How H-1B Visa holder should handle a layoff in USA?

The INS law's contradictory interpretation at times has seen ripples of worries in the minds of people with technical jobs. This article tells you about the possible steps of action when you have been laid off.
A hand at understanding the law would help one visualize the true picture. The confusion originates from the regulation (8 C.F.R. ?214.2(h)(13)(I)(A)):
"A beneficiary shall be admitted to the United States for the validity period of the petition, plus a period of up to 10 days before the validity period begins and 10 days after the validity period ends. The beneficiary may not work except during the validity period of the petition."
The mentioned regulation has been interpreted as that a laid off worker can apply for a new job in ten days or else would be deported. But the truth is that the regulation is applicable only for those H-1B workers who have to leave the U.S., but does not affect the case of workers who change employers or are with non-immigrant status.
The laid off H-1B worker is allowed to request to change his status to some other non-immigrant category if his H-1B petition has not been revoked. This can be done even while he is seeking employment at other firms. The law does not define the time that a laid off H-1B worker may stay for while seeking a new job. INS officials suggest submitting the same within 30-60 days but those are mere suggestions, and have no correlation with the law.
The new employer of the worker submits an H-1B petition to the INS requesting a change of employers when the same happens. It is advisable to act wisely by asking the employer to submit the application without wasting a moment when an offer of employment is made.
The H-1B worker can begin work with the employer under AC-21, in accordance with the H-1B cap law enacted during October 2000, once the H-1B transfer petition has been submitted to the INS. The same can be approved or else, H-1B petition approved but the application for changing employer in US denied if the INS feels that the layoff period was a little extra long. Issue of a Notice of Approval that allows the worker to leave the U.S. and apply again, for a new H-1B visa from some other country follows the second case. Another scenario is when the old H-1B visa's expiry is still due. Then, the worker can travel abroad and return using the same H-1B visa and the actual Notice of Approval (form I-797) issued for the newer H-1B petition which was approved.
On failure to obtain another employment quickly, application may be filed and status changed from H-1B to either a business visitor (B-1) or a tourist (B-2) while the worker searches a job. On getting the job, the new employer can get the status changed to H-1B again.
The dilemma associated with the layoff law does not end with it and another special case exists for the laid off/terminated workers who are already beneficiaries of a visa petition for an approved employment. The new employer should submit an RIR labor certification and an EB visa petition for him so that the worker can use the previously approved priority date.
In case of a laid-off/terminated worker with an EAD, job loss does not affect the validity of the EAD and he can work for a new employer immediately but the employer, again, needs to submit the RIR labor certification along with a visa petition for him urgently. But the denial of the application for adjustment of status invalidates the EAD.
A key point to remember is that the applications to adjust the status of persons with allowed EB petitions take a few months for processing. But a new labor certification's and visa petition's approval might not be possible unless the adjudication of the application filed for adjusting the status. Then, the worker's employer should file another H-1B petition despite he still having an EAD. The same rules as when the worker?s H-1B petition was approved but change of employer application rejected holds in this case.
When the application to adjust the status is pending for more than 180 days before the lay off, the worker, if chooses a similar new job or occupation, may switch jobs without affecting his application for the green card.
This detailed write up should have cleared all the incorrect notions regarding the time at hand for a laid-off or terminated H-1B worker. So, the laid off worker can act on the following plan in such a situation.
? Apply for a status change to B1/B2 within 30 days of layoff to stay legal and back your application with an itinerary plan and financial proof in the form of bank statement to support your stay. The itinerary should disclose your intentions as to leave US when B1/B2 status ends. A letter from your lawyer mentioning the necessity to stay to manage your responsibilities (both financial and material ) before leaving should also be provided to support your application.
? Search a new employer and once found, ask him to follow the already mentioned details.
The second part of the plan of action is to hold a grip of yourself as you look for a new job. The search should be determined and disciplined and at times, also with a humorous sense. A few points to note are mentioned below.
? Update your resume regularly even when employed securely. Use verbs which symbolize action and keywords and mention all new skills gained.
? Display your skills in the form of material achievements for the employer. Example might be cost cutting by USD X through automation of delivery system to deposit directly.
? Do not fluff up the resume with experience of skills that you cannot defend or justify. The interview is a chance to prove your understanding of the industry and the implementation of specific processes and operations as desired by the to-be employer.
? Use networking to get referrals from friends in companies and extend your network beyond the employer by seeking contacts of recruiters and/or HR personnel. You become a known commodity to the company when a friend refers you in his working environment and you have a better opportunity to impress the employer.
? Develop new skills and add knowledge to the existing ones. Use the internet to know about newer skills in your field of work.
? Pray to God for being knowledgeable, clear and fluent during rounds of interviews instead of worrying in your cubicle.
? Make a good impression in the interview when selected. Do not just be professional but also personable. Recruiters prefer employees with good personality who can talk about various aspects of lives other than their technical skills. The length of your answers does not matter but be sure; they are meaningful and try asking sensible and relevant questions in the end.
? Avoid depression and tension and try elevating your mood with good company of friends and relatives who might have been avoided so far due to job demands or other deployment problems.
? If you want to move back to your country to use your skills and work closer to family and/or friends, consider doing that. You were here for moving ahead in career after completing your education; decide what you want to do in life.
Anyways, keep faith in God and hard work. The best will happen and fate would ensure success as long as it can last.

