3 ms·

I suspect the US is way down in the list of possible emigration routes. It's just a very annoying process if you consider the default route. Getting an offer fr

I suspect the US is way down in the list of possible emigration routes. It's just a very annoying process if you consider the default route. Getting an offer from a US-based company is the easy part. The hard part is winning the H1-B lottery. The very annoying technical part is getting an appointment in an embassy as a non-resident (there are no visa interviews conducted in Russia, so you have to apply elsewhere, appointments are rare) and then some people (esp. cybersecurity and ML, if rumors are right) get sent to SAO (Security Advisory Opinion, "administrative processing") for a random period of time. No updates or feedback at all during that time, obviously, so you cannot plan anything. Some of my friends were sent for about 1.5 months and had to postpone their three-month internship (sic!) at Google because of that. That was about five years ago. Some other had to wait months before being able to renew (sic!) their work visa. There are rumors of people waiting years without hearing back. To compare, one can obtain a national German visa in a week or two after receiving an offer, if you have your university degree translated to German (not even apostille is required for lots of cases). This visa gets converted into a EU Blue Card once you arrive and apply for it, IIRC.

ajross 4y ago
> The hard part is winning the H1-B lottery. The article is literally about a proposed relaxation of the visa policy for Russians with postgraduate science/tech degrees.
- yeputons 4y ago
  True, but I'm not buying it. Visa interview and SAO problems are universal for all applicants, I believe. SAO is even more relevant for "semiconductors, space technology, cybersecurity, advanced manufacturing and computing, nuclear engineering, artificial intelligence and missile propulsion" (quoting the article), if rumors are true. The only specific relaxation the article mentions is: > The legislation includes language that would permit technically qualified Russians with masters or doctoral degrees in a range of fields to immigrate to the US without the usual visa requirement that they have a job lined up in advance. They would have to pass a US security background check. As I said, getting the offer is the easy part. Lifting that requirements does little. They even say explicitly that some kind of "security background check" is still necessary. A random story: a friend of mine (Software Engineer, LGBTQ+, smart and sociable folk) has tried to relocate to the US for years. They even got multiple offers in the same year with multiple entries to the H1-B lottery to increase their chances. No luck. In the end they simply relocated to London instead. Another one: Massachusetts (yes, a state, not the federal government) have established a Global Entrepreneur in Residence Program several years ago using a loophole in H1-B visas. Quoting https://vdc.umb.edu/2019/04/20/how-does-the-massachusetts-global-entrepreneur-in-residence-program-work/ https://vdc.umb.edu/2019/04/20/how-does-the-massachusetts-gl... > To smooth the path, Massachusetts established the Global Entrepreneur in Residence (GEIR) program. By working part-time at the University of Massachusetts, entrepreneurs can obtain a cap-exempt H-1B visa anytime during the year, since universities are exempt from the annual H-1B quota. The program gives an entrepreneur time to master the company building process, and document their talent and ability, so that they can eventually obtain a visa independent of the University of Massachusetts. Another one, but I haven't heard it first-hand: Google typically does not even bother with H1-B last years, so unreliable it is. So the default route for a person who is needed in the US is to work in a London/Zurich office for a year and then apply via L1-B. Maybe the campaign is aimed at people like "Wernher von Braun and Kurt Debus, later the first director of the Kennedy Space Center". Again, I don't think getting an offer for such kind of people is hard in any way. - Maybe the campaign is aimed at people working in universities, which are H1-B cap-exempt. In that case, the lottery is lifted, which does make the process easier. Still not as easy as with Germany or the UK.
Natsu 4y ago
They could really stand to open up visa appointments via virtual meetings & such. There was a time I was within literal walking distance of a US Embassy, but no, we had to fly to the other side of the damned country to go to the Embassy there for an appointment. Because God forbid that one embassy authenticate who we were and take us to a meeting room to webex with the people at the other embassy or something.
cato_the_elder 4y ago
> I suspect the US is way down in the list of possible emigration routes. That's absolutely incorrect. The US is literally the number one destination of international migrants. [1] [1]: https://www.migrationpolicy.org/programs/data-hub/charts/top-25-destinations-international-migrants https://www.migrationpolicy.org/programs/data-hub/charts/top...
- twelve40 4y ago
  The parent is describing a specific situation for a specific country for a specific - very narrow - subset of population in comparison with e.g. the process in Germany. What does a global list of worldwide preferences have anything to do with it? Adding "absolutely incorrect" and "literally" doesn't make this random factoid any more relevant.
  - cato_the_elder 4y ago
    Unfortunately, I don't have the stats, but I'm pretty sure the US is one of the top destinations for scientists and engineers too. And for the Russian part, as @ajross pointed out, the article is literally about making the process easier for them. Also, my comment is clearly not a "random factoid". You can even see that Germany is the second one in the list (kinda to @yeputons's credit). Finally, I don't appreciate the language policing. We can talk like normal human beings on HN, and save the corpo-speak for our day jobs.

