A h1b love-hate story.... just for fun

I thought this story is worth a book. WHat do you think ? anyway, this is just done to help people that could be in this situation.. maybe not in the entire situation but in some part of it.; >

I started a phd using a J-1 visa and i found a job in the states for employer A. A h1b has been filed and approved for 2 years (we didn t know if the company would stil be there by the end of the 2nd year anyway... Everything went well for some time ... 4 months until i received another offer from an emploer B. I then applied for a brand new visa H1b (started from scratch, with cv, transcript etc...) as the INS wanted and beside some hic-ups in the process (the file came back 3 times for no reason (one was the check was not stappled (!)) the visa has been approved again and i then resigned from my employer A. During all the process of the second H1b i was working with the employer B keepeing a valid previous H1b from employer A valid. Condition of the INS to be able to work for employer B while waiting for visa approval...
Well considering i spent a fortune to apply for the first H1b, i decided to reproduce most of the information i provided to the INS the first time... including (unfortunately yu ll see later) the same expiration date. Anyway... The new H1b was approved with an expiration date of around mid 2002. At the end ofthis h1b visa period of validity, i would have been a little bit less than 2 years under a h1b visa (far less than the required 6 years limit from the INS). I applied for a green card during this time with my employer B. beginning of 2001 a case number for a labor certification was given to us and we just had to wait between 2 to 3 years to have an answer...
The h1b visa was close to expiration and 45 days before expiration, we decided to apply for a extension ... which basically is a simplified filing that does not require as much paperwork than a brand new H1b. Officially it s suppose to be approved even faster (2 to 3 weeks...). Well believe it or not, it took 8 months !!!.. and no, it wasn t because my case was a tough one. In fact my case was actually under review for 2-3 weeks as usual but it took 7 month to get thru this !... The initial visa expired for sure but i was still able to work according to the INS that i called nearly everyday !.. well it finally got approved some weeks ago but instead of 3 years renewal... we had 1 year ! only ... and even more upsetting 1 year starting 6 months ago !.. infact we paid nearly 1500 dollars for a 6 months extension. The INS can t tell me why, no one can anyway over there. The only answer is 'by the book' : it s not because you asked for 3 years that the INS will give it to you. And to the question regarding the past bill concerning the renewal of a h1b visa by 1 year increments when the labor certification was pending for more than a year from the h1b extension request... no one knew about it. Well at least now they know, and it sounds like i will have to renew my h1b visa by 1 year incremental starting at my '3rd year' intead of a 'seventh year'/ Logicall ? well i give up
This is my story, it s even copyrighted ! DOn t copy it but you can use part of it for psychological help in case you are still wondering what s going on in the INS

Ricky

I thought this story is worth a book. WHat do you think ? anyway, this is just done to help people that could be in this situation.. maybe not in the entire situation but in some part of it.; >

I started a phd using a J-1 visa and i found a job in the states for employer A. A h1b has been filed and approved for 2 years (we didn t know if the company would stil be there by the end of the 2nd year anyway... Everything went well for some time ... 4 months until i received another offer from an emploer B. I then applied for a brand new visa H1b (started from scratch, with cv, transcript etc...) as the INS wanted and beside some hic-ups in the process (the file came back 3 times for no reason (one was the check was not stappled (!)) the visa has been approved again and i then resigned from my employer A. During all the process of the second H1b i was working with the employer B keepeing a valid previous H1b from employer A valid. Condition of the INS to be able to work for employer B while waiting for visa approval...
Well considering i spent a fortune to apply for the first H1b, i decided to reproduce most of the information i provided to the INS the first time... including (unfortunately yu ll see later) the same expiration date. Anyway... The new H1b was approved with an expiration date of around mid 2002. At the end ofthis h1b visa period of validity, i would have been a little bit less than 2 years under a h1b visa (far less than the required 6 years limit from the INS). I applied for a green card during this time with my employer B. beginning of 2001 a case number for a labor certification was given to us and we just had to wait between 2 to 3 years to have an answer...
The h1b visa was close to expiration and 45 days before expiration, we decided to apply for a extension ... which basically is a simplified filing that does not require as much paperwork than a brand new H1b. Officially it s suppose to be approved even faster (2 to 3 weeks...). Well believe it or not, it took 8 months !!!.. and no, it wasn t because my case was a tough one. In fact my case was actually under review for 2-3 weeks as usual but it took 7 month to get thru this !... The initial visa expired for sure but i was still able to work according to the INS that i called nearly everyday !.. well it finally got approved some weeks ago but instead of 3 years renewal... we had 1 year ! only ... and even more upsetting 1 year starting 6 months ago !.. infact we paid nearly 1500 dollars for a 6 months extension. The INS can t tell me why, no one can anyway over there. The only answer is 'by the book' : it s not because you asked for 3 years that the INS will give it to you. And to the question regarding the past bill concerning the renewal of a h1b visa by 1 year increments when the labor certification was pending for more than a year from the h1b extension request... no one knew about it. Well at least now they know, and it sounds like i will have to renew my h1b visa by 1 year incremental starting at my '3rd year' intead of a 'seventh year'/ Logicall ? well i give up
This is my story, it s even copyrighted ! DOn t copy it but you can use part of it for psychological help in case you are still wondering what s going on in the INS

Ricky

An H1b is not intended to be permanent. It is not a key to an indefinite stay. Its purpose is for your services to be temporary. The length of needing them is changeable and is not decided by you.

I don t say the oposite but it s tough to live by so much incertainties when you trying to build an honest and solid carreer. Most of the time people think about immigrant as a way to find an easy life in a country where everything or nearly everything can be provided easily. Well it s the same thing in my country and the system is abused by lots of people there too.. and people there tends to generalize... I am not considering an authorizetion to live in your country as a right but a priviledge and I am sorry if i offended you by the way, i am not complaining about the process i am just trying to give some clue about the process to people that tries, like me, to get a little more involved into your country way of life.

Ricky

You have not offended me but thank you for your response. I only describe the purpose for your visa and why the extensions can easily change (and be unpredictable). Thank you.