIS (U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service officials) for six green cards besides participating in a sate tax evasion scam. The result he landed in prison with four year term and three years of probation.

He gave bribes in amounts $900,000 to get U.S. Green Cards for six people and for taxes to Comptroller to assess the sales in the stores to $18 million.

Ijaz is one of 11 men arrested as part of a September nationwide sweep in Somerset, Wicomico and Worcester counties.

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Labels: Immigration, Society and Culture, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service, United States, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, United States nationality law, USCIS

Image by Getty Images via DaylifeSays who ? The report from John Miano titled -- The H1B Visa Sham -- discussed the mismatch between number of H1-B visas approved for the fiscal year and the number of jobs created in that industry (both computers and engineering).

As opposed to popular belief John's argument is that there is no direct relationship between H1-Bs and their job creation. Is this measurable ? I doubt it as you cannot just count numbers from the same industry. It is possible that as a result of H1-Bs the jobs are created in related industries if not in the computer industry. This is difficult to quantify.

H1-Bs approvals are 16000 where as jobs lost is 76000 -- This to some extent may account for H1-Bs converting to permanent residents and the conversion is not accounted for. Probably H1-Bs are filling the jobs of once H1-bs but now legal residents.

large percentage of those who legally enter United States on H-1B visas go into the illegal alien pool -- No wonder we hear daily the companies scams and their arrests news. Recently Nilesh Dasondi of Cygate Software & Consulting Inc illegally sponsored visas for six people and they came to US and never worked on H1-Bs.

John's report may be very well true but statistics presented may tell us a different story that a person obtaining H1-B in California usually doesn't work in California but may go to some other city which I think was happening for the unaccounted numbers.

Overall the report puts the focus on numbers mismatch with the reality. correct measures (or system) are required to track this H1-B non-immigrants.

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Labels: California, Employment, H-1B visa, Immigration, John Miano, microsoft, RAND, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, United States

This article in Gazette highlights the problems that Maryland employers facing as a result of 85000 H1-B visa cap. Getting H1-B in US is a lottery system now with so many applicants fiercely competing for meager 65,000 H1-B visas.

Students in US are some what better off in the sense that they can work on F1 visa for 29 months and apply for 20,000 H1-B visas available.

Chamber of commerce's lobbying was not working to increase the cap back to 195,000 quota of 2003.

Is H1-B effecting the salaries and jobs taken away from US workers ?

Globalization and the American IT Worker(pdf).

A number of studies have found that the H-1Bs are paid on average 15% to 33% less than comparable U.S. IT workers.Given the similarity in salary savings between offshoring and labor importation, and the fact that having the work done on-site is far more productive, it is much more cost-effective from a CEO’s point of view to hire H-1Bs than to offshore the work

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Labels: H-1B visa, Immigration, Recreation, Society and Culture, Travel, United States, US, Visa

Linked8 provides databases of business, career, and education which can be searcheable. Linked8 tapped into additional sectors of H1-B and GC databases available for search. The site claims they have more than 9000 recruiters and hiring companies that have signed-up at Linked8.

Currently only year 2006 and 2007 data is available for search at these sites - H1-B & GreenCard.

If I am on H1-B and is looking for a job then here are numerous possibilities of using this search information from linked8 -

- Search by state and know all the employers who are sponsoring H1-Bs
- Search by employer and see the trending of their recruitments
- Get Job title information
- Get salary information
- For Job seekers the links helps search for similar jobs in the area or Jobs available at employer

Similarly Greencard data helps if the employer is sponsoring GCs.

For recruiters this is gold as they can ping these employers and match H1-B candidates to the jobs. For employers this gives a good info of what salaries are being offered by the industry for the job positions.

Labels: GreenCard, H-1B visa, Immigration, Job Search

Initially the rumors were of three years but Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff in the press release gave sweet EAD news that validity period is now two years :

I'm also pleased to announce that we will be extending the validity period of the employment authorization documents that we issue to individuals who are waiting adjustment of status to lawful permit residenture or in colloquial phrase, the green card.

Currently, adjustment applications are granted employment authorization documents with only a one year maximum validity. Beginning later this month, we'll start issuing these documents with a two-year validity period for aliens who are waiting adjustment of status if their application is expected to be pending for more than a year.

This, again, is eliminating a persistent source of frustration for workers who are here, who have a pending adjustment application but have to go and renew their employment documents every single year. It's going to cut the paperwork there.

