9 ms·

Now is the time to leave. 18 years in the US with a kid born here. I missed the boat in getting my priority date around the time when my friends were getting th

by sg47 7y ago

Now is the time to leave. 18 years in the US with a kid born here. I missed the boat in getting my priority date around the time when my friends were getting theirs (my company was laying off people in other departments and my application got audited). Didn't think it was a big deal at that time. Now, my friends are getting their citizenships and I'm still stuck on a visa. I'm at the whim of the Consul officer and the CBP officer every time I renew my visa or come back into the country. Heavily vested here assuming I'll get a green card but planning to apply for Canadian PR just in case. There's an easy way to game the system if one is in the right situation and is willing to risk it. Leave the country and work for the same company for a year as a manager. Come back on a L1 visa and boom you can apply in the EB-1 category and get your green card in a couple of years. I've quite a few friends who easily got their green cards working for TCS, Infosys, etc. Meanwhile, with a Masters degree and 16 years of experience, I'm at the mercy of immigration officers.

bobfrost 7y ago
18 years? That's scary. I'm surprised at the amount of confidence you have in the USCIS that you might get a greed card. If you are still on a visa, I don't see how soon you believe you can get a green card in a reasonable amount of time. I'm not sure you can use the EB-1 category even with an L-1 - unless you're at a very high level in your company. Even for that category, the waitlist is currently about 5 years.
- sg47 7y ago
  Well, I just don't think about it. Pay being very high makes up for it. My priority date is 2 years behind the current priority date for EB2 so I'm hoping for a miracle. I cannot leave because we are so entrenched here and have lots of friends we don't want to leave behind. It doesn't have to be a L1. Even with a H1B, if you worked as a manager in India and come here with a manager title (even Project Manager), you can apply in EB1 as a multinational manager. It's a terrible loophole and one that's mercilessly exploited.
  - fuckyah 7y ago
    > exploited And then you wonder why the US is so strict?
kamaal 7y ago
>>Come back on a L1 visa and boom you can apply in the EB-1 category and get your green card in a couple of years. Those days are gone now. You go into EB-1 only if you get into the US on L1-A. They don't give L1-A's easily these days. For starters you need to be in director level positions to even qualify for L1-A's. Even then the waiting period for India EB-1 itself is growing and stands at 5+ years now. And it will only increase. >>I've quite a few friends who easily got their green cards working for TCS, Infosys, etc. Put the saddle on the right horse. People who come in from those companies often work for <$70K an year. Most are poor blokes who survive on ramen, and giving haircuts to each other so that they can save $8. The real deal is Cgnzt which even until recently filed L1-A's and EB-1's for thousands/lacs of people by cooking up documents. Often promoting some one with a BCom degree to a director, granting them a GC and then rolling back the promotion. Thousands to lacs have made it to GC and Passports this way. When I worked for a short time in the US, it was painful to see PhD students in Stanford struggle for little extra stay, while some one with a basic 2 year diploma land GCs in like an year. In fact even until recently the biggest incentive to work at Cgnzt was this. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/indians-rush-for-us-citizenship-before-trump-can-shut-doors/articleshow/73461275.cms https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/... 8.4 lac Indians got citizenship only last year. 5.8 lac got green cards. This is basically abuse max. Add this to manager's pets who routinely get their documents cooked to be Nobel Prize worthy talent and land GC's. Literally the wrongest possible people occupy the numbers these days. Add to this a large number of body shopping firms. There are several top level doctors, lawyers and scientists who don't even get B1's. In short we Indians bought this upon ourselves. Like everything else. We abuse things so much, so far and so blatantly it makes things impossible for the real people when they arrive at the scene. I'm one of those people who got burned badly due to all these politics at every level. I have largely given up, you just need to get very lucky early life to win at these things. Or cheat shamelessly.
- triceratops 7y ago
  > 8.4 lac Indians got citizenship only last year That was the total number of citizenships granted last year. Indians were about 50k of that total - approximately 6%. That's from the article you linked.
klipt 7y ago
> 18 years in the US with a kid born here If you wait long enough your US citizen kid can sponsor your green card as an "immediate relative" once they turn 18 :-) The backlog for Indians and Chinese is truly ridiculous though.
coolplants 7y ago
> There's an easy way to game the system Please stop subverting our laws, you’re making it worse for people who don’t break the law.
- ipnon 7y ago
  Nothing he suggested was illegal.
  - coolplants 7y ago
    You’re not a lawyer. Are you defending gaming our immigration system?
    - whack 7y ago
      Are you a lawyer? What he suggested is about as "subversive" as using your 401k to lower your tax bill. The EB1-C program's explicit requirements are to work as a manager abroad, and that's exactly what the person above suggested.
      - coolplants 7y ago
        401K is not “gaming the system.” The IRS explicitly treats it specially for the purposes of allowing hardworking seniors to retire in dignity. The immigration law does not make explicit allowances for people to game it. If less people gamed the system, it would be more fair for the rest of us who do things the right way without manipulating.
        ipnon 7y ago
        The original poster suggested applying for a different visa that has a lower wait time for green cards. What precisely about this proposition are you objecting to?
        coolplants 7y ago

