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meebo and the h-1b
We try to be a fun bunch here at meebo, and are in a constant search to find fantastic, extremely talented people to join the meebo team. One of the things we’ve learned as meebo has grown is that forming a great team is really important. We look at a whole host of factors, from company culture fit to technical know-how. Given how hard it has been for us to find just the right folks to join the team, we’ve taken the search well beyond the boundaries of Silicon Valley. Mark is joining us from North Carolina. Meanwhile, we’ve got some great people joining us all the way from the United Kingdom and Italy! Given that meebo’s user base is extremely dispersed around the globe (only 30% of you are from the U.S.!), we think it’s doubly important to bring people on the team from overseas to broaden our perspective!
We really believe in the value of having everyone work under one roof at meebo for the same reasons that we believe in an open office environment: it encourages team bonding and open communication. Problems get solved quicker, code gets developed faster, and the team truly functions as a single, coordinated unit (and the fun increases too 
).
Unfortunately for us (and all other companies assembling technical teams in the U.S.), the current immigration policies of the United States government are making it extremely difficult to build such a diverse team. This creates a situation in which the U.S. can be a less competitive and attractive environment in which to do business.
The U.S. has something it calls the “H-1B” visa. This is the document that allows “skilled” workers from abroad to come and work for U.S. corporations within the country’s borders. Every year, companies are allowed to begin filing for these visas (of which there are only 65,000 issued a year) on April 1st. Once approved, the H-1B employee is not allowed to work in the United States until October of that same year. Once the allotment is used up (on a first come, first served basis), any employee who did not receive a visa may not work inside the United States until October of the following year!
Last year the H-1B visas ran out in August…two full months before October. This year, people were anticipating they would run out sometime in July. Instead, they ran out May 26th, less than two months after filing was allowed to begin! Hence, if an American company hired an employee after May 26th, 2006, the new team member can’t begin working for the company in the U.S. until October, 2007, almost a year and a half later!!!
A couple of weeks ago, word on the street was the visas were running out sooner than anticipated. We same-day couriered our applications to the lawyers, who overnight-ed them for arrival on Saturday, May 27th. We all sighed in relief when we were told the applications were submitted! However, an announcement from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service on June 1st stated that retroactive to May 26th, all slots had been filled. This means meebo’s applications were turned away without review (missed by a day!).
The impact of this restrictive immigration policy on meebo is quite significant. Because part of the team might not be able to join us in California, we won’t be able to take advantage of having the whole team under one roof, and our productivity will take a hit. We will also have to spend thousands of extra dollars and days of extra time trying to figure out if there’s another way for them to work in the country. If not, we will have to open a new office…meebo London. That sure does have a nice ring to it (not to mention I love London!), but it’s not our first choice as it breaks up the team and is also very expensive for us to open a second location!
meebo is by no means unique in dealing with the H-1B situation in the U.S. Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley – all U.S. businesses that attempt to assemble the absolute best teams – are forced to operate in a less efficient manner due to the H-1B cap. The impact on startups, such as meebo, is more severe as international employees constitute a larger percentage of the overall team. Startups are also less able to maintain offices in multiple countries and do not have dedicated HR people to routinize the filing requirements for visas.
The argument for this restrictive immigration policy is that it keeps U.S. jobs in the hands of U.S. citizens. However, the reality is that U.S. companies are already incentivized to hire within the country. Finding local team members creates the least amount of difficulty and cost for both the company and the new team member. However, there are simply not enough engineers in the California Bay Area – much less the U.S. – to meet the needs of all the technology companies out here. There is, however, limitless talent on a global basis. meebo’s team members abroad have specialized skills that are currently in very high demand. Fantastic talent that would help build U.S. companies is kept out of the country. The result is that U.S. companies are unable to build an optimal team while there’s little impact on job availability for U.S. citizens and a lot more inefficiency.
Is there a solution? There is currently a bill before the U.S. Congress, passed by the U.S. Senate and heavily contested in the U.S. House, which would increase the H-1B quota from 65,000 to 115,000 visas granted per year. While this is a great start, can we do even better? The United Kingdom has a fantastic system called the “Highly Skilled Migrant Programme.” (HSMP) Individuals are scored on a point system on five basic criteria: 1) Educational qualifications. 2) Work experience. 3) Past earnings. 4) Achievement in your chosen field. 5) Your husband’s, wife’s, civil partner’s, unmarried partner’s achievement. Anyone can individually apply for the HSMP visa, without company sponsorship. The intent by the U.K. is to attract highly skilled workers to the U.K. to help attract investment and make U.K. businesses stronger. In effect, the U.K. has recognized that the whole nation benefits from as many skilled individuals taking up residence and contributing to the U.K. economy as possible. The United States could really benefit from an analogous system.
meebo is a constant learning process. After going through the visa experience, I can say without doubt that the U.S. H-1B program needs a makeover. Skilled foreign employees should not be restricted to beginning work in the U.S. only once yearly, in October. Rather, their permit to enter and work in the U.S. should begin upon approval of their visa application. There should also not be a cap on skilled foreign individuals entering the U.S. with company sponsorship. Rather, we should attempt to attract and retain as much skilled foreign talent as possible. Finally, a finite number of highly skilled individuals should be allowed to enter the U.S. without company sponsorship to find jobs and/or engage in entrepreneurial activities. The entrepreneurial spirit is alive and well here in the United States and it offers great opportunities for those from around the world to participate. Fostering that innovative spirit is something that should be encouraged, both for the good of the individual entrepreneur and for the healthy future of the U.S. economy!
Seth
[ comments ] [ past blogs ]
June 8th, 2006 at 1:37 am
Well there is 1 thing left to do: Get your company the f*ck out of the Universal Stupidity of America!
… oh, and thing 2: continue to develop your great service!
June 8th, 2006 at 2:39 am
Come to europe! Free movement of labour throughout the EU
No visas needed… don’t even need a passport!
June 8th, 2006 at 3:00 am
How about a Meebo office in India….Meebo India
June 8th, 2006 at 3:02 am
Harsh News
Come to Europe, here we are very relaxed! I live in London and am a media designer and web engineer… I absolutely adore meebo and will do all I can to help make meebo London a possibility!
There is plenty of talent, creativity, hungry geeks and capital here in London! Come get it!
All the best
_zen.
June 8th, 2006 at 4:05 am
hmm, that’s too bad… Since i can’t go to your place.. can i do volunteer work instead? QA testing, bugfixing, fault-finding (haha!) or something? ^___^
June 8th, 2006 at 4:25 am
Hi Seth,
One solution could be exploring an option of opening up an office in India.
Lot of companies are doing that.
You can get quality resources over there (you may want to search thoroughly). As well as its universally known fact that its cheaper.
The topic, though debatable, can still be looked at.
Cheers,
Rohan
June 8th, 2006 at 4:34 am
Come to Israel!
Government support is great for high-tech companies and I’ve never heard of problems getting any kind of work permits here.
Also – same weather like in California, only no earthquakes.
June 8th, 2006 at 5:02 am
Thanks for the input on US Immigration. We need help and adjustment on the system to help us become better.
