| Take heart, skilled foreign workers. If your temporary | | | | employee is actually granted H-1B status, it's only for |
| U.S. H-1B Visa has lost its appeal, there's always | | | | three years (although in rare instances it can be |
| Alberta. In fact, the immigration website for Albert, | | | | renewed for an additional six). |
| Canada, is advertising the province as an alternative, | | | | In March 2008, the New York Times reported on the |
| permanent home for workers frustrated by their | | | | difficulty U.S. companies face in obtaining the elusive |
| temporary U.S. H-1B visas and their myriad of | | | | three-year H-1Bs to bring in adequate numbers of |
| restrictions. Canadian employers might well be more | | | | skilled workers. "In 2007, the (Department of |
| welcoming than those in the United States even if | | | | Immigration) agency received enough petitions to |
| workers aren't granted temporary visas. | | | | cover the annual quota (capped at 65,000) on the first |
| H-1B, the non-immigrant, temporary status given to | | | | day applications were accepted. About half of the |
| individuals in a "specialty occupation or profession" is | | | | total petitions filed were rejected because the supply |
| difficult to qualify for, and in the end, it's temporary. | | | | of visas had run out." |
| Aliens (persons from other countries, not | | | | Plenty of companies are complaining because they |
| extraterrestrials) seeking an H-1B visa need to have | | | | can't get visas for all the highly educated skilled |
| completed a Bachelor's Degree program, and if they're | | | | workers they want to acquire. Skilled foreign workers |
| from India, Pakistan, or several Asian Rim nations, they'll | | | | are even more frustrated. According to Jai B., a |
| need a Masters Degree. H-1B applicants will require | | | | doctoral candidate from India's Punjab region denied an |
| licenses if the profession they're in requires one. The | | | | H-1B visa on three separate occasions since April |
| number of new H-1B's granted in a fiscal year is | | | | 2007, "The American system does not reward |
| "capped" at 65,000. Potential employers of an H-1B | | | | honesty in any way. The truth is, if we were able to |
| worker must deal with stringent Department of Labor | | | | leave our home country to come into the U.S. or any |
| restrictions and write a detailed recommendation letter | | | | other nation, it is because we have a spirit of |
| for each H-1B skilled worker. If an employer hires a | | | | excellence and we are not quitters or narrow-minded. |
| significant number (more than 51) of H-1B workers, the | | | | We want to be assets to the U.S. economy. |
| employer is classified as a "dependent" employer and | | | | Unfortunately, we are not regarded that way by U.S. |
| ends up with an avalanche of red tape. Finally, if an | | | | officials. |