USCIS will keep continuing 1-year as retrogression date in visa bulletin is close then it makes no sense for two year validities for the applicant as well as to USCIS. As recent July 2008 visa bulletin indicates "Unavailable" for EB3 employment based category. This leaves no chance until October'2008 for USCIS but renew 2-years for all those applicants.

This is good news for applicants who can save some $$ on filings in attorney fees and also the hassle of getting out of status if card is NOT issued on time. Anyway these are all temporary patches and the large issue of unknown Greencard processing times still prevails.

Labels: Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, Immigration, Michael Chertoff, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, United States Secretary of Homeland Security, USCIS

DOL recently announced that they would audit each and every PERM application filed by largest US Immigration firms attorneys at Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy LLP. The act brought all firms together and DOL issued a statement to clarify the role of attorneys in recruiting requirements for labor certifications.

DOL releases clarification on June 13. 2008 in its guidance bulletin - PERM Program Guidance Bulletin on the Clarification of Scope of Consideration Rule in 20 CFR 656.10(b)(2)

DOL justifies its stand by making clear that "The employer, and not the attorney or agent, must determine whether a U.S. applicant's credentials meet the minimum qualifications for the position ..." -- Do all th employers have luxury or skills to evaluate each and every application ? A practical "NO" is the answer. This makes us believe that DOL wants every employer in US to be immigration skillful. Why would any employer invest its time and resources on such not value-added task ? This is the same reason that employers hires attorneys to represent their cases.

The fight continues -- DOL stance is to avoid fraud done by some of firms in filing unlawful PERM applications thereby denying the job prospect for citizens. Clearly DOL cannot audit all the Fragomen' applications given its resource strengths and continuing back logs at the DOL centers. Sure political pressures like large employers lobbying may change the situation in future on this particular DOL vs Fragomen issue. It remains at large to see how influential US employers react to this situation staged by DOL on immigration firms.

Check this DOL site for latest updates

Labels: Immigration, Lawyers and Law Firms, PERM. GreenCard, United States, US

Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW), a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization released 2008 Illinois piglet book which identifies $686 million in wasteful spending in the state budget. Here are the details.

Here is the list of Illinois state taxpayer dollars spent-



CAGW's 2008 Pig Book Digs Up $17.2 Billion (taxpayers dollars) in Pork. To qualify as pork, a project must meet one of seven criteria that were developed in 1991 by CAGW and the Congressional Porkbusters Coalition. CAGW maintains a vast pork database with 9000+ searchable projects by keywords. CAGW was in news when they directly criticized when state agencies mandated to use only opensource. CAGW says taxpayer dollars are justified in open bidding that gives transparency in the state agencies transactions. As often people confuse open source to free software. Software may be free but the costs of hardware and software maintainance are largely ignored and this is the reason that CAGW claims transparency in state agencies using "open" source software. But CAGW historically took the side of Microsoft on all of their monopoly legal issues. Tobacco industry is rumored to have paid hefty sums to CAGW to lobby for them.

Labels: Immigration, taxes

One of my friend sent me Hari Karthikeya Kondabolu's you tube video and this stand up clip was mainly about how he used for his shows the "Telugu" - South Indian regional language that was spoken by his parents in an Indian American accent. My first impressions were he is sure not one of those Indian accent stereotype comedians that come and go in a flash.

Raised in Queens, New York by Indian immigrant parents made his name and became famous as he interned with Sen. Hillary Clinton. This internship program is one of the most prestigious, effective and competitive leadership programs in the nation’s capital. Over 120 Indian-American college students from across the United States applies to these programs.

Kondabolu earlier interned in the office of the Queens District Attorney, where he worked in the Hate Crimes/Anti-Bias/Youth Gangs Bureau. This provided him with a first-hand view of how the criminal justice system works. The experience motivated him to seek a career path that will enable him to work to improve the lives of minorities.

He moved to Seattle from New York and made name as a stand up comedian and working at Hate Free Zone, an organization founded after September 11 to help immigrant communities. He moved to London and waiting to perform his queen jokes ( Diamonds of India with queen satires) and have to see how popular he will become in stand-up comedian in London besides his continuing education in London School Of Economics.

Here are the two Youtube videos :

Hari Kondabolu in Jimmy Kimmel Live

Hari Kondabolu telugu satires

Labels: Immigration, Movies

IRS started sending letters of Economic Stimulus Payment Notice and I received that by mail today. I scanned it and posted it here (see the image at the end of the post) for quick understanding of important points from IRS notice.

