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Questions
The following are some questions you should be
prepared to answer irrespective of whether you
are going to the consulate for a fresh H-1B visa
or an H-1B renewal. These are suggestive and not
all-inclusive.
1) What does your US Company do?
2) What will be your job duties in the US Company?
3) How many employees does the US Company have?
4) What is the annual turnover of the US Company?
5) Show US company brochure and photographs, if
you have
6) Where will you be working in the US?
7) What computer languages do you know? (Information
Technology professionals are often asked this
question)
8) What computer languages are you currently using
in your company?
9) How long have you worked with your current
employer?
10) What is your current salary?
11) Have you ever been in a 'no-job no-salary'
kind of situation?
12) What is your role in the current company?
13) Which university in the US did you study in?
(This is in case you have a degree from the US)
14) What is your highest degree?
15) Where will you be staying in the US?
16) How long do you plan to stay in the US?
17) Which state do you live in the US? What's
your opinion about the state?
18) Have you paid for your H-1B visa?
Dealing with changes in job location
Roving H-1B employees require special attention
and analysis. If an employer sends an H-1B worker
to a new worksite, not listed on the Labor Condition
Application (LCA), the employer must act to maintain
compliance with the regulations. The regulations
include a detailed definition of 'place of employment'
which governs what an employer must do to maintain
LCA compliance.
The definition creates several exceptions
that are not considered new places of employment,
such as places where an H-1B may travel temporarily
for developmental activity or to receive training.
If there is no new 'place of employment,' then
the employer's LCA obligations remain fixed at
the home base.
The first question to ask is whether
the roving H-1B employee is going to a new 'place
of employment' or 'worksite'. If the answer is
'yes', then the employer must do one of the following:
~ Re-post (if the new worksite is
within the area of intended employment). In this
case, the employer must re-post notice of the
LCA at the new worksite before the H-1B begins
work there;
~ Use the short-term placement rules; or
~ File a new LCA for the new worksite
The regulations define a new type
of H-1B employee whose work is 'peripatetic' or
roaming in nature in that the normal duties of
the occupation require frequent travel. Peripatetic
workers may travel constantly, but may not spend
more than five days in one place. For such peripatetic
workers, a new location is not considered a new
'worksite', and therefore does not require a new
LCA.
Similarly, H-1B workers who travel
occasionally on a casual short-term basis (not
exceeding ten days) to a new location are not
considered to have a new worksite with new LCA
requirements. Although in these cases, the employer
is not required to take one of the three steps
above to maintain compliance, the employer is
required to pay travel expenses for each day the
H-1B is traveling (both weekdays and weekends).
The short-term placement rules permit
an H-1B to travel up to 30 or 60 days per year
to another 'place of employment'. However, the
employer may not use the short-term placement
rules in any area of employment for which the
employer has a certified LCA for the occupational
classification. If the employer has such a certified
LCA with an open slot, then the employer must
use that and add a copy of that LCA to the employee's
public access file. If the employer has a certified
LCA, but it doesn't have any open slots, then
the employer must file a new LCA. The regulations
specifically prohibit employers from continuously
rotating H-1B employees to short-term placements
in a manner that would defeat the stated purpose
of these rules. The rules are designed to give
employers flexibility.
H-1 visas issued by US Embassy/Consulates
to Indians in India
US Fiscal Year No. of H-1B issued
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
46,020
25,247
28,730
37,041
39,521
43,167
Future scenario of H-1B visa
The US Department of Labor predicts
130,000 new information technology jobs each year
for the next decade. Yet American colleges are
producing only 25,000 graduates in computer science
a year, 40 per cent fewer than in the 1980s, and
only 20,000 electrical engineering graduates,
one-third fewer than a decade ago.
Although many high-tech jobs do not
require such degrees, the decline in computer
and engineering degrees can only aggravate whatever
shortage exists.
Estimates put the number of information
technology jobs going unfilled in the United States
at more than 350,000, and rising fast. The Department
of Labor projects that the demand for computer
systems' analysts, engineers, and scientists will
double in less than a decade, from 1.5 million
to more than 3 million.
Many of the skilled trades are currently
facing a shortage of workers and the number of
people needed to fill these jobs is expected to
increase dramatically over the next several years.
Construction laborers, operating engineers, carpenters,
iron workers, cement masons, bricklayers, truck
drivers and many other construction related crafts
are among the trades expected to see the greatest
demand in workers over the next 6 years.
While immigrants are less than 10
per cent of the US population, they comprise 30
per cent of research and development scientists
and engineers with PhDs. More than one-third of
the engineers in Silicon Valley are foreign born.
Anti-immigrant groups in the US have
so far, successfully disallowed reforms proposed
by Pro-immigrant lobby consisting of US high-tech
industry and several senators and congressmen.
The reforms related to increase in quota for H-1B
and decrease on restrictions on H-1B visas.
Though the Comprehensive Immigration
Reform Bill has failed in the US Senate, certain
stand-alone issues such as H-1B visa may get attention
in future months as hoped by pro-immigrant groups
and US business which is keen to ensure competitive
edge of American in world economy.
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