(WARNING: Book below this point)
Just as a matter of correction, there is no longer a U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service. INS was desolved by the creation of Homeland Security. INS was divided into two entites:
1. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) – Most people informatlly known it as the “Border Patrol”
2. Citizenship and Immigration Services (CIS) – The entity which handles the paperwork for Immigration and Naturalzation.
Both of these are hot areas in Congress right now and congressional units are in these facilities to work on the problem. You need to write your Congress members to make change happen, so make sure you bug them about it. Believe it or not, that is the best way to put presure on the system. When you do, be specific on the type of application you are addressing and the form number you filed. Doing so will make your suggestions go into the right hands.
(End of Book here)
June 8th, 2006 at 5:03 am
PS – Great product in Meebo!!! I use it every day!!
June 8th, 2006 at 5:22 am
Check out Immigrationvoice.org
they are fighting to change the laws pertaining to these problems faced for legal immigrants.
June 8th, 2006 at 5:36 am
Hey,
Request people to work from their houses… I work for a company and 90% percent of time I work from my house. And I can develop much more than inside the office.
PS: If you wanna a brazilian .Net/AJAX/ATLAS developer you can contact me..
June 8th, 2006 at 5:43 am
For an MBA, the simple economics seem to escape you – protectionism also encourages higher salaries for workers, not just jobs. When labor demand exceeds labor supply, the labor force can be more choosy about the positions and companies it works for.
The market says they will take the best jobs at the best companies. Companies that cannot afford to hire them or attract them (i.e. companies that are not highly profitable, even in the “intangibles” sense, which I suspect meebo is beholden to) fall by the wayside, and labor supply is reduced.
Really, this system is geared towards consolidation and limiting of competition both for jobs (good for workers) and industry (good for Big Business.) The flipside to this (an unchecked system a la the UK) will be great in the short run, but will eventually lead to a stream of unemployed high-tech workers who (being middle class) will take a higher drain on the economy than other displaced members of the labor force before leaving for greener pastures.
Welcome to the 21st century!
June 8th, 2006 at 6:08 am
Am I the only one who completely disagrees with you? To say you are completely unable to find good talent in the US that have international views, I’m sorry, it’s completely bunk. The purpose of such immigration laws is to benefit its citizens first. US workers are being treated less and less well, and this is because of such outsourcing. Why are US companies offering the least vacation time, sick leave, maternity benefits than any other country. Companies are covering less and less healthcare and retirement benefits. US workers have much less job security then they have ever had – how many tech jobs are now consulting or contract vs permanent?
With visa limits, you should look at US workers first, this will reduce unemployment, encourage domestic growth and dollars instead of trade deficits, and in the long run increase domestic worker salaries and benefits.
June 8th, 2006 at 6:10 am
Come to Ireland. EU location with all the big boys like IBM, Google, Ebay, HP etc etc etc and nice beer.
June 8th, 2006 at 6:12 am
I have to say Kyle Hale got all the points right. I’m sort of in the middle in this debate, though kind of leaning more towards a controlled immigration policy (not one like the UK has). As it is now, I think there are plenty of opportunities to come to this country, being an immigrant myself, and having been to several countries, I know and appreciate this protectionism we have. If the we had an unchecked system or allowed a huge flow of immigration, sooner or later we would end up like Germany, too many people, and too few jobs for them.
June 8th, 2006 at 6:16 am
The US has plenty of good talent which would fit meet meebo’s need for technical engineers, international spirit, and culture. A US citizen does not necessarily lack the international perspective. I hope you will recruit more aggressively within this nation which has given you so much already even if it doesn’t subsidize job benefits as others do.
June 8th, 2006 at 6:22 am
Seth,
I agree that there is a large amount of talent in the world, however, the H1B issue has been abused by American businesses. I have worked IT for 20+ years and work to add new skills but some companies are using the H1B process to not bring in qualified workers but to bring in cheaper labor. I have worked with some H1B workers who could not perform their tasks without being trained in the basic functions of their job. There are companies who have purchased portions offshore companies to push work offshore not because the workers are competent but because they make a paper profit for their annual bonus. On to an unerlated point. At this point in time with the technology available how is it that remote developers can’t work as a team. The availability of products to communicate real time with video and VOIP how is it that develpoers can’t develop a rapport that drives success. Before all this technology we used the phone and developed close and personal relationships with coworkers in other countries.
Please do not view this as a rant from an old fart. I’m excited for meebo and the people who work there. Actually I’m green with envy, I wish the technology was available years ago. If the H1B issue doesn’t work for on site now, keep being creative and adapt. Matrix style development teams can and do work if the team works together.
Please keep up the great work your doing, it’s fun to watch you grow.
Thanks
June 8th, 2006 at 6:26 am
h-1b, while I feel for you, the cost and the logistics, I support h-1b. I support it for a myriad of reasons, not just American job protection.
June 8th, 2006 at 7:02 am
I tried applying for a job in the US and failed miserably. After five technical interviews over the phone, and a face to face interview in Detroit, I won the job. But somehow, my nicely polished resume means absolutely nothing without “education”.
I’m sorry, in order to learn how to code, I did not realize that a university or college costing me between $5k and $10k could offer more resources than the internet costing me $30/month. Maybe for some people, they need school in order to learn and do not have the will power to do it on their own. Thats fine, but your education level should not matter when you’re experienced.
I’ve worked on several high profile projects going all the way up to the federal government (Canada), I have great references, my resume looks sharp. When I apply for jobs, no one even bothers asking me if I have a degree in anything whatsoever. I’ve had offers from companies like Yahoo and eBay Canada. Yet, still, governments worldwide, not just the US, get all upset when you aren’t formally educated.
I could’ve been pulling in $70k/yr canadian living in Windsor and working in Detroit. It was the only time in my career where education proved to be a problem.
June 8th, 2006 at 7:06 am
I have to agree with Dustin Brown. You and every other company like you are trying to push Americans out high tech jobs. If you are willing to look outside the country for high tech workers, try looking in all 50 states and Guam. There are plenty of tech workers who are looking for jobs. Companies are trying to outsource for cheap labor, India and china are like sweat shops for high tech workers. The government puts caps on H1b visa, because many of these so called skilled workers are family members and friends just trying to get into the country. If there was no cap on visa’s there would be wide spread unemployment for qualified American skilled workers because they will not work for long hours with no vacation time like many foreign workers.
June 8th, 2006 at 7:15 am
Well, that’s the problem not only for foreign workers but also for foreign students who studied in US universities. They have the skill, they’re already here but eventually in order to work for companies in the US, they still need to fight for the h1b cap….
I’m 1 of the lucky guy who manage to work for a company that sponsored h1b for me and I, for sure, feel the same way…
Anyway, keep up the great works.
June 8th, 2006 at 7:48 am
I wouldn’t get too enamoured with the UK system if I were you. Immigration is a hot potato over here as well and the Government recently announced a complete overhaul of the system which will result in the HSMP no longer existing.
Sadly it’s nigh on impossible to have an informed debate on immigration without closet racism and political point-scoring taking over. This is particularly the case here in Europe where we have more generous state benefits than you do in the US – the newspapers hype it along the lines that foreign nationals come over here, get paid by the state to sit around all day and then decide to blow us all up because immigrants and terrorists are effectively one and the same in the media.
I’m not sure how much use the HSMP would be to someone wanting to join a startup anyway. Such people are likely to be young and the HSMP puts great emphasis on your earnings to date and your career achievements.
