Lottery to decide my life

JPB, that is indeed interesting. Timing cannot be coincidental.

I have no doubt that people abuse the H-1B procedure as well. But if the applications are selected by lottery, many honest ones don't get a chance while some less-honest ones may just make it.

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JPB wrote:

Interesting timing of this press release... I considered not sending my comment after all, since he seems to be working in the other direction, but decided to send something along the lines of 'go ahead and overhaul the system for the longterm, but what can be done in the meantime about the current situation'. I then suggested raising the cap for new H-1B visas while a long term solution to abuses of the system is evaluated and reforms can be implemented. I'll let you know if I hear anything.

I don't tihnk he is working in the other direction. He's working to plug a hole that should be plugged. That hole is also what is hurting people like Dag.

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Thanks all for your support and letter writing. I hope somewhere someone wil listen and take it on. I also don't think I'd be the only one affected who thought of writing (well, soz did, to be honest), so there might be a volume of voices accumulating.

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Saw this press release and it mentions that "USCIS has added back to the H-1B cap 6,100 unused FY 2006 H-1B1 visas". Doesn't that tell you that some visas being put back into the next years pool means that there are thousands of people who win the lottery and don't avail of it.

Pity they can't revisit those remaining people who applied and re-direct those 6,100 visas to some of them!

If a certain amount of visas are allocated to various countries, and are not used or applied for by certain dates, they should be re-offered to people ALREADY IN THE U.S. WORKING AT A JOB !!!

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That's true, fishin. If the applications had to go through some screening before they go to USCIS or if there was a system for weeding thouse who want to get a free ride, I would have a better chance. The pool of applicants would be smaller. Lottery certainly won't help. And he'd know that, I'm sure.

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Sort of like a "standby ticket" at the airport.

If you are not immediately successful with the ole lottery pool, you get a "standby number" and if the others whose applications do get through and for whatever reason, they don't follow through or are later rejected for whatever reason, then those people with "standby tickets" should be put back into the hat and the remaining unused visas applied towards them.

Oh if only I ruled the world !!!!!

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Hmmm. I know three politicians, two fairly well, but they are in state office in California. The third, that I have met, and worked slightly for her election, as in driving seniors to vote, is Jane Harman, no slouch, but she wouldn't know me at all. Geez, I have to check if she is still in there.
I wonder about Richardson in New Mexico, but he's a state guy again.
Mulling.

There is also the six degrees network. Who does your boss know? Other associates? Anyone close to the the state assembly person or local state senator? I know that it is a bit of a jump re it being their purview, but not really, as said about Massachusetts needs for skilled people.

BacK in LA, our local state assemblywoman's office helped a whole bunch of people. I wouldn't skip them as possibilities, perhaps approached from the hirer's point of view.

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Wow, this is kind of exciting! You're a Cause, or you could be, or represent one! And a good one! And you got people right here already writing letters!

This is civic activism. Grassroots mobilising through the net! Seriously, way cool. Long live A2K.

(Obviously, as a Dutchman in Hungary I dont have a Congressman to write too, but I'm still crossing my fingers for you.)

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From Heeven's link:

Quote:

Under the terms of the legislation implementing the United States-Chile and United States-Singapore Free Trade Agreements, 6,800 of the 65,000 available H-1B visas are annually set aside for the Chile/Singapore H-1B1 program. As a result of reserving 6,800 H-1B1 visas for FY 2007, the H-1B cap for that fiscal year is 58,200. However, USCIS has added back to the H-1B cap 6,100 unused FY 2006 H-1B1 visas, for a total of 64,300, as described below.

Does that mean that from the 6,800 H1-B1 visas mandatory set aside for Chilean and Singaporean citizens, 6,100 goes unused? I know they are allotted to others NEXT year, but still... How does that number make sense then? Should be 1,000 or less, given the low demand. Maybe I should marry a Chilean and go from there. Grrrr.

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Suggestion, if you approach the Massachusetts state senator or assemblyperson, send email and snails to the capitol office as well as the local office.

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nimh wrote:

Wow, this is kind of exciting! You're a Cause, or you could be, or represent one! And a good one! And you got people right here already writing letters!

This is civic activism. Grassroots mobilising through the net! Seriously, way cool. Long live A2K.

