H1B Season approaching...

As some of my friends get ready to file their H1Bs this summer, the USCIS expects the same or nearly same amount of petitions filed as last year. There were around 150,000 petitions, around 2 times the cap number : 65,000 (which is the number that they started with when I was 8 years old. I'm 24 now. Briefly, they increased it to 115,000 in 2000. But it reverted back to 65,000 in 2002.) in only 2 days and USCIS had to rapidly shutdown accepting applications to stop getting flooded with petitions. They are expecting a similar amount of petitions this year too.

Here are the caps as far as they mention in their site:

• Reg. Cap (65,000 regular cap cases minus the C/S cap cases received)
• C/S Cap (Chile/Singapore H-1B1s)
• U.S. Masters (20,000 cap exemption for beneficiaries with U.S. Masters or higher degrees)
• Exempt (for petitions filed by certain institutions of higher education; nonprofit organizations; and nonprofit research organizations or governmental research organizations, as defined in USCIS regulations)

(source: U.S Citizenship and Immigration Services)

Many of my friends who joined companies last year would be in that 20,000 cap exemption for benificiaries with U.S Masters or higher degrees. Some of my fellow academics who join research labs or universities would be Exempt. The other reality and truth of the situation is when you throw in the several thousand off-shore companies shipping their employees on H1 and L1 visas for temporary periods you have a rush to file petitions and hence the 150,000 in 2 days issue.

There have been stark changes in the jobs among the H1-population , as this publication for the CCIS(Center for Comparative Immigration Studies) points out :

In 1989, Healthcare jobs were the top H1 jobs, in 10 years time it was nowhere in the race. In 1999, IT/Computers/High Tech. fields topped the list with almost 60% of the H1 jobs in the IT industry. Click on the pictures and see for yourself.

1989, Job Numbers 1999, Job Numbers

In 1989, The highest number of H1 workers were from the UK and Phillipines. But they were at around 12-14% each, of the whole H1 Population. India was around 4%.
In 1999, UK and Philippines hadn't seen much growth in the H1 numbers and represented 5% and 2% respectively. While, India's numbers show a gargantuan change: 55, 047 / 119,000 odd. Almost 50% of the H1 job population. Even as China's numbers have grown, their share in this has not.

H1 Numbers: By Country

So, its more of an Indian thing now, with 50% of the H1 population in 1999 being Indians. I don't know about current (2007) numbers. Need to dig up more information. As "the senator from Punjab" as Barack Obama called her, says the government surely needs to think about increasing the cap. This was during the H1B visa debate which raged around June 2007. It started with this video. Went along with this one, was kept aflame with this one and people like Wogsland also argued against the cap in this video for example.

I feel there should be an increase in the cap, even if it is slight. Probably around 120, 000 in all instead of the 88,000 in all limit. This will keep people working in America whoever they are wherever they're from as long as they are a benefit to the US economy. Otherwise, this will prompt companies to find other reasons like for example: Microsoft has centers in Israel, Denmark,Canada to counter the effects of the immigration cap. More companies will outsource jobs. Talented students will try to find jobs in companies based in other countries. Eventually, USA will not be the only country where world class IT jobs are sought in. Already, Singapore / Hong Kong, Japan are serious contenders. Throw in a resurgent Europe and Asia into the mix, we've got a worldwide job market.

So, if you consider the now existing cap of 65,000 + 20,000 (Maters workers) which has in fact decreased from the cap in 1999 back to the 1991 limit in 2002 and the number of international students studying in the US (around 550,000 odd) out of which atleast 10% or around 10% are applying for a H1B visa when they complete their education, its "almost unfair" to say that "A typical High tech American graduate" is denied jobs to accommodate the ones who are equally suited for the job. Out of a 150,000 applications that comes in at the rate of 100,000 per day for an average of 88,000 odd "non-immigrant" work visas, nearly 70,000 applicants (most applicants have already secured the job in a company after several rounds of interviews) are denied visas by a random lottery.

Is this the price they want to pay for the hard work? The hard time they went through writing effective linked lists, binary trees and hash tables... preparing hard for the interviews, getting through the process and then their life being decided by a lottery? Pure luck?

But, there's another side to the story too, which needs more research before I discuss it here.

The other reason I wrote this blog is that I came across another list:

The Number of H1B petitions approved breakdown by company .. I was surprised to find that among all universities in the US, there were more H1B petitions from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 2007 than any other univ. which is my university as a matter of fact. It has moved from rank 31 in 2006 to rank 18 in 2007. The "not-so-surprising" facts are clear to see, look at the number of Indian companies in the list.

Graph: Infosys ranks number 1, *UIC ranks 18

[ The web link to the article ] Click

The PDF: http://www.computerworld.com/pdfs/editorial/h1b.pdf

and yeah.. the H1B season for 2008 will be here in 15 days.

Everyday Things - III

Tuesday, March 11, 2008.

Went back to 1951, the year my father was born exactly around today. I watched Anjali Devi's "Mayakkari". Although I wanted to see a movie based on the cultural/social setting of that time, I had to be content with a fantasy/romantic/musical comedy. It was probably a bi-lingual movie in Telugu and Tamil. But, I watched it in Tamil. Although the film dragged along, I seemed to notice that not much of the plots have changed ever since. Villains have become more villainous(and they don't seem to repent in the end like they did in this one), heroes have become more superhuman( Nageshwar Rao, portrays a kind of a normal hero here) and comedians are still a force to be reckoned with. Was pretty fun.