June 8th, 2006 at 7:49 am
Quick and dirty solution, why don’t you just bring some of these people over on fiancee visa’s and get them hitched to willing American citizens?
Shouldn’t cost that much to find some homely chick who’s willing to marry an outlander for a few bucks.
Besides the pimping/pandering issues, it’s a pretty rock solid way of importing foreigners. I hear you can order Russian women from a catalog. Is this true!?!?!?
June 8th, 2006 at 9:11 am
Come on Seth. In my last company, where I worked for 8 years and until 6 months ago, we had piles of qualified resumes come in from Silicon Valley. Thousands of unemployed engineers put out of work because of “creating jobs”. Then, 6 months ago, I was told I could move to our new design center in India and take a “pay adjustment”, or “seek new employment”. After all, for what they paid me, they could hire 10 people in India. Their official stance? “We are creating jobs”… yeah… for who?
And have you ever tried to get a job as an American, in the EU? It is nearly impossible. EU members have preference… plain and simple. And, their policies allow them to discriminate based on EU citizenship or not.
Get real. Attitudes like meebo’s are why there are so many unemployed engineers in this country.
June 8th, 2006 at 9:19 am
Simon’s right, there is an aspect of closet racism going on here. I’m on an H1B, but being a white Brit has helped me enormously. The lawyer told me to my face that I had a better chance than if my name had been Mohammed Hussain — although to be fair I suspect that this had as much to do with the difficulty of doing background searches on people with similar names as it had to do with the hot topic of terrorism screening by profile.
Let’s also be honest about the racism that occurs in the workplace. I work for a consultancy, and recently had a conversation with the resource manager. She told me that she is unable to place certain consultants with names that come from the Indian subcontinent, even if they have been in the US for years and are as well qualified as candidates with more western-sounding names. As a result, she is hesitant to take on consultants who will be handicapped in this way.
And certainly one of the other respondent’s comments are true too. While there is no doubt that there some excellent people from all countries on the H1B program, there are a lot of unscrupulous “desi” companies from Bangalore and Hyderabad who blatantly forge candidates’ resumes and get them into wholly unsuitable positions. As a result there are a lot of wildly incompetent H1B holders who drag down the names of the quality people out there and fuel this closet racism.
It’s a sad state of affairs, and well overdue for an overhaul. What that overhaul should be, of course, depends on your political perspective…
June 8th, 2006 at 9:37 am
I cant log on to my aim account.. the msn works. Y
June 8th, 2006 at 9:41 am
Unless you’re in the marines, might I suggest:
“There are already incentives for US companies to hire within the country”?
as a replacement for:
“U.S. companies are already incentivized to hire within the country”
Hoo-ahh!
June 8th, 2006 at 9:48 am
http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/jul2005/tc20050728_5127_tc024.htm?campaign_id=topStories_ssi_5
A story about Google and Yahoo causing brain drain and the shortage of engineers in the Valley.
Keep in mind that meebo is a startup with less than 10 employees. Hiring a single new employee is a huge deal and since the team is so small it cannot handle the slightest bit of mediocrity. They need only superstars, and I’m not sure that there really are that many around, and many who are are snatched up by Google.
June 8th, 2006 at 10:25 am
Sorry, a similar thing which you describe in the UK does exist in the US…
It’s called the Green Card Lottery…
June 8th, 2006 at 10:25 am
How long could someone from abroad work on a tourist visa? If they were taking classes at Hayward State, could they get a student visa?
June 8th, 2006 at 10:31 am
I try not to worry about the America cuz its to depressing and most of my friends are in the Army or the Navy which I guess theyre saving the US but Im still scared one of them are gonna get killed or wounded!
June 8th, 2006 at 10:46 am
i have a suggestion i think that we should be able to chnge our msn names on meebo…i know i change my name alot at home and i think that while i’m not i should be able to chnge my name…Thanx alot…
Shantelle
June 8th, 2006 at 10:52 am
Great Service!
I want to work (primarily as a volunteer) translating Meebo into Brazilian Portuguese Language. I work as an English Teacher in São Carlos and I’m also very keen to computers. My resume can be found in PDF format at http://www.geocities.com/combasso
Thanks!
June 8th, 2006 at 11:25 am
I know english a little. I’m a Chilean Boy, I’m 27 years old. and y want to a girl. My MSN is leemon166@hotmail.com. write me. kisses and good Bye.
June 8th, 2006 at 11:30 am
Hi Seth. This is a very delicate issue to even speak about. I agree that the US misses out on great oppertunities with very skilled people in other parts of the world. But we all have to understand that there is order to the caos of our goverment. I do feel your pain as I am trying to bring my Fiancee over for the Philippines and have already failed once at doing so. This time I have a lawyer and will make sure to have her her in PHX by December or January. We must understand that after 911 our goverement put certain policies into place to protect its people. That is the number one concern of our goverment and the great people of this country is to protect our land and our own. With so much hate against this country we must relize that in order to protect the freedoms that our fathers and brothers and now mothers and sisters have faught so hard and long to keep we must sometime put on hold great and amazing things. I love Meebo and I mean love this program and I want nothing more then to see your company develop into an amazing flower of achevment. But this will come in time as well. We must stand strong and support our goverment and understand that they are doing nothing but protecting us. As it stands now we already have a huge problem with illigal immigaration which is killing out countrys economy. I work my ass off every day and pay into a system that I know I will never see a dollar back of and I get upset when I see illgal immigants getting well fare checks from out goverment. As you can understand this makes me upset becasue I follow the laws of our great country and cant even be with the woman I so dearly love. we must first tackle the problem of illigal immigaration before we even begain to allow so many greatly skilled people into our great land of oppertunity. Our economy and buisnesses will be much better off is every person that lives in this country is lleagal and paying into the system. Our government can only do so much and can only get so much money to make things happen. The more people that are here illeagly the less money our goverment gets to fix the problem and the worse off our economy will be wihich in turn hurts awsome companies as Meebo. Thanks for listening and keep the Meebo spirit alive.
June 8th, 2006 at 11:53 am
this is amazing, I am just testing it…..
I am studying systems engineering, and this is something interesting for me….
hey!!!, is there any possibility to become a collaborator of the developer team???, please e-mail me your answer….
Bye.
Biktor.
June 8th, 2006 at 12:05 pm
I had the same problem getting my trainee ship in America. In the end they said the coudnt take me on :/. Well I hope you find the golden loophole all company’s are looking for.
Or maybe that Bush gets kicked out of the goverment and you get somone back like clinton…. (oh well we can dream cant we?)
June 8th, 2006 at 12:24 pm
I completely agree, the work visa deal should be reformed. I am one that could benefit from such changes.
June 8th, 2006 at 12:53 pm
You might also want to consider hiring talent from Canada as well. They can work in the U.S. with TN visas as opposed to H1-B’s, and I think there are more of those floatin’ around.
