daveb@reed.UUCP (David Billstrom) (04/27/85)
I just left a company where I hired a foreign citizen (Holland) and brought him into the United States. I found the process very time- consuming (5 months from offer to arrival) and an education in dealing with bureaucracy. I too had to prove that he supplied expertise or ability not available from a United States citizen. This wasn't difficult, since he had a couple of years experience working with our source code, as an employee of one of our major customers -- Expert knowledge that less than say 30 people world-wide have. Of course, the INS doesn't know enough about software to question whether another person (U.S.) could learn about the code in a finite time (I'd guess 1 year). Two things I experienced: The INS made numerous paperwork processing mistakes, misinterpreting the statements on the applications, etc. At one point they refused it for the 3rd time, and sent it back -- it was someone elses' application! I finally enlisted the help of a local congressman, and things were resolved within a week. Secondly, even with the intervention of the congressman, they pushed very hard on the question of permanent residence. They definitely do not want applications for permanent residence to come via the temporary work Visa. Fortunately, this man doesn't want to stay more than 2 years (the maximum).
san@peora.UUCP (Sanjay Tikku) (05/01/85)
> I just left a company where I hired a foreign citizen (Holland) and > brought him into the United States. I found the process very time- > consuming (5 months from offer to arrival) and an education in dealing > with bureaucracy. I too had to prove that he supplied expertise or > ability not available from a United States citizen. This wasn't difficult, > > Secondly, even with the intervention of the congressman, they pushed > very hard on the question of permanent residence. They definitely do > not want applications for permanent residence to come via the temporary > work Visa. Fortunately, this man doesn't want to stay more than 2 years > (the maximum). The number of people who are given permanent residence in the US through skilled jobs is dependent on many factors. The nature of job, the country of origin ( because of the quota system) etc. Needless to say that INS definitely discourages all such applications but the entire process is not haphazard. Also, there are a lot of skilled jobs where there is acute shortage of qualified manpower and in these jobs the INS gives permanent residence without too much botheration. An example of this is teaching jobs esp. Comp. Sc. . It is a lot of problem for a small company to hire a foreigner but the megacorps. employ immigration lawyers just for this purpose who take away the paperwork headache from the techinal/personnel depts. Look at the big names on west coast, Intel, Nat'l Semiconductor etc. and they all do this. -- Full-Name: Sanjay Tikku UUCP: ..!{decvax,ucbvax,ihnp4}!vax135!petsd!peora!san CSnet: san%peora.UUCP@CSNET-RELAY USnail: MS 795; Perkin-Elmer SDC; 2486 Sand Lake Road, Orlando, FL 32809-7642 Tel: (305)850-1042-Off. ; (305)851-3700-Res.
ped@mtuxo.UUCP (p.davidson) (05/02/85)
REFERENCES: <1394@reed.UUCP>, <877@peora.UUCP> I am glad to see this on the net. I have a question regarding Social Security Numbers. An Irish friend is visiting the country for one year. He would like to get a Social Security Number so that he can get a temporary job. Can he get a number even though he is not a citizen ??