The biggest discovery of the day was this site where I caught this movie: bigflicks

Not available in India, Nepal or Bhutan I believe. Its commercial, but I think there are some good movies to be watched for free if you register.

Two other movies I watched :

* "Knock Knock I'm Looking to Marry". I saw this for the second time. First time was at "Studio 5" at Sathyam Cinemas around five years ago. Another movie that expertly pokes fun at contemporary arranged marriages and rightly so. Rathi does a great job along with Suhaas.. Overall a fun/casual youth(single) entertainer. But, 2003 seems a long time ago. I don't know if any of the scenes are pretty old-fashioned now.

* "15 Park Avenue". Came in 2 years ago I believe. I don't know how and why I missed it. But, it appealed to me in all fronts. Maybe I saw it at the right time. This one I feel "found me" rather than me finding it. Konkana Sen is amazing (does she ever fail to impress?), Shabana Azmi and Rahul Bose also portray powerful characters. Meethi(Sen) is a S************.. well a long "S" word which I won't use. Since, most characters in the movie use it. Or is she? She doesn't think so. Anu (Azmi), Meethi's sister and their mom are the ones who support her and carry her weight around. Or do they? She doesn't want them to. Roy/JoJo (Bose), who is engaged to her at a point in time and later lets her go because of an unfortunate incident which I won't go into. So, he feels like he needs to make up to her the second time he meets her.

No film in the recent past has touched me so much as this one did. Atleast, I thought so because some dialogues just seem etched into my mind. Like the time when Bose says ".. stepped into her world of another reality.." or something similar and feels for her ".. poor child, she seems to be searching for something that she will never find.." to which Lakshmi(Shefali) his wife replies with a question "Aren't we all?". The film is about the alternate reality Meethi is living in. No one seems to believe her. She is suicidal, feeling like a prisoner under her sister, mom and the servant. Sometimes the film almost borders on the supernatural, but I presume the author left it to the audience to judge. I thought it was a very natural(or superN) and fluid emotional experience. I recommend it for anyone who is looking for a gripping Indian English movie( Yes.. it is 95% of the time in English).

Everyday Things - II

Well, I thought of blogging every day when I wrote, Everyday Things - I. But, since then haven'te kept my promise. Thought I would make up for that and write a lot to make up. So, here goes.

In the time since I wrote the previous entry, a lot of things have happened :

a. I've tried a million things (literally) for my project, Migraine and yet to have a breakthrough.
b. India completed their mammoth 3 month cricket campaign with a stunning ODI series victory over Oz.
c. Life's going on.
z. New games that I played of note: Assassin's Creed, Patapon, Bioshock.
d. I've got an admit to Masters in Fine Arts in my university which I hope to do after my CS thesis.
e. Have watched tons of documentaries: On Nazis, Noam Chomsky, Greece, Persia, Iskander(!)
f. Went 'Bowling' (yeah the underarm 9 pin, heavy 3 holed ball sort) for the first time.. and got a Strike on the second attempt. (After that zilch.. zero.. nothing.. )
g. Reading third book by Edward Rutherford "Russka" : Fictional Chronicle of Russia.
h. Today getting caught up with my past, checking out school/college friends' profiles on Orkut.
i. I downloaded Prince of Persia:Classic Arcade 3D platformer for X360.. enjoyed it until those miserable SoBs in Level 4 started testing my patience.

I've almost stopped renting DVDs from netflix, since I discovered that subscribers get "watch instantly" movies. There are some 25 good ones from 100, but there are good ones nonetheless. Assassin's Creed features "Altair", a fictional(I presume) Hashshashin who leaps with faith like an eagle across 11th century Jerusalem, Acre, Damascus is an amazing character to play and experience. I love the setting, the graphics, the lifelike people mechanics and the story. Waiting for Assassin's Creed 2.

Bioshock- I just played the demo(to be honest, first 10 minutes of the demo). Couldn't play it alone.. (yeah yeah.. I'm afraid of the dark even if it is virtual and I'm willing to admit it). Our hero is greeted with a documentary about "Rapture", a city under the sea where something's wrong now, clearly. 60's billboards and signs greet us as we enter a world of unfathomable (pun intended) proportions. You have plasmids(bio-stuff) and weapons of course to take care of enemies. Other stuff like hacked bots, fight for you. Andrew Ryan, possibly an anagram of Ayn Rand whose ideas seem to be everywhere in this action/thriller/adventure of sorts. And, incidentally I had seen a documentary of Ayn Rand titled: Ayn Rand, A sense of life 2 weeks ago.

Patapon - I already have a blog entry for this.. right now I'm stuck at the point where "Gong, the Hawkeye" of the Zigoton army splits into 3 and is crushing my pathetic Patapons. I need to upgrade atleast my Yaripons.. who seem to be weak.

Well.. keep checking back, the next Everyday things post may pop up sooner. (I don't have stats on who reads my blogs: I know I read it. My brother does. But, no one else I know of is a regular reader.. many don't bother to comment.. I think.) but, if you(yeah! You!) are one of them, thanks for reading and keep checking back.


Ciao.