June 8th, 2006 at 1:23 pm
a few things:
the H1B visa program has been in place long before the current president. please stop blaming him for things he hasn’t done (it’s not difficult to find things that he HAS done, to blame him for, is it?)
the H1B quota has been increased, temporarily, in the past. increasing it too quickly has arguably led to high competition and problems finding work in the hi-tech field for american workers (although this was in coincidence with the market downturns in march and september of 2000).
there are options to pursue lower-cost, highly skilled labor within the US borders. for instance: your offices are located in one of the two most expensive places to live in the entire country (i bet silicon valley and manhattan are probably neck-and-neck by now). have you thought of opening a satellite office, or moving your company elsewhere inside the US?
“near shoring” is the practice of establishing offices in areas of the country where the cost of living is lower, giving you the opportunity to pay highly skilled people a lower wage, but still providing them a standard of living commensurate with their skill level. (1/2 a silicon valley wage will make you a king in a place like, buffalo ny)
wikipedia has a developing article on H1B ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H1B_visa ) and there are many other sites, both pro and con, about the program. they generally range from saying that the program is a formal system of indentured servitude, to saying that it is essential for propelling the technological innovation of our market. please read all arguments and then come up with your own conclusion.
and specific to this message — you’re obviously free to say whatever you want on your blog and your service, but you should understand that some of your users may perceive this as propagandist. of course, they always have the option to discontinue taking advantage of your free service, but i would think that isn’t what you’re trying to encourage?
June 8th, 2006 at 1:24 pm
You express the desire to have everyone under one roof. This is the last thing I would expect a Web 2.0 company to say, let alone one whose purpose is to enable instant telecommunication. I expected that you would be promoting international telecommuting, not fighting it.
With millions of people building significant relationships online, even marrying each other online, how can THIS company say that they can’t work as a team online? If people can fall in love online, how hard can team-building be?
You have somehow failed to understand your users at the most fundamental level. Perhaps this explains why the meebo features are merely derivative of existing IM solutions, rather than innovative. Nicely implemented, sure, but still entirely derivative.
June 8th, 2006 at 1:44 pm
I live in Cuba and I’m kind of graphix designer… I’d love to get my creations to a higher level, but shamefully… I can’t. This is a very special country if we talk about migration… so, I’m hopeless about getting a new job with you. Anyway, knowing that you are looking for some talented people and you are giving them that opportunity is a great thing.
June 8th, 2006 at 1:51 pm
Hi Seth, I understand your pains regarding the H1B visa issues. As a foreign intern in the bay area the last 1.5 years, I had my share of problems with work visa issues. I had also witnessed how my company – a software startup with about 40 people (in 2005) realized and struggled with the need to go beyond the United States to recruit talents in order to go forward with the business, especially in the area of product development.
I would like to share with you how my company dealt with this problem and offer you some ideas how to work around various ‘administrative restrictions’. Hopefully, you will find it useful.
After spending months of active hiring through various sources, my company finally found an excellent match to add to the backend engineering team but the guy couldn’t join us due the H1B visa issue. As usual, the quota was met way before the deadline, and he just had to apply for the next application year. My company really wanted this guy so badly that my CEO decided that she would do everything she can to get him on board. Since my firm had quite a number of people working from various locations in the States, they decided to have him work from France. Well, it turned out that they faced a few complex legal problems about hiring and payroll. So, after much discussion, my CEO decided to set up a subsidiary in London, so that the company could hire anyone from the European Union to work for a US-based firm without facing legal problems with employment. The subsidary served as a ‘temporary shelter’ for the french guy, the eventual plan was to file a H1B visa as quickly as possible in the next application year. I thought that was a smart move although it was a lot of ‘hard work’ to find out procedures about setting up a subsidiaries and making sure that they were clear of any legal complications. Maybe you can consider setting up overseas subsidiaries as an option if you really cannot wait to bring people into your team.
Coming from a sociology background, I would say that working around the U.S. work visa system might be way more effective than making structural changes to the H1B quota system because while suggestions/proposals/appeals could be made to increase the H1B quota per year, huge bureaucratic organizations often take a long time to approve and make changes to their procedures.
Although this H1B visa issue is pretty frustrating, I would like to highlight the good news that H1B is NOT the only temporary work visa available for foreigners to work in the United States. If you miss the H1B application, you may want to consider various temporary work visas for your potential employee. Get them to the States with a legal work visa, use that to store for time, and hang in there till the next H1B application.
Some other temporary work visas include H3 (2 year traineeship), L (Intracompany transfers, up to 3-year-stay in USA), H1B1 visa and J1 visa (this will work for graduating college students). For more information, please read http://travel.state.gov/visa/temp/types/types_1271.html
Under the Free Trade Agreement, with effect from 1 Jan 2004, citizens of Singapore and Chile are entitled to H1B1 visas. They are essentially the similar to H1B visas but they do not require employers to justify the lack of manpower in USA. With a H1B1 visa, the employee can stay in the U.S.A for as many years as he wants but the downside is that one cannot apply for a green card with a H1B1 visa. A H1B1 visa is renewable every year, and I think they set aside 3000-5000 visas for Singaporeans each year. I’m not sure of the exact figures, but do check out the details from the website: http://singapore.usembassy.gov/fta_visas.html
All the best in recruiting, Seth!
If you have any questions about my comment, feel free to drop me an email. I’ll be happy to help in any way.
Thanks to Meebo, I could easily access my MSN and Yahoo Messenger when I was in Korea without having to download the software.
June 8th, 2006 at 2:01 pm
Options:
(1) Setup a shop in country of choice: Israel, India, etc..
(2) Try paying a living wage in the USA. The workers are here. Your looking to save money on imports. Google and other are just paying more for good people than you are.
(3) Optimize you work efforts to need LESS resources.
(4) Use Out Sourcing/Near Sourcing/ or/ In Sourcing partners. You only pay for what you need…
(5) Spend less time reading wired, red herring fastcompany, hot-100, etc… that leads to follow-er-isms. Just lookup those get companies they touted over the past 10 years and see where they AREN’T today. i.e. GaZoobo, Organic, Sapient, Scient, ART, Scooby, Plop, etc
(6) work on revenue opportunity to validate business will survive without an ‘exit’ purchase by Google.
June 8th, 2006 at 2:05 pm
C’mon! Hiring H1B folks is sooo Web 1.0
June 8th, 2006 at 2:10 pm
Seth here’s my idea:
My fiance is in the UK and we were looking to go through the H1B visa route until we found out all the constraints. There was no way for him to live here for at least another year and a half if the visa actually came through so we decided to do the K1 – fiance visa. I think marriage is now the only real way for immigrants to live in america. So get those engineers you hired a match making service! I’m sure there are plenty of single ladies in the bay area looking for a nice Englishman!
None of the visas are even easy to get anyways and they take forever. For a country founded on immigration, we certainly make it very difficult for them now. We’ve been on a 7 month journey and still counting.
June 8th, 2006 at 2:30 pm
This is 2006 , surely a “virtual office” and “work-from-home” type of situation can be implemented effectively…
June 8th, 2006 at 2:36 pm
set up local numbers in major cities so that cell fon users could call said number and get into meebo
June 8th, 2006 at 3:12 pm
I came over from the UK on a H1-B Visa in 2002 for Yahoo. It was a pain in getting one and and even bigger pain once it runs out. Luckily Yahoo stood by me and got me a green card. It really is hard to hire people and try to get hired in the US if your not a citizen, and that doesn’t matter weather you are “Skilled” or “Unskilled”
June 8th, 2006 at 4:55 pm
Unfortunately sometimes America forgets that all its wellbeing was build on immigration (brain imports). And they called it – American Dream –
Probably is time to change the name in – American Nightmare –
All the best,
Dely.