:Gus Taperman

Arnold Schwarzenegger Returning to Acting?

Nope, this isn’t some horrible joke that I’m pulling on you faithful movie blog readers. There has been a lot of talk recently about how the biggest action star in the world turned governor may be returning to the big screen in 2011.
Moviehole gives us this:
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the ageing Mr. Freeze has been inspired by buddies and fellow 80s action heroes Sylvester Stallone and Bruce Willis’s recent reign at the box office to whack his junk back up there on the white screen behind the red curtains.
According to the article, Schwarzenegger would possibly return to work in 2011.“A few high-profile writers of action films who wished not to be ID’d (you know how that is) were heard conferring that before the strike hit, agents were putting out feelers for material and pitches to develop projects with Schwarzenegger in mind”, says columnist Ray Richmond. “
Hmm…as tacky as I think it is for him possibly go back and to try to resurrect his film career after he’s become a successful politician, I am also hoping this news is true, because there have been sequels I have been dying to see since his retirement to film. I want to see ‘True Lies 2!’ Also, with this news, could he possibly be returning to the ‘Terminator’ series as well?
If Sly Stallone can resurrect his action star status, then Arnold Schwarzenegger can definitely do the same!
So what are your thoughts? Are you looking forward to the day you can hear Schwarzenegger utter the words, ‘I’ll be back?”

Yves Saint Laurent, legendary designer and Pied Piper of fashion, dies aged 71!

Yves Saint Laurent, deemed by many to be the last of the great 20th century French designers and the founder of modern fashion for women, died at his Paris home last night after a long illness, aged 71.
His death was announced by Pierre Bergé, his business partner from when the two launched the famous brand in 1962, through to Saint Laurent's retirement in 2002 and his almost wholly reclusive later life. "Gabrielle Chanel gave women freedom. Yves Saint Laurent gave them power," Bergé told France Info radio. "Like all creators, Yves Saint Laurent had two faces, a public face and a private face."

Secret messages could be hidden in net phone calls!!

THE next time your internet (VoIP) phone call sounds a bit fuzzy, it might not be your ISP that's to blame. Someone could be trying to squeeze a secret message between the packets of data carrying the caller's voice.
Wojciech Mazurczyk and Krzysztof Szczypiorski, information scientists at the Institute of Telecommunications in Warsaw, Poland, revealed last week that they are developing a "steganographic" system for VoIP networks (www.arxiv.org/abs/0805.2938). Steganography is the art of hiding messages by embedding them in ordinary communications. For example, a message can be encoded as a string of numbers which are used to modify the brightness and colour of an image. The effect is too subtle to be noticed by unwitting observers but the message can be deciphered with appropriate software by anyone who knows it's there.

Birth pangs for the 'semantic web' 31 May 2008 !

