May 2002 - H1B News
Strong demand for IT workers, Multiple valid H1B, IT jobs migrate to India, INS hires 8000 employees...

More IT jobs - Strong demand for IT workers

More IT jobs in the next 12 months. Companies are optimistic about future hiring over the next 12 months. The projected aggregate demand for IT workers in 2002 is 1,148,639 out of which the companies expect 578,711 positions to go unfilled due to lack of qualified workers.

Key points as per the major new study released on May-6-02 by the Information Technology Association of America. (ITAA)

Companies employ more programmers than any other type of IT worker. Technical support workers were the most likely to be hired and let go last year.

C++ programming language is the most in demand technical skill, followed by Oracle, SQL, Java and Windows NT

IT Market is having significant improvement

According to the latest survey results, there are NO recent big layoffs in the US IT industry. Many companies have started hiring highly skilled IT workers to fill up their permanent and contract jobs. Some companies are hiring contract workers at very low rates because of less budget allocations. The tough job market forced the job seekers to accept new offers for less salary, most of them are getting only 35-50% of their previous salary.

Based on market situation, job seekers will accept jobs for less salary now. As soon as the market picks up, the highly skilled workers will leave the job and will find another job for more salary. If such a situation happens, then there will be more hiring in a short period which will boost the market rates higher. The salary reduction will only be for a short period of time.

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We can help you to find an H1B sponsor for you. Please post your resume in our site. We are getting many contract and permanent requirements for highly skilled H1B holders. Remember to mention all your skills in your resume. If you want we can submit your resume to 1500 H1B sponsoring companies.

INS Seeks to Hire 8,000 New Employees

The Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), an agency of the U.S. Department of Justice, plans to hire more than 8,000 new employees (6,000 officer corps positions and 2,000 support positions) nationwide by September 30, the end of FY 2002. In addition, the President's budget for FY 2003 calls for a substantial increase in Border Patrol Agents and Inspectors for next year, which will require INS to hire 4,000 new officers. As one of the fastest growing Federal agencies, INS offers a wide variety of career opportunities on the front line of efforts to strengthen homeland security and to maintain our Nation’s long, rich history of welcoming legal immigrants.

INS Publication

IT Jobs Migrate to India

Tech researcher Gartner recently forecast that by December more than 80 percent of multinationals will use IT outsourcing to save money, overcome skills shortages or increase flexibility. Without a doubt, much of that work is headed to India.

Today India is the dominant player, with a greater than $6.2 billion (IT service) export industry, more than 900 software export firms and approximately 415,000 English-literate IT professionals," the report said

Reasons

Companies like GE, American Express and British Airways have successfully demonstrated the benefits of the model, with total savings of a few hundred million dollars between them," Kandathil Jacob, a visiting professor at the management school at Bombay's Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), wrote recently

Citibank (C), Dell Computers (DELL), Oracle (ORCL) and Lufthansa are among the other firms that have set up service centres in India

The telecommunications revolution has made it possible for functions such as insurance claims processing, accounting, order taking or customer support to be done from anywhere

In April, India cut rates for conventional phone services overnight by deregulating its international phone market

The government also authorised Internet telephony, or Voice over the Internet Protocol (VoIP), which has greater ramifications for the international labour market.

In India wages and real estate costs are lowest. New Delhi was recently rated the world's second cheapest place to live, among 134 cities surveyed by the Economist Intelligence Unit. Bombay ranked 126th

Complete Article

Rejoining the previous employer, if H1B NOT revoked

According MURTHYBULLETIN VOL. VIII, no. 18 - May 2002, week 1 (Copyright 2002) If you are likely to be laid off and if you have previously approved H1B petition for another employer, you can join that employer, if your H1B is NOT revoked by the previous employer and still valid.

Case –1 Company- A to Company – B and back to Company A

The H1B worker has a job with Company A. S/He works for Company A for some time and obtains new employment, based on an H1B for Company B. For whatever reason, the employment at Company B does not work out and the worker seeks to return to Company A and work under the initial H1B petition, which is still valid and not revoked

The INS opinion, as stated by Mr. Hernandez, is that the H1B petitions remain valid until they expire or are revoked. Therefore, for as long as the petitions are valid, the worker can transfer between the two employers without re-filing. The worker is considered in status during the transfers. The DOL, in this situation, is of the opinion that Company A is responsible for wages continuously, unless the petition is revoked. Therefore, if they rehire, they are supposed to pay back-wages for the time that the worker was with Company B. This is strictly a DOL matter, which is completely separate from the issue of maintaining one's status for INS purposes.

Case –2 Filed two H1Bs Company- A and Company – B, Joined company B later join Company A

The worker is the beneficiary of two petitions, one from Company A, the other from Company B. The worker does not take up the job with Company A, working only for Company B. After some time, if the worker wishes to work for Company A under its valid, unexpired petition. This too would be allowed and the person is regarded as having maintained his/her immigration status.

Case –3 If laid off before joining

If the worker was unemployed before the transfer then the H1B worker is not maintaining his/her status. This holds true even if the person has valid H1B petitions from one or more companies. Therefore, if a person is the beneficiary of H1B petitions from companies A and B and works only for one of them, then loses his job and is unemployed for a time, he cannot be regarded as in status if he thereafter begins working for the other company.

Disclaimer : The information provided is of a general nature and may not apply to any particular set of facts or circumstances. It should not be construed as legal advice and does not constitute an engagement of The Law Office of Sheela Murthy

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