June 8th, 2006 at 4:56 pm
Hey, you forgot your soap box.
June 8th, 2006 at 5:23 pm
Hi Seth!
That’s why for the past year I cant find a way to work in US.
You could also try Meebo Philippines.
I know some good developers and QA that could help. hehehe
June 8th, 2006 at 7:22 pm
Well, It’s grest!
I like it very much!
June 8th, 2006 at 7:24 pm
呵呵，这真是太棒了
我很喜欢这个服务
我在办公室就不用发愁了
June 8th, 2006 at 7:34 pm
Dustin’s comments echo much of the sentiment among current (and former) tech workers in the U.S.
Just because there’s no “simply not enough” talent in the Bay area doesn’t mean that talent doesn’t exist in other parts of the U.S. Let’s face it, “not enough talent” translates to not enough “cheap” talent and Meebo’s desire to bring H1-B’s is the same as any other company’s: the desire to employ workers at a vastly lower wage while getting the same level of productivity. That’s all well and good and I wish you luck in so doing. However, please be don’t mask your goals with mindless euphemisms about “talent” when what you’re really referring to is cost.
Oh hey–here’s a novel concept for you: if you really are as forward-thinking as you claim, why not do a virtual organization and use programmers from abroad anyway? Or would that not fit into the the entrepreneurial spririt you were referencing to in your rant?
And finally to the person who brought up the arguement about the U.S. being built by immigrants. Yes, you’re right. While this country was built (and continues to be built) by immigrants, my ancestors included, the majority came here fair and square. If no visa’s available, then that’s just too bad. I don’t see how denying people who are citizens a job, especially for the sake of saving an enterprise a few bucks, accomplishes much of anything.
-Daniel
P.S. While I like Meebo, please explain how you plan to make money on it. Also explain how a deluge of H1-B’s would help in achieving this?
June 8th, 2006 at 9:06 pm
Hey Seth,
I love meebo I had a friend tell it about it and now I don’t use anything else. I think you enteres are fabulious they make my day it is great to read about other peoples ups and downs other days. Thanks and keep up the good work.
Thanks,
Terilyn
June 8th, 2006 at 9:21 pm
Well, from my experience with companies hiring H-1B workers I just don’t believe you that you can not find someone qualified in the US. The only thing I have seen H-1B used for is to hire cheap labor. I have seen companies manipulate the rules so that they could hire an H-1B worker at 1/3 less wages or more then a U.S. worker and I have seen very qualified Americans lose opportunities to be hired. I have also seen companies abuse immigrants waiting for green cards by not paying a fair wage, extremely demanding working conditions where the worker has no choice but to comply and delaying tactics that caused one friend’s green card to take over 7 years to obtain.
From your perspective I have to agree that cheap and well qualified labor are very good things for business. If H-1B worked as it was originally designed to do you would only be able to hire workers for positions that you would be unable to fill with U.S. citizens. In this case 65,000 workers would be plenty. As it stands now the system is so manipulated and full of loopholes that 65,000 is not enough and those businesses who truly have a need for H1-B workers (I personally just can’t believe that yours could be one of them) can not get them.
If you don’t want to hire Americans because they are more expensive then their foreign counterparts then say so, but don’t use the lame excuse that workers have to be in your office to be productive. This is just no longer the case and if you need an example for proof then look at MySQL. They are much bigger and more successful then meebo and their workforce is distributed around the world. You would be hard pressed to say that MySQL is not an innovative product created by an extremely productive team. Take a lesson from MySQL and stop whining about H-1B. If H-1B is the thing stopping you from being successful then you have a really big problem and should re-evaluate your business model.
Doug K.
P.S. (Regardless of your misguided H-1B thinking I really love meebo. Keep up the good work.)
June 8th, 2006 at 9:42 pm
Come on…MEEBO… u wont find the best talent at the reasonable price anywhere in the world other than INDIA. WELCOME TO INDIA….
June 8th, 2006 at 9:46 pm
I forgot to add one more point in my previous reply…
ur success story lies in the collaborative environment u provided for the world and u will be more successful if u work in collaborative manner. as the meebo users are from different parts of the world, the team of people from different geo location will definitely help to develop meebo more fascinatig and effictive. Today, collaborative work is not desirable, rather it is mandatory and is key to success amidst tough competition
June 8th, 2006 at 10:14 pm
Would it be possible to change our nickname/chat name on the meebo screen?
Congrats on the great effort, am totally hooked to meebo !
regards,
juds
June 8th, 2006 at 10:21 pm
I believe there is another bill running which will allow MS graduates at unviversities to avail a new kind of VISA which would allow them to stay in the US and hunt for jobs as well as work without having to apply for a H1.. No idea where and when it will be implemented. But its true, lots of talent and little means to make things happen… Meebo is a great service tho’.. I’ve been using it more and more off late. One addition which I think would be great to add to it is the offline message reading ability.. That would take things up a notch..
June 8th, 2006 at 10:36 pm
i have also wanted to work in the US – not only because the pay will be considerably better but also for the experience of living in a foreign land sadly, it’s also the same thing – the visas are so difficult to obtain and the process is a long battle. i definitely agree that there are a lot of talents abroad that could greatly help. i hope that maybe the government and companies such as meebo could come to an agreeable compromise soon.
justmy2cents
June 8th, 2006 at 11:49 pm
So Seth, no comments from you yet?
Rohan
June 9th, 2006 at 12:27 am
I’m wondering when the first truly cyberbusiness is going to be created.
Never mind having everyone in one office. Just e-mail and webcam-contact…
Maybe it is too early for this.
June 9th, 2006 at 12:42 am
i think it rocks but i need a person to chat with this is my email-kaesahne@yahoo.com.au or you will find me at udiscustmee_hotmail.com.au tanks bye
June 9th, 2006 at 12:52 am
hey all…thanks for your *very* passionate and well thought through responses! once again, we’re learning from our users! i just posted a bit of a summary of comments that have been brought up here. to me, the most disturbing thing that has resonated throughout a number of your comments is instances of abuse of the h-1b system. the intent of the program, as i understand it, is to bring people into the U.S. who posess unique skills, and who will be paid at the same wage as their U.S. peers. clearly, that’s not what a number of you have seen, which needs to get fixed. rest assured, meebo does *not* engage in bringing in h-1b employees at sub-standard wages. rather, we found a couple of absolutely exceptional people in europe who we are passionate about joining our team. we’re just a wee bit bummed that it’s so hard to get them over to our office here in california. thanks again for your comments and insights! seth
June 9th, 2006 at 3:07 am
Try Meebo Philippines, you pilipino programmers rocks…
June 9th, 2006 at 5:43 am
Quit yer whining just because you can’t have your way! For chrissakes the whole H1B visa cap is in place so that you nurture some talent in this very country where you base your business. Open your myopic eyes and have a look at the talent that exists here – and remember downsizing of American companies doesn’t have to only take place here!