H1-B visa holders dependents may have a slight problem as letter indicates that dependents must have a SSN as in many cases dependents of H1-B visa holders are in H4 visa status and possess tax-id instead of SSN. Dependents are spouse and children who are on H4 visa. If you read through last but one paragraph of payment notice letter this clause is added by IRS. Does this mean H4 visa dependents are not eligible for economic stimulus package ? This if true makes these households receive lesser amount of $600 only.

The other important points outlined in this letter are as follows

- File 2007 tax return and that makes it eligible for 130 million households to receive $600 for individuals or $1200 for joint filers

-An additional amount of $300 for each child qualifying for the child tax credit

- For tax payers with adjusted gross income (AGI) of more than $75000 (or more than $150,000 if married filing jointly), the payment will be reduced

- the last one is important for immigrants or H1-B visa holders as the clause says "must have valid social security numbers"

Labels: H1-B, Immigration, refund, taxes

----------------------
Update on March 09'2008 -- you tube video posted
-----------------------
Manjunath Kalmani's tragic accident reminds us how important is health insurance for immigrants. He is an immigrant who came to US on H1-B visa and worked with company weather.com as software developer and got laid off during economic downturn in 2002. Unemployed and uninsured Manjunath injured his spinal cord critically in car accident at Nashville, TN, in April 2002.
His problems complicated with expensive medical costs in US and is finally sent back in air ambulance to India on March 5' 2008. Manjunath's blog address is (http://mkalmani.blogspot.com/) and it was reported in news that he blogged and interacted with computers in vegetative state using sip-n-puff devices.

Here is some information I was able to pull out on sip-n-puff devices for critically injured persons like Manjunath.

Axistive reports on sip-n-puff devices

Accessing the computer other than via a standard keyboard and mouse can present a number of problems. However the IntegraMouse® is a highly attractive solution for a large range of challenges. The IntegraMouse® is especially designed for users who are unable to operate a mouse with their hands.

IntegraMouse® has all the functions of a standard mouse enabling the user to control all functions of the computer by lip movements. The IntegraMouse offers a sensitive sip and puff solution that controls the range of mouse clicks (left click, right click, double click, drag&drop).

This tragedy shows us the importance of health insurance to immigrants in US. Remember without health insurance you can not afford for expensive medical costs in U.S. You should always read full details about the health insurance coverage. Also you need to find out whether you should pay for insurance premium. This contribution totally depends up on the company’s health care benefits policy. Usually you pay 20 or 25 % of the premium every month.

It is better always to have some information handy like what is your co-payment for each visit.Some consulting companies may provide cheap insurance coverage which requires you to pay much higher out of pocket expenses. Make sure you don’t settle down for these kind of health coverage.Also health insurance should cover all your family members and that will require paying the insurance premium to your family members.

Also Health insurance covers maternity if you are married. Equally important is dental and vision insurances. Once laid off remember you can still have insurance using COBRA plan and it is kind of expensive until you find other job. For a immigrant living in US for many years all these seems to be simple tips only if they were correctly insured.

I sincerely hope Manjunath gets good medical attention from Indian authorities. It is glad to see TimesOfIndia picked this news and I hope other news sites/blogs pick up the story to get needed attention to Manjunath.



Sources :

1) Injured but spirit intact he started a blog on himself

2) US_sends_back_paralysed_techie_to_Delhi

Labels: H1-B, Immigration, insurance

This is one useful experience that my friend shared with me when he travelled with his family to London and returned to US on AP documents when his AOS application is pending.

Ap (Advance Parole) will allow one to travel outside the United States while one's adjustment of status application is pending.These documents is valid between the dates shown on the document, and to re-enter into the U.S. without a valid visa in passport. Make sure that you are physically inside the United States prior to the expiration date shown on the document.

We will receive two or three original travel documents that are all identical (you will only need two - however USCIS sometimes has sent out three originals. If you have three originals (keep one in a safe place at home). Take a couple of copies with you in addition to the two originals. When you use these documents for the first time, the airline may ask for a copy of the Advance Parole.Upon arrival into the US, one original Advance Parole will be stamped by immigration and they may take the other original.

My friend carried only one original document and that created big problems for him and he was questioned that delayed his immigration check by more than half hour. So make sure you carry all the (three identical) documents when travelling with AP.

Be sure to retain the original Advance Parole (Form I-512) stamped by the U.S. Immigration officer since this is a multiple entry document and you may wish to use it again at a later date. You will not be given a new document, so make sure you keep this document in a safe place for future traveling.

