H1B holders: Caught in a bind, despite skills

New Jersey, August 27: When Warangal resident Laxmana Prasad (name changed) landed in New York's JFK International Airport four years ago, little did the highly qualified financial services professional imagine that in less than two years, his American dream would come crumbling down.

With a high scoring MCA degree and nearly five years of work experience, Prasad had had no difficulty in getting placed in a Manhattan-based financial portfolio firm. Even the H1 visa processing had proceeded smoothly enough and Prasad's dream of becoming a Wall Street professional seemed achievable.

'At that time, if somebody had told me that in just two years, all my dreams would come crashing down, I would never have believed them,' recalls Prasad.

So, when reality came knocking on his door with a vengeance, he was little prepared. His employer went out of business in early 2011. Getting the H1B visa transferred to another employer was almost impossible, given the economic downswing.

Suddenly, nobody wanted him and he was forced to return to Warangal two months ago. He does not want to come back to the US, even if things show any sign of improving. 'I have been burnt badly. India offers a much safer refuge and stability. I don't want to risk my future for the sake of a H1B visa,' he says with the tone of someone sadder but wiser.

Ever since the US economy bottomed out, stories like that of Prasad are getting repeated with alarming frequency all over the US. The facts and figures speak for themselves.

A report from the Washington DC-based Government Accountability office (GAO) has said that despite the economic slowdown and the increase in visa processing fees, nearly 46.9 percent of all total approved H1 B visa holders are still from India.

'Using publicly available data on H-1B-hiring employers we learnt that at least 10 of the top 85 H-1B-hiring employers in the fiscal year 2009 participate in staffing arrangements, of which at least 6 have headquarters or operations located in India," the report said.

The H1B cap for 2011 quota is 65,000 for general category. Till two years ago, the cap for both the categories of H-1B visas (including the higher education category) was reached within the first few days. The picture has completely changed hence.

'Of the 46.9 percent of total approved H1B visa holders from India, the majority is from Andhra Pradesh, mostly from Hyderabad, but also from places like Vizag, Vijayawada, Warangal,Nalgonda, Krishna and Guntur districts,' says Mahesh Bigala, PR Committee chairman for the North American Telugu Association, who is also a member of the New Jersey-based Small and Medium Enterprises Consortium (SMEC).

'There definitely was a slow down in the application process but the quota was reached in January. This shows that the demand still exists though the policy in processing the petitions has changed.'

This has definitely affected the recruitment process, Mr. Bigala says, since the approval process is now more stringent. 'It has always been difficult to find people with the right qualifications from within the US and the present limitations have now made it more difficult to bring in workers from outside,' he adds.

Not just the application process itself, other things have also become more difficult for the tech workers. Earlier, while it was fairly easy for H1B visa holders to travel between US and India, now such travel is fraught with the difficulty in getting visas stamped in India.

'Unless they absolutely have to travel to India, it is better these workers now stay put in the US for the duration of their visa,' Mr. Bigala cautions.

The difficulty in the application process, combined with the downbeat job market and concurrent job losses, has also seen quite a few tech workers opt to voluntarily return to India after expiration of their H1B visas and not seek other prospects in the US.

'Many workers now prefer to go back after finishing short-term projects rather than explore other opportunities here.' Despite all this, the IT industry seems to have weathered the storm rather well compared to other sectors.

'It is only a slow down, not a complete halt. The 65,000 quota for H1B visa cap is not too difficult to fill,' he says. For their part, community-based organizations like NATA are trying to make the process much easier.

Though it is only a year old, NATA has already held a series of career fairs all over the US, the last one held very recently in New Jersey. Though these career fairs are open to all students, most of the attendees are from the Telugu community.

Mr.Bigala's observations are especially important, if we look at the example of Sudhakar Vempalli (name changed) who, despite being successfully contracted to Goldman Sachs by a New Jersey-based staffing firm, was denied entry into the US by immigration officials at the Newark International Airport since the name of his contractual employer did not match that mentioned on his visa.