June 9th, 2006 at 6:50 am
Hey SB!
have you even heard the word diversity? I work for one of the biggest telecom research labs in France, and I’m a migrant myself. Here we look for diversity when hiring, we try to look for those special people not only because of what they know, but also for the different ways in which they can think about the same thing. Multicultural brainstorming is 1000 times more productive. And it’s not only about diversity, is also about the will to go to that standards. Here (and the same happens over there…I held a H1B once) you need a lot of foreigners to account for the available vacancies for PhDs and difficult stuff. Have you ever wondered why that happens? why do you get 1 national against 5 foreigners to do a PhD? I see brilliant people everyday refuse to study further because they want to get quick money without effort, because they think that they deserve the jobs because they are nationals, not because they’re better. Is that a way to boost your national brains? In my “citizen of the world” experience the only result I saw in countries putting limits to the highly qualified immigrants is averaging down the whole country brightness. It seems that market economy doen’t apply to this domain
Only my honest opinion!
June 9th, 2006 at 8:33 am
Have you guys heard of L2/blanket visas? Do they help your case?
June 9th, 2006 at 10:00 am
Added to all these, more than 10% of the persons who apperad before the US embassy in India was rejected H1B due to some ‘Unrealistic reasons’ so actual people who comes to US every year must be much less than 56000.
June 9th, 2006 at 1:06 pm
A couple of points I’d like to make. The entire H1B application process is online. Your lawyers FedEx’d them to CIS? Next day is not as good as same day, and you guys are techies! Are these your own lawyers or Immigration lawyers? You should look into finding better ones or do it yourself (it’s not that hard). Immigration law is big business in the US charging the average immigrant $5K and more to help them apply for a visa.
US laws say an employer can apply for an H1b if they can’t find any american workers with the same requirements. You would be amazed how many employers don’t even try. They put up an ad on monster.com, ignore the replies, and tell CIS/DOL they had no applicants. Meanwhile every June thousands of US students are graduating out of US colleges with computer science degrees and can’t find jobs because they are in the catch-22 of not having a job/experience. Did you try setting up a recruitment booth at one of the colleges in your area? You would have been inundated with decent talent that may have needed just a little bit of on thejob training and would be lifelong dedicated employees.
And finally, those people who do get H1b’s really aren’t temporary. Most of them then apply for PERM status, to eventually lead to US citizenship. They are using H1b as a foot in the door. But once here, they can’t take the risk of losing their job or alienating their employer (or else they’ll be shipped back), so yes, it becomes like being an indentured worker, even a silent one. A person would normal rights would tell a SOB boss to take a hike in an unethical or abusive working relationship. An H1b can’t do that, that have too much too lose. So they take the abuse, sub-pay, etc.
Even in your own description it sounded like you had some foreign workers you had found, and now how can we get them to come here. I would have been more impressed if you had said we tried and tried and then we tried overseas.
oh well. welcome to the growing pains of u.s. businesses. Good work with meebo tho.
June 9th, 2006 at 4:00 pm
Hey man I dont know much about networking……
BUT I NEED A JOB
lol peace and love!
June 9th, 2006 at 4:06 pm
Well I have to say I dont know much about networking…..
and dont have any real advice on this problem
BUT I NEED A JOB!!!!!!!!
lol peace and love!
June 10th, 2006 at 1:36 am
Hey Seth,
I wish I could catch the topic earlier to keep on with the discussion, but I’ve reached here with 73 responses already exist, so maybe my point was already discussed above.
However,
Seth, Non-Americans from Europe might have trouble in getting into the US for work, but our problem is much more complicated than this!
We, skilled people from Middle East, need a 1-month procedure to get a VISA for a visit (B1/B2) , while an H1 VISA, apparently, is almost impossible.
Last summer, I did an internship at New Jersey after almost a 6-month procedure, and a fee of 2500$ which went to a sponsoring authorized office ( since I can’t apply for such a visa – F1- without having an authorized people here to process my papers : it’s not clear to me too ), anyways, I got my visa back with a comment says: ” 2 years rule does apply” .
Now, I need to go to a graduate school to pursue my studies, I have applied to many universities all over the world, and finally, I was awarded a scholarship from a respected school in the US, but! Of course, the two years residency rule prevented me to go and spoiled what might be called “a lifetime opportunity” .
I am not complaining here, I am trying to explain ahead why I second Seth’s opinion that the US visas program need a makeover, I do appreciate that we need to stop those terrorists and to keep the country safe, but I believe that the US authorities are able to find another way to do that.
Now, I am heading to England for my PhD, and I am very happy for that, I just wish I could make it in the states coz I already know some people there who might have made it easier for me to start.
Finally, I can say that the US research and development is losing many talents and potentials because of those strict rules which are not differentiating between a terrorist and a scientist!
June 10th, 2006 at 2:36 am
hey ya
i love meeb o.. can u pls start video and nd audio … its really tough to chat without audio convos.
thanx
ggg_16@hotmail.com
niharika
June 10th, 2006 at 6:58 am
Hey meebo,
I think your website is great. I do not understand why we have to put so many different number behind http://www…. It’s confusing. Another thing again why when your website would be down it would be appreciated greatly if you all informed your clients. Another thing…you all can come to the caribbean and open an office. I am sure you all would find one of our islands very delightful.
Anyway keep up the good work.
June 10th, 2006 at 11:16 am
First and foremost, Meebo is just wonderful and thanks for putting it together and keeping it running.
I’m not really in a position to argue about the H1-B because it doesn’t affect me in any way. I find the arguments, both in favor and against, quite reasonable, but I still don’t understand how it applies to engineers or tech-savvy people that Meebo requires. Face it … people who are qualified for the work and are already citizens of the US are in short supply. What’s the next best thing to do? Get people from abroad to work for your company. A company requires, as mentioned by Seth, a congenial and diverse work atmosphere to get ‘things running smoothly’.
On another note, when you say Asians and Europeans are coming to take over jobs that rightfully belong to Americans, don’t you think the company would have considered that before they set out to hire ‘foreigners’? As Seth says, it’s cheaper for the company to hire someone from their home country. If there are Americans who are qualified enough, you’d think they’d actually fight for their job instead of just whining about how they lost their job to an Asian.
Oh, and if you’ve got a minute, just check out the link below, even if you don’t agree with it, it’s quite humourous:
http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=walmart
June 11th, 2006 at 2:26 am
chat kardan
June 11th, 2006 at 3:10 am
Hi Meebo,
I have just started meebo and it is great.It is way better than talking on the phone because it doesn’t cost anything!!!!
Thankx
June 11th, 2006 at 5:30 am
I am going to the Philippines!! I am going to bring my computer and I am going to try meebo.com.My cousins will be on it all the time! I am going to try to speak my languge.
I love meebo.com!
ttyl! ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ Bye! Kaiila
June 11th, 2006 at 8:34 am
Hey,
I’m from Singapore, and I think Meebo is really great. Thanks to the team who built this great application / convenience.
Maybe you want to consider starting something in Singapore. If my memory doesn’t fail me, there are several initiatives from the Singapore Government which may be benefit meebo. Check out http://www.ida.gov.sg.
If meebo’s plan is to go global, Singapore may be a good place to start an office.
Do let me know if I can help in anything.
June 11th, 2006 at 9:42 am
To Mexico, Meebo should go! They’ll have to brush up on Espanol!
