H-1B Season, Part II

Today is March 19th and in exactly 12 days, the race for the H-1B visa will be over for 2008 for those who are part of the H-1B quota. Universities, research institutes and affiliated institutions are exempt from the quota and can file for H's throughout the year. That's why an H-qualified job at a college or university has so many advantages for non-immigrants. However, for everyone else, April 1st is "D Day."

In "H-1B Season, Part I," I talked about a person with whom I worked who had a Masters degree from an American institution. I also worked recently with a person from France whose situation was somewhat the opposite. He has a bachelor's degree, which means he is part of the smaller, 65,000 person quota. His degree is from France, which means he needs to have his degree evaluated by one of the recognized agencies that evaluate foreign degrees for people in the US. The ones I usually recommend (and which are recognized by the USCIS) are:

World Education Services: http://www.wes.org
Educational Credential Evaluators: http://www.ece.org
Global Credential Evaluators, inc.: http://www.gceus.com


His third problem is that he is interested in Real Estate. The H-1B requires the employee to have an "employee-employer relationship," which means there must be a salary and an employer who lists the employee in their payroll. Real Estate agents are paid with commission and have no guaranteed income. This is also true for certain salespeople, insurance agents, independent contractors, etc. These types of jobs do not qualify for an H-1B. Therefore, the employer needs to come up with a job description that does involve a salary and a definite employment contract. This might be possible but in such cases, it is important to have an immigration attorney with a lot of H-1B expertise to work with the employer and to come up with an acceptable job description.

The final biggest obstacle is the simple fact that even if USCIS finds that the job qualifies for the H-1B status, the quota may be full and the petition may fail anyway. In that case, it is hard for a person who is living abroad to be able to plan their life because there is no way to predict the outcome of such cases. It is important, therefore, to always have a "back up plan." This person has a smart back up plan: if the H-1B is not approved, he has already applied for an MBA program. He can attend the MBA program, which will allow him to stay in the US, and allow him to work as an intern during his program while using the F-1 visa (F-1 visas do allow for curricular training, especially in the case of MBA degrees). Once he graduates, he will have two very smart advantages: he can look for employment for one year using the F-1 practical training status, which will allow an employer to get to know him before going through the arduous task of applying for an H-1B for him and the next time he applies for an H, he will be put in the quota for people who have a US masters degree. This will increase his chances greatly the next time around. It is important to always "hope for the best but plan for the worst." That is a good rule for anyone who is dealing with immigration issues.