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US Suspends 'Expedited' H-1B Visas (sfgate.com)
"Starting April 3, 2017, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services will temporarily suspend premium processing for all H-1B petitions," read Friday's announcement, which says the suspension "may last up to 6 months." Slashdot reader elrous0 sees it as part of the "ongoing efforts to curb abuses in the controversial H-1B program." The San Francisco Chronicle reports:
While it could be difficult to divorce the move Friday from the Trump administration's broader immigration crackdown, some experts believed the agency's decision to be apolitical. "It has everything to do with an understaffed, overworked, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services," said Jason Finkelman, an Austin, Texas, immigration attorney, adding that the wait time for an H-1B visa in California is currently about eight months. However, Vivek Wadhwa, an adjunct professor at Carnegie Mellon University's Silicon Valley campus in NASA Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, said the suspension seems like a message from the government that you "can't buy your way into America."
Whatever the motivation, Engadget believes this will impact large tech companies. "Financial Times quotes a lawyer saying that 'close to 100 percent' of applications from companies like Microsoft utilize the option."
Whatever the motivation, Engadget believes this will impact large tech companies. "Financial Times quotes a lawyer saying that 'close to 100 percent' of applications from companies like Microsoft utilize the option."
Mr. Wadhaw apparently doesn't understand that premium processing does not buy you a visa, or increase your chances of getting one.
http://www.nolo.com/legal-ency...
Just another day in Paradise
They also delayed processing in 2015, with the same reason given: so they could catch up on their backlog.
My dream is that Slashdot become a place where people do a little research before commenting irrationally.
"First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
The EU yesterday issued a statement that US visitors may lose rights to travel without Visas to the EU. A statement which should be seen by all Americans as a blackmail attempt...
Let's not twist the truth of the matter, shall we. Which is:
The passing of the non-binding resolution comes after the US failed to agree visa-free travel for citizens of five EU countries
...
It comes after the US failed to agree visa-free travel for citizens of five EU countries – Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Poland and Romania – as part of a reciprocity agreement. US citizens can normally travel to all countries in the bloc without a visa.
...
The Commission discovered three years ago that the US was not meeting its obligations under the reciprocity agreement but has not yet taken any legal action. The latest vote, prepared by the civil liberties committee and approved by a plenary session of parliament, gives the Commission two months to act before MEPs can consider action in the European Court of Justice.
So, the real story here is that, if the US wants visa-free travel to the (entire) EU for its citizens, it must extend the same privilege to (all) EU nationals, but the US has been failing to do so. The EU calling out the US on this point hardly constitutes "blackmail".
Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
3. No limits on the maximum duration of the workweek. The EU's working time directive is a good start.
Luckily we do not live in the EUSSR. If I want to work 80 hours a week, that's my problem. If I don't, I can work somewhere else (H1-Bs can do that too).
OK. I'm in the EU (for the moment), so I'll respond to this. You as an individual can opt of the 48 hour week. That is your choice. However you can't be forced to opt out (expect in those occupations where it would be dangerous to do so).
https://www.gov.uk/maximum-weekly-working-hours/weekly-maximum-working-hours-and-opting-out
So what's with the "EUSSR" label?
You never know what is enough unless you know what is more than enough. - Blake
I'm an expat American who's lived and worked in the "EUSSR" for 10+ years.
Where I live, my employer gets a choice between:
1. 5 weeks (25 days) paid vacation/annum + time-and-a-half (or in some cases double-time) for any & all hours over 37.5/week.
2. 6 weeks (30 days) paid vacation/annum + no overtime pay but no hours over 48/week, ever.
My employer let me choose, and I took Option #2.
I will never accept a job from an American firm again unless they give me one of the options listed above, in writing.
So far, every time I've been offered a position by an American company (and there have been many), what happens is something like this: (a) I tell them that this is what I expect; (b) They respond that I'm full of shit, that's not possible, etc; (c) I show them my current contract; (d) Offer is hastily withdrawn.
Enjoy your life in the Gulag, dumbass.