June 11th, 2006 at 11:48 pm
Well,i ned to know if we can work with meebo from our places,i think it will be more easy if you accept us or any peolpe to open branch and we can cooperate with you,so no need to go to US.
THINK IN THIS,it will solvr the problems.
best wishes
EHAB
June 12th, 2006 at 3:38 am
erm, that was blatantly a fake argument
June 12th, 2006 at 4:42 am
I will agree that allowing foren immigrants to US may increase little bit compitition in job market for the US people, This is one side of the coin and visible fact but when we analyse in diffrenent angles you your self agree that allowing foren people into US is not at all a threat.
Consider the following points
* The major point that US gain from out sourcing or foren immigrants is saving of funds. We all knows that jbos are not generated because of not having work but lack of funds in the market. So the saving of money will be invested in the new fields thus enable generation of more quality jobs and greater boost for new inventions.
* We should not forget that to day US is the world leader it is just because of the knowledge import. Importing foren knowledge and retaining them in the country will give a lot of support and boost for the world leader ship continuation.
* One of the unbelivable fact that in near future if the US companys are not willing to offer good quality for less payment US will lose not only the jobs market even business market and these markets are aquired by the third world countrys. So it opens the doors to lose the Us hoock on world.
* Keep in mind that we not only importing knowledge but even greatest and richest culture from other countrys such as INDIA.
* Getting good quality for cheaper prise and increasing compitition will result in quality of the goods which indirectly makes every human life easy and comfortable.
* Out sourcing and knowledge import improves worlds GDP grouth which indirectly increases US GDP
* I personally advise that there should not be any limit on H1-B visas and there should not be any barriers for the knowledge workers.
Do you that Knowledge import doesn’t bring any minus but plus.
Any comments please welcome……
Vijay Bhasker Reddy CH
Software Engineer
Choice-Solutions Ltd.
E-Mail: Vijayb@choice-solutions.com
June 12th, 2006 at 6:14 am
Nobody suggested MALAYSIA, I see. We have a hi-tech city here called Cyberjaya, and as the name suggests, is catered for IT companies. So set up an office in Cyberjaya
- MENJ
June 12th, 2006 at 6:49 am
Your background technology is either Javascript (AJAX) related , i agree is quite new and requires additional qualifications, but cant you find a smart guy and train him instead of H1-B.
I am a H1-B currently in the US and I will be honest and tell you that , there within the mushy swamps there are many smarter Americans but few of them, doesnt mean the American worker wont learn.
If you so desire – just hire a wiz out of school and train him, it will probably take him 1-2 weeks to get into some groove.
Lastly on a personal note, i came here doing everything legal not even attempting to find illegal work when the legal market got tough, only to find Bush acquiescing to the lower income group yet numerically superior illegal lobby,who in all likeliness will become legal US citizens through coercion rather than by obeying the law.
Pity- illegals cant do the kind of work you have to offer.
Pls tell that to your fairly elected President.
p.s Great work on Meebo , how you plan to make a profit of course escapes me, unless you sell it to Google for a tidy sum
June 12th, 2006 at 9:24 am
My baseless opinion
Israel = unstable neighbor
Europe = 11 mth vacations
Asia = no enforcement on proprietary data
This is coming from an asian american.
June 12th, 2006 at 10:38 am
Let’s see…
India – Horrible infrastructure
Europe – Some of the lowest productivity rates and most restrictions on employers
Middle East – Hope you don’t get killed just because you’re there
US – Hundreds of thousands of qualified workers that can EASILY learn your ways of coding; EXCELLENT infrastructure (in fact, move to Arizona and you won’t have earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes or any natural disasters…at a fraction of the cost of CA), high productivity
The H1B seems like a pretty minor thing to worry about.
June 12th, 2006 at 11:11 am
Not to disparage the American workers, they are also well qualified. The H1-B however, allws for better competition and quality. The H1-B (contrary to what you may think) forces the employer to pay a HIGHER market rate to the H1 worker, so it’s not really a cheaper alternative for the Cos. Also, people like Vinod Khosla (co-founder Sun Micro), Sabeer Bhatia (co-founder Hotmail); the guy who founded i2 Technologies etc etc…were all H1-b guys. Now, you wouldn’t say they were simply ‘cheap labor’, would you? I do agree that may be the case in some unethical organizations, but overall, the H1 B worker is at least as bright as the American worker.
Unfortunately, the MBA chaps lose out here. The H1 B visa almost says that an international cannot be a Better MBA than an American…
I have studied with Americans and must say a majority of Americans are VERY Intelligent and Smart. But, a small minority of internationals too are ’smarter’. I would say that has nothing to do with them being an international – just individual capability/intelligence. As such, the H1 law needs to be modified to encompass the best and the brightest instead of just Tech etc. This would benefit the U.S. in the long run. Inflexibility and protectionism have NEVER helped anyone in the long run either. India is doing well as it has learnt to encompass all that is the best in the world. By the way on my recent visit to India, the salaries in India too have sky-rocketed for the qualified and the statistics show that many Indian students have chosen to not come to the US for their education and instead pursue their education at IITs(Engineering) or IIMs(MBA) and to take on jobs closer to home in India itself. The other part is that a LOT of Indians have decided to skip back home from the US to pick up jobs closer there. This is only hurting the U.S. as the jobs followed them and will continue to do so.
June 12th, 2006 at 11:15 am
Infrastructure in India and China: If they were still SO BAD, why would the Cos. still believe they achieve HIGHER EFFICIENCES there? This is an old comment and people should really rethink and refresh their know-how of these countries and others. They just don’t have good PR people advertising themselves, but there MUST BE some reason why Microsoft, Oracle, GE, Rolls Royce, Ferrari, Mercedes Benz, Toyota, Maybach are not only setting up shop in India and China but also selling a MAJOR part of their wares to Indians in India.
June 13th, 2006 at 5:10 am
Seth,
It is understandable that it is a disappointment when you find you the right resource who will make a difference to your organization and when you are not able to bring them into your team because of the restrictions by the law (especially when you miss it by a day).
IMHO, when a product is developed for international users there is no wrong in looking to have a diversified development team, it only helps and I agree with ‘Fren Way’. As to what ‘Daniel’ says, it is not only the cost related to outsourcing but various other reasons like quality, innovation, broader perspective and round the clock development.
In a recent interview by Romi Malhotra, MD of Dell’s Indian Operations for Mckinsey quarterly he explains that Dell came for quality and stayed for innovation. IBM is investing 6 Billion USD in next 3 years and there is news in the blogosphere about Apple planning to outsource their support services to India.
As to what Gr8Britton says, Infrastructure in India is developing very fast and investments by global companies are an evidence for that.
Outsourcing is the name of the game now. At the peak of telecommunications & technology revolution, distance is not a problem at all and if a right partner is identified, the problem is solved…….
July 23rd, 2006 at 1:14 am
I am 37/Male/India would like to immigrate to US/Uk who can help me?
I would like to marry a citizen of US/UK.
I know the Indian languages:English,Kannada(Bangalore),Hindi,Urdu,Malayalam(kerala),Little Tamil
if you are interested please,contact me:
July 23rd, 2006 at 1:17 am
I am ready to work at us/uk.
August 24th, 2006 at 1:18 pm
I am an american national. I was a real dirtbag when i was younger and got into much trouble with the law.
