US (2)

With this post I would like to get a feel of the probability that it is to be one day a green carder in the US.

PR

Green card is the permanent residence card for people in the US. Except voting you pretty much are able to do a lot of things.

General info

How many years it takes to get Green card?

10-15 years after application by your sponsor it appears when applying after a H1B for an Indian. How my cousin got a green card is rather unclear. L1 to green card (tbd) is not known.

Which career stands a good chance of getting a job in the US?

Not much dearth of jobs for students in CS.-Quora. All opinions state it should be possible. More research on this needs to be done. (tbd)

Applying through family is a possibility?

My brother will be a citizen in 20 years from now (I will be 46 by then) tops, in the US. It appears that this route is far-fetched but still an option. From that time he can apply for my green card it will take 12-16 years before we get an interview (I will be 58 by then). I can know more later. I doubt this changes things. Appears to be too far-fetched and almost useless?

F-1 to H1B

The most common way to go the green card way is to start with a masters.

The “F” visa is for academic studies. An F1 visa is issued to students who are attending an academic program or English Language Program. F1 visas are by far the most common form of international student visa in the U.S. F1 students must maintain the minimum course load for full-time student status.-Source

Students coming to the US on an F-1 visa (usually) get a period of 12 months to work, called the OPT. This can be extended to upto 36 months in total provided one’s course has to do with STEM.

Typically an MBA doesn’t come under this, but can be hacked to come under this by adding some courses related to STEM. OPT FAQ; Duration of OPT

Students on post-completion OPT may not accumulate more than 90 days of unemployment or you will be out of valid F-1 status.- BerkleyOffice

Students who receive a STEM extension are given an additional 60 days of unemployment for a total of 150 days of unemployment over their entire post-completion OPT period. - BerkleyOffice

So once on the OPT period one has a total of 90 days to be unemployed. This is quite a small period.

In addition within an OPT one must work directly related to his degree as given in the I-20 apparently.

During this period I guess we try to find a H1B sponsor. When fired on an H1B Visa we have 60 days to find a job.

However, on January 17, 2017, the Department of Homeland Security implemented a new rule that, among other things, extends a 60-day grace period to any H-1B holder that finds themselves without a job. Consult an immigration attorney once you have been fired.- Quora

When fired it is also possible to migrate to other visas.

Other ways of getting an H1B or other visas?

• Seeking a H1B from a non-profit employer
• Enrolling in an F1 CPT program
• Apply for O1 visa for highly skilled people
• J1 trainee or intern Quora

There are many other visas that can allow you to work in the US, and hopefully provide you a path to the green colored card-quora-other-visas

There is the O1 for highly skilled people in tech etc… There is the L1 for people who can migrate within the same company but to the US. H1B is also available for work at non-profits as well (tbr). There is also the TN visa for citizens of Canada.

What are the chances of getting H1B through lottery

Assuming we somehow do a STEM course and get the OPT Extension in total of 36 months.

Timeline: Assuming a student graduates in May 17, Company can apply in April 17, 18,19,20. (Opt begins in June 17 and ends in June 20). Application in April 17 depends on when the student gets a job and whether the company applies before joining.

Grad graduating in Dec 16. The company can apply in April 17,18,19. Opt starts in Jan 17 and ends in Jan 20)- Quora

Let’s take the lower number of 3.

There are 20k H1B’s given for advanced degree people and 65k for general quota people. Those who don’t get in the 20k will also be pooled in for the 65k H1B’s.

Catch is there are no statistics. But we know only two things that there were 199k applicants in total for the H1B visa and that in total there are about 85k H1B tickets. This means a 30% chance atleast for 3 years to try my luck with H1B. Some others on quora estimate it at 50-55% for masters engineers based on their availability (bias).

Things can change drastically in the future. Apparently in the OBAMA administration there were already plans for increasing the total number of H1B’s/year.

Going to Canada before coming to the US?

A Canadian PR costs about 5-6k$. It should take 6 months to prep and upto 14 months to receive a decision or even more when applying via the express entry program, due to gathering of all documents.

Apparently once you start working in Canada but then you loose a job you get employment benefits (survival only I would think), but good to know.

how long to get PR in CANADA? Unemployment benefits for PR in CANADA

Apparently it is not easier to move to US. A TN VISA is for Canadian citizens only and can be used to work in the US in 63 specific occupational regions.In theory you cannot really apply for green card. If that is the goal then H1B seems to be the way to go or atleast better than TN. TN is not a dual intent visa - strictly based on opinions on Quora and here. It is possible to work in the US but one can switch to other VISAS, mainly H1B.

Summary

Typical way to go to the US and get a green card is you start with an F-1 then go on the OPT, get an H1B sponsor and then on your way to green card. After studies assuming you get a job immediately and somehow the lottery also works in your favour and you get a H1B, you can then apply for your green card, which typically takes 10-15 years. Joing big companies like Google, Facebook to have a secure enough future.

Other possibilities if the H1B is too mainstream or you don get the lottery exist, such as H1B through non-profit or the O1 visa etc… Also there are routes to go to a Canadian citizenship (7-10 years in total), but right now it doesn’t seem to make sense as we will still be stuck on an H1B and the lottery process as the TN VISA is not dual-intent.

TODO

• L1 to Green Card the journey?
• Best careers in US for getting a job?
• H1B for non-profits? All Non-profits? Whats the fine print

L1A to GC

req:

time:

L1B to GC

req:

time:

H1B to GC

req:

time:

Terms to know

Source: brother

1st stage perm 8months (advertise). oct 2012 H1B… dec 2012 advertise

File PERM USCIS (8months) approve Oct2013 –> Priority date Feb 2014

I140 –> 8months (2weeks premium processing) –> priority date locking! oct2014

When changing jobs… you have to do everything again… but PD will stay.

Once you receive Final action date then you app for 484 (5 months) resident card.

https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/free-books/fiance-marriage-visa-book/chapter8-4.html

PD is priority date, which is when the USCIS first receives your app.

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/legal/visa-law0/visa-bulletin.html

On the Visa bulletin you can see that current dates when certain things are being approved. For example, today is dec 29 but the date on certain visas for India is Dec 2013. This means it took 7 years for those people who applied in Dec 2013, I think.

If I look at the Visa bulletin for Dec 2019, EB1 and EB2 and EB3

It takes 10 years atleast before you recieve GC when on EB2 and EB3. However EB1 seems to take 4 years now.

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/immigrate/employment-based-immigrant-visas.html#first

The different type of GC’s are listed in the above document. I.e., EB1 EB2 EB3 etc…

EB1 is for managers like Rajesh sengamedu.

Not sure who the others are for…

E1 is also EB1 I think…

Different types of GCs?

Immigrant VISA Employment Visa Preferences

First Preference: Priority workers.

Second Preference: Members of the professions who hold advanced degrees, or persons of exceptional ability.

Third Preference: Skilled workers, professionals, and other workers.

Fourth Preference: Certain special immigrants.

Fifth Preference: Investors in job-creating U.S. enterprises.

Immigrant Visa and GC

An immigrant visa is for an alien who plans to live permanently in the United States. This visa must be obtained before traveling to the United States. After entering the country on this visa, the alien will be granted Permanent or Conditional Resident status. A permanent resident card (“green card”) is issued by USCIS after admission and is later mailed to the alien’s U.S. address.

All types of Visas both non-immigrant and immigrant

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/visa-information-resources/all-visa-categories.html