BY THE time the web began to be widely used, around a decade ago, its inventor was already working on a more ambitious plan. Tim Berners-Lee was imagining the ultimate "mash-up": a web in which any sort of data - from train timetables to scientific papers - could be seamlessly combined. The days of trawling through results from search engines would be over. Instead, browsers would navigate in search of answers, not web pages.
Although many still doubt this so-called "semantic web" will take off, the first concrete steps have recently been taken. Over the past year, several large data sources, most notably Wikipedia, have been converted into formats that make them easier to combine. Software that integrates these data sources is also being developed. The results are not yet user-friendly, but the semantic web, so long in gestation, may finally be coming into being.

Call on ‘bomb at Taj’ proves to be a hoax !!!

(LUCKNOW)

A phone call from Madurai to a resident of a village in Agra district asking whether a bomb has been planted in the Taj Mahal caused a flutter in the Uttar Pradesh police circles. Security forces, including the Central Industrial Security Force, deployed at the Taj, were put on alert.
The Tamil Nadu Director-General of Police was informed about the call by the Senior Superintendent of Police, Agra.
Additional Director-General of Police (Law and Order) Brij Lal said the phone call was received on the cellular phone of Kalyan Singh, resident of Lightpura ki Khaar village under the Dauki police station area in Agra district, at 9 a.m.
The caller said he had planted a bomb in Tamil Nadu (the location was not disclosed) and wanted to know whether “he” had planted a bomb in the Taj Mahal.
When Mr. Singh wanted to know who was speaking, the caller disconnected saying “Sorry.”
Mr. Lal said investigations showed that the call was made from a PCO in Madurai.

Yet another Spielberg special - Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Harrison Ford&Shia LaBeouf: A still from ‘Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull’.
Film: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Director: Steven Spielberg
This one comes soaked in the colours of nostalgia. The first of the series came a little under 30 years ago. Life was young and dreams innocent.
In the intervening years, we might have forfeited our right to easy wonderment, but director Steven Spielberg revives those boyhood dreams, dusted and daring. The fourth in the Indiana Jones series does not so much feed off the past as it borrows. Par tially with the idea of reviving fading memory, partially to fill in the details, Spielberg keeps a good thing going here. The film comes packed with all the reference points. Elements in place
Harrison Ford is 60-something and is up to something clearly big here. All the identifiable elements are in place: When he turned up the last time, the world was on the verge of a war and the villains did not have a hiding place in the irrepressible hero’s noble search. Now, Jones does more of the same: the world is still in danger! Our man has to tackle the challenges afresh: this time there is a threat of nuclear annihilation. And there is that crystal you just cannot look in the eye. That needs to be protected. A bit far fetched?
Yes, but when was simple logic a part of the Indiana Jones curriculum? Add the usual clichés of painted tribals seeking to kill, KGB on a roll, the FBI in hot pursuit, and you have the body of the new film ready.Emotional sub-plot
Soul? That comes from a little emotional sub-plot of a long forgotten wife and a son the father did not know he had. It is this addition that adds real value to the film: the parting shot where the son is about to put on the hat of the ageless hero gives us hope that, maybe, he might just take over. Not to be though.
Fine with flesh and soul. But what about the kiss of life? Well, that comes, as it inevitably does in a Spielberg film, from the special effects, the action sequences. The waterfall chase is spell-binding; the attack of the ants evokes a puking feeling. Just as it is supposed to. Then the jeep chases, the hanging of men and women by the branches of the tree…all expected, still delightful in their own ways.
In some ways, the film is a throwback to the times when films carried a bit of everything.
In some ways, the latest version has some concessions to the wheel of time. Our hero has aged and is not uncomfortable with his age-lines. And his weapons of destruction – or is it defence – are more sophisticated.
Among the less heavy films of the famous director, ‘Crystal Skull’ is not as mesmerising as say ‘The Temple of Doom’ or ‘The Last Crusade’. It cannot be. Also, it does not need to be. But you would still like it.
All that the cinemagoers are required to do here is to carry the eye of an archaeologist, the heart of a young boy; and the uncomplaining attitude of the layman. A light film for a breezy weekend.