ajross 4y ago

> The hard part is winning the H1-B lottery. The article is literally about a proposed relaxation of the visa policy for Russians with postgraduate science/tech degrees.

yeputons 4y ago
True, but I'm not buying it. Visa interview and SAO problems are universal for all applicants, I believe. SAO is even more relevant for "semiconductors, space technology, cybersecurity, advanced manufacturing and computing, nuclear engineering, artificial intelligence and missile propulsion" (quoting the article), if rumors are true. The only specific relaxation the article mentions is: > The legislation includes language that would permit technically qualified Russians with masters or doctoral degrees in a range of fields to immigrate to the US without the usual visa requirement that they have a job lined up in advance. They would have to pass a US security background check. As I said, getting the offer is the easy part. Lifting that requirements does little. They even say explicitly that some kind of "security background check" is still necessary. A random story: a friend of mine (Software Engineer, LGBTQ+, smart and sociable folk) has tried to relocate to the US for years. They even got multiple offers in the same year with multiple entries to the H1-B lottery to increase their chances. No luck. In the end they simply relocated to London instead. Another one: Massachusetts (yes, a state, not the federal government) have established a Global Entrepreneur in Residence Program several years ago using a loophole in H1-B visas. Quoting https://vdc.umb.edu/2019/04/20/how-does-the-massachusetts-global-entrepreneur-in-residence-program-work/ https://vdc.umb.edu/2019/04/20/how-does-the-massachusetts-gl... > To smooth the path, Massachusetts established the Global Entrepreneur in Residence (GEIR) program. By working part-time at the University of Massachusetts, entrepreneurs can obtain a cap-exempt H-1B visa anytime during the year, since universities are exempt from the annual H-1B quota. The program gives an entrepreneur time to master the company building process, and document their talent and ability, so that they can eventually obtain a visa independent of the University of Massachusetts. Another one, but I haven't heard it first-hand: Google typically does not even bother with H1-B last years, so unreliable it is. So the default route for a person who is needed in the US is to work in a London/Zurich office for a year and then apply via L1-B. Maybe the campaign is aimed at people like "Wernher von Braun and Kurt Debus, later the first director of the Kennedy Space Center". Again, I don't think getting an offer for such kind of people is hard in any way. - Maybe the campaign is aimed at people working in universities, which are H1-B cap-exempt. In that case, the lottery is lifted, which does make the process easier. Still not as easy as with Germany or the UK.

Natsu 4y ago

They could really stand to open up visa appointments via virtual meetings & such. There was a time I was within literal walking distance of a US Embassy, but no, we had to fly to the other side of the damned country to go to the Embassy there for an appointment. Because God forbid that one embassy authenticate who we were and take us to a meeting room to webex with the people at the other embassy or something.

cato_the_elder 4y ago

> I suspect the US is way down in the list of possible emigration routes. That's absolutely incorrect. The US is literally the number one destination of international migrants. [1] [1]: https://www.migrationpolicy.org/programs/data-hub/charts/top-25-destinations-international-migrants https://www.migrationpolicy.org/programs/data-hub/charts/top...

twelve40 4y ago
The parent is describing a specific situation for a specific country for a specific - very narrow - subset of population in comparison with e.g. the process in Germany. What does a global list of worldwide preferences have anything to do with it? Adding "absolutely incorrect" and "literally" doesn't make this random factoid any more relevant.
- cato_the_elder 4y ago
  Unfortunately, I don't have the stats, but I'm pretty sure the US is one of the top destinations for scientists and engineers too. And for the Russian part, as @ajross pointed out, the article is literally about making the process easier for them. Also, my comment is clearly not a "random factoid". You can even see that Germany is the second one in the list (kinda to @yeputons's credit). Finally, I don't appreciate the language policing. We can talk like normal human beings on HN, and save the corpo-speak for our day jobs.