I am much different now and have given up drugs and alcohol and have accepted Jesus into my heart and have been living a posotive life.
The trouble is that I am having a hard time getting gainful employment due top the fact that all companies I have applied at do a background check. how can I have this much difficulty(keep in mind, Ilive 20 miles from New Orleans) while everywhere I go there are people who are obviously illigal immigrants work everywhere.
March 7th, 2007 at 7:20 pm
I’m a US citizen applying for the HSMP visa. I’m still waiting for the outcome! I do qualify and have provided all the documents needed. However, I have hear that the majority of the HSMP visas are given to IT people or doctors. Am I wrong? My background is in financial services. Any input?
March 17th, 2007 at 4:36 pm
As soon as the owner moved, my friend put the house up for rent
April 3rd, 2007 at 11:20 am
Hi,
I am sure that this is a stupid question but have not found an answer online and am not ready to call the lawyer about it. I am have been working with the same company for 4 years and am on my second round of H1B. They will eventually sponsor my green card if I stay but I am not sure if I want to. My question is – if I get an offer somewhere else do I have to start the H1B process all over again and wait another couple of years before the new company sponsors my green card?
Hope someone can clarify
Thanks a million!
C.
May 13th, 2007 at 2:01 am
Hi My Name Is ivaved.
June 5th, 2007 at 7:33 am
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August 30th, 2007 at 9:55 am
H1B is good man, when u get it for the first time. Just hope and wish that u dont land up with a agent like DIVERSE LYNX. They are the most difficult, unreasonable and unprofessional employers. They don’t pay in time.. sometimes dont even pay…
dont have their papers in place. anyone who wants to come here, beware of them!!!
October 5th, 2007 at 12:42 am
[*map/map_cn_sd3_mordy.txt||10||r||1|| @]
January 31st, 2008 at 2:42 am
olla…..hye 2 all of you….
its me…serra…im from malaysia…
hepy2 with your life.dont do anything wrong because
we are still young, and we can do anything fun to colourful our life.dont waste your time,and try to do something interest.trust me,and trust to yourself that you can do it
.never give up in whatever you do.life will be boring without problem or challenging….huhuhu….
February 5th, 2008 at 11:44 pm
sir, i got an option from diverse lynx company using h1b visa, but i doubt abt the company which comes true when i checked the blog
so do u have any idea regarding the company
March 27th, 2008 at 9:36 am
Ok, Fun thing about the H1B1.
But the thing is: All this hate about foreign labor is quite absurd.
Have you take a look of how many Americans are PhD’s?, well if you look at the graduate students lists on the Top USA universities you’ll find that 85% are foreigners, after they graduate they have three options:
1) to stay and work in academia (and compete for positions and visas) or
2) to stay and work on companies (compete for the positions and the visas), or
3) to go back to their contries and if they go back , in many cases, they are considered overeducated and have to deal with people cutting them out because they fear them, or with some luck they get a wonderful position and make lots of money hassle free!
If they choose to stay they fall into the nightmare process of being foreign in a country made out of foreigners. Those who hate the immigrants are immigrants descents or are they Cherokees or Algonquin? No, those who are against H1B workers are the greatgrand children of the same people who led this nation to the conflicts that ended up on the Indian Wars with the shameful Indian Removal Act empowered by President Andrew Jackson in 1830, act “stole” the land from the ancestral owners.
Now , isn’t kinda weird that some people oppose foreign labor when this is a highly trained, skilled labor that contributes to the overall good of USA, how many of the most achieving scientist, physicians, artists and athletes are Asian, or European, African or South American…How many novel prizes are from somewhere else or are somewhere else descendents?
Illegal immigration damages the poor of this country, I can understand that, thou there are humanitarian reason for these people to came here, they are famished in their own homes, is not their fault, and our government complies in certain way whit it or you really think that they are against people who works for 3 dollars an hour? You think that the companies mind that? who finances the government? Start to see?
We don’t have health care, or sick leave or maternity rights because our own fault, “we the people” elect our congressman who expend their time with prostitutes and filling our nation of promesses, we are responsable for it, not a guy with for kids that doesn’t know how to read or write and who has never seen a doctor or eaten more than one meal a day.
But these people are from a different spectrum that the H1B workers, H1B pays taxes, works hard, buy houses, use services, and regularly are more polite, educated and grateful for all that they get than us.
So, please stop the crap, and be real OK.
Haven’t we learn anything?
If the physician who is going to save my life or my children life is Chinese or the guy who is going to develop a new technology to make energy more efficient and economic is Argentinian , I really want them here, working to build our contry and to light our shadefull future.
April 5th, 2008 at 10:50 am
Today’s WSJ has a column on H1B cap..
April 7th, 2008 at 3:46 pm
USCIS announced on Friday ( when everybody was planning to take some time off and relax) the new OPT Rule which sounds very good and too good to be true. Yes, everybody who is on OPT and is going to face a GAP from the time OPT expires to the time when the H1 comes into effect will have an extension ‘Automatically’ applied to their OPT which means, he/she be living in status and be working peacefully till October 1st. ( This is for all F-1 Students, any major and remember-its automatic) More…. http://www.durgeshbhat.com
April 13th, 2008 at 3:10 pm
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April 24th, 2008 at 5:48 pm
hey,
Just wanted to let you guys know that I have started keeping track of the FY 2009 Update. http://durgeshbhat.wordpress.com/
Thanks
Durgesh
October 14th, 2008 at 8:37 am
hello,Im Roman Tabashidze from Georgia and A wanna work at you, if you take me.
November 5th, 2008 at 7:01 pm
Well if you really NEED workers, why not hire an AMERICAN who is looking for a job? It’s a proven fact that most H-1B’s falsify their credentials. You get what you pay for!
January 7th, 2009 at 11:40 am
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January 7th, 2009 at 11:41 am
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February 20th, 2009 at 2:46 pm
Friends,
To report any suspicious activity or to make a confidential reporting of immigration or customs violations, please call 1-866-DHS-2-ICE (1-866-347-2423).
Please make the call. This is the right time to make the call. These days immigrations dept. is raiding companies for illegal activities.
Remember the 5 firms that ICE raided in regards to H1B visa fraud last week. 11 of them are under arrest and they may serve up to 15 to 20 years of prison time.
Its not just the employer who is breaking the law, employees are supporting them too. As far as L1 visa interview goes, they know from the forum what questions they are asked and they know what to answer even if it is not the right answer.
For L1 visa they have to say they are working on a proprietary tool and have specialized skills to get the visa even if they don’t have those skills. This is fraud and they need to go to jail.
Remember the only way to stop these guys is by putting not 11 but atleast 1100 in jail. They can afford to pay as mush fine as required without any issues and still continue the same old unethical practice. It’s only the jail time that they are scared off and which will make them stop.
So guys if you are suspicious of any illegal activities on H1 or L1 please call ICE. You can call from public phone and don’t have to reveal your identity.
Please make the call. For those you already have a job, you may be the next one to get fired.
Please spread the word and let your friends, family, relatives know about this. Email this content to everybody that you know.
Please help.
October 22nd, 2009 at 8:43 am
But instead of being all agressive and dominating like the precious, it says something about one love to bind us and etwine us, you know, something mushy. ,