by sg47 7y ago

bobfrost 7y ago

18 years? That's scary. I'm surprised at the amount of confidence you have in the USCIS that you might get a greed card. If you are still on a visa, I don't see how soon you believe you can get a green card in a reasonable amount of time. I'm not sure you can use the EB-1 category even with an L-1 - unless you're at a very high level in your company. Even for that category, the waitlist is currently about 5 years.

sg47 7y ago
Well, I just don't think about it. Pay being very high makes up for it. My priority date is 2 years behind the current priority date for EB2 so I'm hoping for a miracle. I cannot leave because we are so entrenched here and have lots of friends we don't want to leave behind. It doesn't have to be a L1. Even with a H1B, if you worked as a manager in India and come here with a manager title (even Project Manager), you can apply in EB1 as a multinational manager. It's a terrible loophole and one that's mercilessly exploited.
- fuckyah 7y ago
  > exploited And then you wonder why the US is so strict?

kamaal 7y ago

>>Come back on a L1 visa and boom you can apply in the EB-1 category and get your green card in a couple of years. Those days are gone now. You go into EB-1 only if you get into the US on L1-A. They don't give L1-A's easily these days. For starters you need to be in director level positions to even qualify for L1-A's. Even then the waiting period for India EB-1 itself is growing and stands at 5+ years now. And it will only increase. >>I've quite a few friends who easily got their green cards working for TCS, Infosys, etc. Put the saddle on the right horse. People who come in from those companies often work for <$70K an year. Most are poor blokes who survive on ramen, and giving haircuts to each other so that they can save $8. The real deal is Cgnzt which even until recently filed L1-A's and EB-1's for thousands/lacs of people by cooking up documents. Often promoting some one with a BCom degree to a director, granting them a GC and then rolling back the promotion. Thousands to lacs have made it to GC and Passports this way. When I worked for a short time in the US, it was painful to see PhD students in Stanford struggle for little extra stay, while some one with a basic 2 year diploma land GCs in like an year. In fact even until recently the biggest incentive to work at Cgnzt was this. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/indians-rush-for-us-citizenship-before-trump-can-shut-doors/articleshow/73461275.cms https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/... 8.4 lac Indians got citizenship only last year. 5.8 lac got green cards. This is basically abuse max. Add this to manager's pets who routinely get their documents cooked to be Nobel Prize worthy talent and land GC's. Literally the wrongest possible people occupy the numbers these days. Add to this a large number of body shopping firms. There are several top level doctors, lawyers and scientists who don't even get B1's. In short we Indians bought this upon ourselves. Like everything else. We abuse things so much, so far and so blatantly it makes things impossible for the real people when they arrive at the scene. I'm one of those people who got burned badly due to all these politics at every level. I have largely given up, you just need to get very lucky early life to win at these things. Or cheat shamelessly.

triceratops 7y ago
> 8.4 lac Indians got citizenship only last year That was the total number of citizenships granted last year. Indians were about 50k of that total - approximately 6%. That's from the article you linked.

klipt 7y ago

> 18 years in the US with a kid born here If you wait long enough your US citizen kid can sponsor your green card as an "immediate relative" once they turn 18 :-) The backlog for Indians and Chinese is truly ridiculous though.

coolplants 7y ago

> There's an easy way to game the system Please stop subverting our laws, you’re making it worse for people who don’t break the law.

ipnon 7y ago
Nothing he suggested was illegal.
- coolplants 7y ago
  You’re not a lawyer. Are you defending gaming our immigration system?
  - whack 7y ago
    Are you a lawyer? What he suggested is about as "subversive" as using your 401k to lower your tax bill. The EB1-C program's explicit requirements are to work as a manager abroad, and that's exactly what the person above suggested.
    - coolplants 7y ago
      401K is not “gaming the system.” The IRS explicitly treats it specially for the purposes of allowing hardworking seniors to retire in dignity. The immigration law does not make explicit allowances for people to game it. If less people gamed the system, it would be more fair for the rest of us who do things the right way without manipulating.
      - ipnon 7y ago
        The original poster suggested applying for a different visa that has a lower wait time for green cards. What precisely about this proposition are you objecting to?
        coolplants 7y ago