If you have not yet received your employment authorization document (EAD), and you travel internationally, please carry with you a copy of your current Form I-797A approval notice that will be evidence of your work status (H or L). Upon your return to the U.S., these documents will verify that you are authorized to work in the U.S., if the question should arise from the U.S. inspector at the border. Make a copy of the I94 record that you will surrender when you leave the US so that you have record of it for the return trip.

If you already have your Employment authorization document you should carry it with you and you do not need to carry the other documents discussed above. You still may want to copy the I94 record for your future reference.

Labels: Advance Parole, Ap, EAD, green card, Immigration, Travel

With news of US economy going into probable recession there is at least one or two major layoff announcements appearing in the news mainly from financial sector companies. This post may be useful who have their EAD's and are looking for a job change.

After 180 days have passed from your I485 pending date, your current employer usually does not have control over I-140 . This is where AC21 comes into play where you use a job offer in a SIMILAR position to change your green card sponsor. To work for that sponsor before your green card is approved, you would need work authorization - generally H1 or EAD.

To join new employer with AC 21 rule you need copy of the I-485 receipt and a new job offer. Having a I-140 receipt/approval copy is helpful.
Now the problem comes if your original sponsor withdraws I-140 after 180 days

The Risk

If I-485 has been pending for 180 days and I-140 is approved then AC21 portability rule can be used to change employers. All immigration experts say the risk is much smaller unless in cases where I-140 is not approved.

The risk to the employee/applicant arises if the employer revokes the approved I-140. As per the rule, USCIS is supposed to continue to process the case, if USCIS have been informed by the applicant about the use of AC21 in case of employer change. Very rarely it can happen that USCIS staff who lacks the knowledge will deny such cases.

Choices

What to do in the event such denial happens?

-> Grab an attorney and through them you can file a motion to reopen the denied case.

-> If at all you can do keep your H1-B status that way you will be in status/work authorization in case a problem comes up.

Benefits

Many have used AC21 without the above said problems. It is noted in many immigration forums that AC21 cases at large are smoothly going.

The wrongful denials after I-140 revocation continue to be a problem---but not a wide-spread problem. The procedure to be followed is clear, but the USCIS does not always follow it. Employers don't have valid reason to revoke I-140s anymore, since there are no labor substitutions.

Labels: AC21, green card, Immigration

After June/July Visa bulletin fiasco we have seen two times December , January bulletins retrogress India Employment Second preference to far cut-off date which clearly indicates demand for EB2 numbers by USCIS for (AOS)adjustment of status cases has remained extremely high in recent months . Recent bulletin (FEBRUARY 2008) released yesterday reflected this big drop making India EB2 category as "Unavailable" where as EB3 category retrogressed to 08MAY01 - Which means EB3 for India is now more current than EB2. Remind you that this is just start of the fiscal year for visa numbers and this demand proves to be very costly for Indian applicants as they have to wait no one knows (even USCIS too) when they will become current.

Why did EB2 become unavailable in February Bulletin?

This is expected as January 2008 bulletin gave good signs of this prediction - EB2 for India is retrogressed by 2 years to January 2000 & EB2 remains unchanged to 01 May 2001. EB2 approval needs Master's degree or 5 years experience and we already know I140 is the stage with the most scrutiny since I485 is only adjustment of status. One probable reason for unavailability is that employers hurried up to use LC substitution as USCIS announced that they no more be accepting LC substitutions. Sure as to every one guess that these I140s will have issues. I140 processing times are more and against to guidelines probably the dates are made unavailable.

Other obvious reason needless to say is mass filing that happened in June/July ' 2007 which used years worth of visa numbers.

Unless visa numbers quota is increased I believe the same story continues and priority dates may take years and years to become current.

All the best for those who are waiting for dates to become current.

Labels: eb-2, green card, Immigration, India, priority dates

Vikram Pandit is chosen as CEO of ailing Citigroup that wrote down as much as $18 billions of dollars on home loans under the previous leader.Vikram, a native of Nagpur, India, studied electrical engineering at Columbia and got a Ph.D. in finance from the same university.His resume is impressive as he served as the head of institutional investing at Morgan Stanley. This is good to see that foreign students coming to US and raising it to the top has become new trend.

The 50-year-old Pandit is the first Indian to become CEO of a major American financial institution.

Other prominent Indian Americans who made it to the CEO list:

Indra Nooyi, CEO of PepsiCo.

Rakesh Gangwal, former CEO and Chairman, US Airways Group

Shailesh Mehta, former CEO and chairman of the board of Providian Financial Corporation; currently president and CEO of Granite Hill Capital Ventures

Satish S. Nandapurkar former managing