(Obviously, as a Dutchman in Hungary I dont have a Congressman to write too, but I'm still crossing my fingers for you.)

Yes, I admit it's kinda exiting. I also wrote to all of my american friends with DrewDad's letter and a link to their house representative. I hope I can't be deported for civic activism. You don't know anymore...

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I see your point about it being about all of you, but I can see personalizing it in a fairly concise but impressive way. In fact, that is appropriate, if only as a fairly apparent footnote - or wait, a second page with CV - but not to all, just selected recipients.

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osso, my boss does indeed know a ton of people high up. i sent him the letter with the personal blahblahblah added, hopefully he'll circulate it along with his letter. Or his letter. Something. He's very good about fighting for me.

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dagmaraka wrote:

From Heeven's link:

Quote:

Under the terms of the legislation implementing the United States-Chile and United States-Singapore Free Trade Agreements, 6,800 of the 65,000 available H-1B visas are annually set aside for the Chile/Singapore H-1B1 program. As a result of reserving 6,800 H-1B1 visas for FY 2007, the H-1B cap for that fiscal year is 58,200. However, USCIS has added back to the H-1B cap 6,100 unused FY 2006 H-1B1 visas, for a total of 64,300, as described below.

Does that mean that from the 6,800 H1-B1 visas mandatory set aside for Chilean and Singaporean citizens, 6,100 goes unused? I know they are allotted to others NEXT year, but still... How does that number make sense then? Should be 1,000 or less, given the low demand. Maybe I should marry a Chilean and go from there. Grrrr.

Wow, this thread is moving quickly! Dag, I was just about to quote that same section from Heeven's link. It does sound like the 6,800 are set aside up front and then the unused ones get put back the following year. It doesn't say how many, if any, were left over from FY 2007 to be used this year - just that 6100 from '06 were available last April (I think I read that right).

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From my wee understanding of local politics, there are things like breakfast clubs, where people meet every so often to hash stuff out. Local community activists with local representatives. My ex was involved in that.
Given Boston is the home of the US town square thing (or was it another Massachusetts town?), I'd be interested if there is any of that going on around, say, Cambridge.

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dagmaraka wrote:

From Heeven's link:

Quote:

Under the terms of the legislation implementing the United States-Chile and United States-Singapore Free Trade Agreements, 6,800 of the 65,000 available H-1B visas are annually set aside for the Chile/Singapore H-1B1 program. As a result of reserving 6,800 H-1B1 visas for FY 2007, the H-1B cap for that fiscal year is 58,200. However, USCIS has added back to the H-1B cap 6,100 unused FY 2006 H-1B1 visas, for a total of 64,300, as described below.

Does that mean that from the 6,800 H1-B1 visas mandatory set aside for Chilean and Singaporean citizens, 6,100 goes unused? I know they are allotted to others NEXT year, but still... How does that number make sense then? Should be 1,000 or less, given the low demand. Maybe I should marry a Chilean and go from there. Grrrr.

No, I took that to mean, of ALL the visas offered to ALL countries in 2006 .... 6,100 were left over (unused because people simply didn't use them or because some of the people were obvious criminals and couldn't be allowed entry/immigration. So, let's say they had 65,000 visas last year. They put 6,800 aside for Chile, 5,000 aside for Brazil, 2,000 aside for Hungary, etc., etc.
Each of those countries gets more applications than they have visas for, so they select exactly the amount of people set aside for that country. I am from Brazil and I applied. I get a "congratulations you won the lottery" letter and I go to the American Embassy and do my interview, promise I have a job ready for me America and I am a good girl. They do a background check and I am a murdering, pillaging fool. They reject me. That unused visa should be popped back into a pool to be re-issued to the remaining people who applied and did not win on the first lottery pull.

I won the lottery in Ireland. I was living/working there, when, one year I applied for a green card in the lottery system. I wasn't all that bothered about winning or not. I reckoned if I won, I would go. If I didn't, I wouldn't think twice. Well as it happened I was one of the lucky ones and I just up and left (they give you about two months from the time you are confirmed approved to the time you move to the U.S.). I was told that, having won the lottery, only if they could prove that I was the devil incarnate would I not be accepted. I had a girl I knew who also applied during the same period and she won too. She was married with three kids and she decided not to go. Her visa just floated off to nowhere land but I thought at the time what a waste it was. She wasn't all that pushed about going, she just fancied seeing if it was a possibility. That bloody well annoys me. All those people who were in the U.S. desperately wanting that one visa and she let it go to waste. I could have smacked her. These are the people, my dear Dag, who are getting what you really really want.

