Enough Petitions Received to Exhaust 2008 H-1B Cap
April 9, 2008
ENOUGH PETITIONS RECEIVED TO EXHAUST 2008 H-1B CAP: LOTTERIES ARE THE NEXT STEP
Today U. S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) issued a notice indicating that it has already received enough H-1B petitions to exhaust both the 65,000 H-1B quota and the 20,000 exemption from the quota for graduates of U.S. universities with a master’s degree or higher. In other words, both the “bachelor’s degree cap” and the “master’s degree cap” have been exhausted.
USCIS will now begin the lottery process, first selecting 20,000 petitions for the “master’s cap.” Any petitions not selected for the “master’s cap” lottery will be considered for the “bachelor’s cap” lottery. Petitions not selected for processing will be returned (with filing fees).
Fee receipts for a given petition will indicate that it has been selected in the lottery, and likely will be approved. So far, we have received receipts for one cap subject case, and an approval for another.
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Bathroom Break
April 6, 2008
That was hilarious. His little shake at the end was a crack up!!What an awesome joke! I wish they let you see how many people got into the pool right afterward.
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Biometrics Now Required for Permanent Resident Reentry Permits
April 6, 2008
New Policy Requires Applicants to be Fingerprinted before Departing the United States
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Permanent residents applying for reentry permits in order to travel back to the United States after a long absence must now appear for a biometrics appointment at a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services office before departing the United States. The new agency policy could delay applicants who have imminent plans to travel abroad.
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U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) now requires lawful permanent residents age 14 through 79 who have filed an application for a reentry permit to provide biometrics at a USCIS Application Support Center (ASC) appointment prior to departing the United States. The new requirement also applies to individuals who are applying for refugee travel documents. Because reentry permit and refugee travel document applicants must wait for a USCIS appointment notice in order to have their biometrics taken, the new requirement could delay those individuals who have imminent plans to travel abroad.
According to new instructions to Form I-131, the USCIS form used to apply for travel documents, reentry permit applicants will receive an ASC appointment notice after their application is filed. If the applicant departs the United States before biometrics are collected, the instructions indicate that the reentry permit application may be denied. Many foreign nationals have inquired about the possibility of providing biometrics at a U.S. consulate abroad. The instructions, however, do not provide a clear mechanism for reentry permit applicants to have biometrics collected outside the United States. FRAGOMEN is seeking further clarification on this issue.
Applicants requiring expedited processing should submit an email address and fax number along with two pre-paid, self-addressed express mailers along with the Form I-131. If USCIS approves the expedite request, the pre-paid express mailers will be used to return the ASC appointment notice and the reentry permit once the application has been adjudicated.
If you liked this article, click here to buy me a beer!Eight Things to do in College to be Successful in Your Career
April 6, 2008
Eight Things to do in college to be successful in your career
1. Take leadership roles.
The best way to learn to lead is to do it. Generation Y has been rasied to be great team players – in everything from school to work to social lives. Gen Y is a generation that will live its life out in groups. But for all the hoop-la about being on a soccer team where everyone plays, there has been very little focus on leadership for young people. You can address a deficit like this by taking leadership positions in college, and courses like this one (which I loved taking) if you can get someone else to pay for it.
2. Get a good internship.
Eighty percent of graduating seniors will have completed at least one internship, according to Mark Oldman, co-founder of Vault, a media company for career information. “In the United States an internship is no longer an optional benefit but an essential stepping stone for career success.” So part of your job as a student is to line up good internships. The way to set yourself up for success as an adult is to balance the school stuff and the work stuff – even now, before you graduate.
3. Don’t get straight A’s
There is little correlation between how well someone does in school and how well that person does in adult life. School rewards people who follow rules and are motivated by grades. Adult life requires people to figure out how to steer themselves and motivate themselves. Spend your time in school doing something besides studying so that you will steer well when you graduate. People who spend their college years getting straight A’s often say they regret it.
4. Be a joiner – spots, fraternity, cheerleading
Cheerleaders do better in business than everyone else except athletes, who do as well as cheerleaders. So be a joiner. Figure out how to work in teams and how to exude enthusiasm even in the face of bad news. And, when it comes to building networks, a fraternity is a ready-made network of people who are generally similar to you, so get started in college, when it feels more like a party than a network.
5. Read novels, even if they’re not assigned
Tiziana Casciaro, professor at Harvard Business School, says that,”How we value competence changes depending on whether we like someone or not.” And people who lack social competence end up looking like they lack other competencies, as well. This is why social skills are as important as other work place skills. The best way to learn social skills is to put down your books and go meet new people. But if you insist on reading, pick up a novel. It will require you to understand what motivates people, and that, after all, is what social skills are all about.
6. Take a Myers Briggs test – know strengths
We are each born with strengths and weaknesses. Instead of banging your head against the wall trying to change who you are, take a personality test and find out your strengths. Then, forget about overcoming your weaknesses and focus instead on leveraging your strengths. Many studies conducted at the Gallup Institute show that we find more success through our strengths, but you have to know them in order to leverage them. Most people wait too long to take a test. Take yours now, in college.
7. Start a company
You can run a company out of your dorm room. Try anything. It’s free. The software is free, the viral marketing is free (your friends list) and your time is almost free since you wouldn’t be getting paid right now anyway. So even if your business does nothing, you will have the experience of starting one, and that will give you the confidence to try many more times after you graduate, when the stakes are higher.
8. Turn a professor into a mentor.
People with mentors are more likely to do well in work than people without them. It is hard to find mentors and hard to keep them motivate to help you. So start practicing now, with your professors. They want to help, and, like corporate mentors, professors want to help the people who are most motivated to help themselves. A professor can give advice, make a connection, or tell you about their own travails. In any case, the more you are able to show that you used his or her advice, the more likely you will be to get more help.
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Penelope Trunk
Blogger: http://blog.penelopetrunk.com
CEO: http://www.brazencareerist.com
Journalist: http://www.boston.com/jobs/news/archive/Climb/
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