Forced to return to India, Mr.Vempalli had to rely on friends to sell off his car and other personal belongings in the US. He is now looking for other staffing options, but determined to return to the US.

'All said and done, it is much better from a professional point of view to work in the US than in Hyderabad,' he says. However, that too may change soon.

According to consulting firm, McKinsey and Co., some 40,000 tech workers returned to India in the past two years and the general feeling among industry consultants is that with companies like Oracle and Intel opening research facilities in India itself, there is no need to ship H1 workers to the US anymore.

'Though there is no way we can accurately determine how many H1B visa holders are from Andhra Pradesh, from my own experience I can say that nearly 50 percent of all Indian H1B visa holders are from this Stat,' says Washington DC-based immigration attorney Rajiv Khanna who runs a highly successful immigration resources portal, www.immigration.com . Even among these, men outnumber women.

Mr.Khanna lists several measures the potential H1B visa holder can take to make sure he/she does not land in the murky world of visa scams.

'When someone offers you a job, do your own thorough investigation and research,' he advises. 'Check if the company has a good employment track record and no negative history or that it has not violated any labor laws.

Make maximum use of internet discussion forums such as the one available at www.immigration.com.' he says. Mr. Khanna's office offers free immigration advice through community conference calls every Thursday ( http://www.immigration.com/free-community-conference-calls ).

His website also carries comprehensive information on employee rights( http://forums.immigration.comblog.php?1&blogcategoryid=31). More resources are available at the websites of the Department of Labor ( http://www.dol.gov/whd/immigration/index.htm) and the Foreign Labor Certification Data Center ( http://www.flcdatacenter.com/CaseH1B.aspx).

The reasons for the slowdown in the H1B visa process are due to a combination of factors, Mr.Khanna says. 'Recurring impediments in procuring H-1B petitions and visas are making it impossible for U.S. companies to stay competitive and for many of them to even survive in this economy.

Over the past few years, USCIS has routinely started requiring documentation that is highly onerous and is often impossible to obtain. 'The standards of adjudication have been raised to beyond what is reasonable and necessary to fulfill any legitimate regulatory purpose.The supporting documentation that is required for each H1-B petition (new, extension, or transfer) has increased tremendously.'

Also, as a part of the a H-1B process, after obtaining approval from USCIS, employees are required to apply for a visa at a U.S. consulate either when they enter the U.S.A. for the first time or when they travel outside the U.S.A.

After spending $4,000 to $6,000 per H-1B visa petition, employees are being denied H-1B visas by U.S. consulates, which routinely revive issues that have been extensively addressed and resolved by USCIS. This leads to a tremendous waste of time and resources, he adds.

'Even after employers supply all information and wait through weeks and months of processing, a large number of cases are being denied. What is worse is that no meaningful explanation is provided for the denials. Once a case is denied, there is nothing an employer can do. There is no appeal against a consular denial.

As soon as a visa is denied, the consulate sends the case back to USCIS for revocation. That leads to a further delay of several months, in case employers want to apply for an H-1B again for the same employee,' he further says, adding, 'In addition to new applications, even when our existing employees have to go to their home country for a vacation or family emergency they normally have to apply for visa extension at the consulate mentioned in their H1-B approval.

These people are also handed the same kind of queries or issued denials. We have to provide the exact same information as in the case of a new visa applicant. In these cases most of the times we are able to provide letter from the client verifying that the beneficiary is working onsite.

These are the people who are already working in the US for the past few years. They are already on our payroll, have SSN's, pay taxes and are contributing to the economy.

Yet another issue is regarding dependent visas. Mr. Khanna cites the case of an employee who has been working in the US for the past one year. When his wife and child wanted to join him, they were denied H-4 approvals at the consulate level despite providing adequate documentation that includes H-1 petition of the beneficiary, client contracts and work order and our financial status documentation.

Despite all this, industry and immigration experts say there will be no significant shortfall in the demand for skilled IT workers from India. With Andhra Pradesh providing a bulk of this population, the scenario holds a lot of promise for those aspiring to enhance their professional portfolio by working in the US.