Of course I am the exception. I am a fabulous asset to this country. I really don't know how you managed before I got here!

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fishin wrote:

JPB wrote:
Interesting timing of this press release... I considered not sending my comment after all, since he seems to be working in the other direction, but decided to send something along the lines of 'go ahead and overhaul the system for the longterm, but what can be done in the meantime about the current situation'. I then suggested raising the cap for new H-1B visas while a long term solution to abuses of the system is evaluated and reforms can be implemented. I'll let you know if I hear anything.

I don't tihnk he is working in the other direction. He's working to plug a hole that should be plugged. That hole is also what is hurting people like Dag.

I agree, I think there are holes that should be plugged. The tone of my email changed somewhat based on his new bill, more of a long-term solution and a short-term fix, that what I'd originally intended to write.

I wonder what percentage of the new H-1B applicants currently hold student visas? It would seem that preference could (possibly should) be given to those currently holding student visas. People come to the US to get an education and then have to leave unless they can get a change in status. Giving back to the economy here by becoming part of the work force would seem preferable to taking their newly learned skills abroad. If the new applications are primarily from those currently holding student visas then this wouldn't have any impact. I know a couple H-1B visa holders that did not come here under a student visa to begin with, but I've no idea which is the more common path.

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Trust JPB to come up with a clear way forward... (I hope).

Good point.

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Meanwhile, I dont want to break up the spirit, but I'm afraid that posting in this thread must have messed up my personal mojo, as it turns out that your kind of problem (very roughly categorised) can apparently be acutely contagious.

You know how I raved about how brilliantly - ok, how fairly well - it's worked out for my marvellous boss to keep directing our small team even now she's moved back? Well, one thing I didnt mention, because it would have muddied up my point and was irrelevant to it, is that she did turn in her resignation a few months ago (though of course she'd keep on working till a replacement/solution was found). It wasnt that working from England didnt work out or caused problems, it was something else (that I wont go into here) that made her give up, to our great sadness.

Anyway, because of that (a new person like her is very hard to find, and a program stands or falls with its director), and because one of the two new projects we would be working on this year was first cancelled, then approved after all, but without specification yet of who would carry it out, we have been in some uncertainty about our future - it looked very bleak back in January.

But since then, with our other big project not just fully budgeted and approved, but already in advanced state of preparation (we went to London twice in the last two months - well, me once - to establish the methodology); with that second new project at least approved in principle; and with a third still scheduled to take the rest of the year, we all believed we were safe for 2007, and had a fair chance for the year(s) after.

Well, today bomb shell news from on high was that our program will be dissolved, and the projects we are doing now split up and divvied up among other programs. There is no news, and no certainty whatsoever, what this will mean for us. We could be out of work by the end of the year. We could be out of work in a few months' time. We could be split up as a team and reassigned to other programs in the building - or in other places (eg London).

Like you, I love my job - it is absolutely the single perfect job I could have. I like the work a lot, its exactly in my corner, a combination of tasks and topics written for me - I love the team, we must be the most tight and joyful team in the building, I love my boss, love the flexible working arrangements - and of course I adore living in this city, being at home here.

Vice versa, I havent got the faintest clue where I'd even start looking for another job. I dont have a marketable profession - I know a little about this and a little about that and a little about such-and-so, and this job happens to require exactly that combination and that's why I landed it. But if I'd have to compete in any of those individual fields, I wouldnt stand a chance. I dont want to go to London, and I most definitely dont want to go back home. Ive made two friends here that are better than any friend I had at home and a bunch of acquaintances. But I dont speak Hungarian (beyond the basic pub-conversation level) so work opportunities here are very limited - etc etc etc.

So this sucks monumentally.

Unfortunately, nobody can write letters for me.. we just have to wait and see. I hate wait-and-seeing. We should know more in about three weeks' time. Perhaps.

Anyway, thats enough disturbance for your thread. In the meantime, everyone help Dag - at least one of us should end up lucky! Razz

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Gads, nimh.

fingers crossed.

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Lottery to decide my life

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