H1b

Hi ILs,

We have a plan to move to US next year. ie. Applying for H1B this year. My husband has got an offer from a consultant in Hyderabad. The consultant has offices at Houston Texas, South Corolina, Michigan.

I am not having any offer till now for H1B. So, the plan is to accompany him in H4 and later getting H1.

I am interested to know
1. How is the market now in US. Is a recession expected in 2009.
2. Synergy Consultants- how reliable is it.
3. What would be the cost of living in Texas,South Corolina, MI when compared to NewYork/NewJersey as we have an idea of NY/NJ. (Planning for a kid soon)
4. How easy/difficult to convert H4 to H1.

It would be great if you could share your views with me.

If you are aware of any reliable consultany also, please do share with me. Lets try our best.

Thanks in advance
Shyamala

Hi Shyamala,

1) I would not like to forecast on any recession etc. since I'm not a qualified economist. With today's global reach in news and info, I'm sure you or your husband will be able to make a judgment on this point.

2) No idea about Synergy consultants. You could check out Better Business bureau. I found this on their website..not sure if its your company because it is headquartered in Dallas, not Houston.

Reliability Report

3) South Carolina apartments should be the cheapest I think...based on the premise that most of its cities and towns are much smaller than Houston or New Jersey. Groceries etc will cost the same I guess anywhere you live. Another think to keep in mind is that if you stay in a big city, you have more access to Indian restaurants and Indian stores...which basically means that you can get any spices, indian veggies, indian movies more easily compared to if you stay in a really small town.

4) Million dollar question. In general it is tough to find someone to sponsor you. There are companies which genuinely do this, but you'll have to spend some time in order to find one. There are some desi companies who will agree to sponsor you provided you pay them money. This ofcourse is illegal, so one is advised not to go through this route.

The number of H1B's every year is fixed. The number of applications is way more. For the last several years, the quota closed on the first day itself. For the 2 years, there has been a lottery system in place. If you are lucky, you'll get your name in lottery or else you have to wait one more year.

If your current company has branches here, see if you can come on L1.

L,
Aarushi

Hi,

I would like to add that before you go thru H1B with any consulting company make sure that they are genuine and will find a client / project for you once your h1B is approved. As Aarushi mentioned a lot of consulting companies are out to defraud people by taking money and then not doing anything. It is illegal for a company to recover costs from an employee. Even for you it is illegal to convert from h4 to h1b and not be paid - this can cause problems in your green card process later. a good site to check out companies is ImmigrationVoice.org - Home I don't want to discourage you but there are plenty of instances of people coming here thru shady consultants and then not being paid here and struggling to find jobs / projects by themselves.

on the same note, I have been trying to find a genuine Indian training company who provide placement service in Houston? How can I know they are genuine? I am pretty new to this area so dont really know what I should look for. I have bachelors degree in science from US university and was hoping to get my H-1B filed this April. I am looking for a good consulting company to file my H-1B and eventually do the GC process down the road? please let me know any good companies in houston area that provides training? Since I do not have teachnical background, It'd be better if I can find a non-technical trainings ( Business analyst, clinical reasearch etc). Please let me know. April is almost here, so please help me out!!

Thanks.

Hi shyamala,

We came to US by October 2007, My husband has come thru a consultant who is based in washington. Intially during the process he appeared to be very nice, but Our problems started when we landed in US . The consultant was not able to get any interviews for my husband till dec 2007. He used to give so many excuses saying Recession is going on, and the market is not at all good and various other reason.

Frankly it was the toughest period on us, and finally when he managed to get a project for my husband, suddenly one day he came out with a mail saying he will be paying us less than what he had commited, since he got this project with great difficulty and he has spend huge money on arranging for the interviews and all. It was a big shock for us and We were very depressed and had to accept whatever he gave since we had no other choice. Our problem didn't end with taht He even tries to grab money from the Overtime allowances which is paid by the client and we have no other choice than to keep quiet.And we had so much problems with medical Insuarnce which he had promised us to give.

So my Advice would be , PLEASE make sure of the Consultant and if possible try to get some contacts in the city where u r going to relocate. Otherwise its quite tough in America. I am not discouraging u my friend .... but i don't want anybody to go thru all the pain which we had gone thru.

And one more thing , even if u decide to reloacte to US make sure u have suffiecnt fund Balance with u , coz intially it takes atleast 4 - 5 mths to get settled and start a normal living here.

Hope this info is useful to u.

cheers
vaidehi