Symon

Hi, I have 15 years experience as a software developer/architect. I'm
42 (arrgh)
I really hate admitting that :-)
My question is this:
Rather than dick around trying to find an H1B sponsor maybe it would
be better to just take a 'scouting trip' to the US for a few weeks and
try to pick something up that way?
Any ideas from any of you guys??

L D Jones

Symon wrote:
    >
    > Hi, I have 15 years experience as a software developer/architect. I'm
    > 42 (arrgh)
    > I really hate admitting that :-)
    > My question is this:
    > Rather than dick around trying to find an H1B sponsor maybe it would
    > be better to just take a 'scouting trip' to the US for a few weeks and
    > try to pick something up that way?
    > Any ideas from any of you guys??

If you enter on the visa waiver program you cannot legally work. Even if
you manage to "pick something up" you would still need the work visa

Ben

I wouldn't even try this if I was you.

Try other means like Monster board or computer people international.

shaggy

What you're suggesting is completely illegal. If the INS discovered that you were looking for a job while here on a visitor's visa, you could be subject to immediate deportation and a mandatory ban---especially in the current enforcement-minded climate. These guys are not messing around any more.

Even if you found an employer willing to sponsor you, you could still not file for adjustment of status from a visa waiver. You would have to return to your home country while the H-1B is processed. However, with the U.S. tech industry in the awful state it's in right now, I wouldn't be too hopeful. Every day, there are stories of hundreds more layoffs in technology, and the only reasons companies are using H-1Bs now is either to get away with paying lower salaries than they would pay American workers, or because the candidate has truly exceptional skills (and when I say exceptional, I mean it in the respect that no American could perform the job).

One of my best friends was laid off from Cisco last year. He is a senior software engineer/project manager, has a Ph.D in CS, and worked for 25 years for HP/Compaq and IBM before he took on a senior role for Cisco's security architecture team. He has not been able to find another job since, and can't even get contract work. That's how bad things are right now.

From what I am hearing, the place to be right now in the tech industry is continental Europe, where there is still a skills shortage and salaries remain high. But the U.S. is unfortunately overburdened with unemployed tech workers; many of whom jumped on the bandwagon in the 90s and fell off when the bubble burst, and others who have been in the industry for many years yet cannot compete with the armies of college kids who are hungry, willing to work for low salaries and to whom the latest technologies are second nature. The bottom line is that most major companies got burned so badly in the late 1990s by overspending on technology that very little money is being invested in I.T. any more.

However, you should check out the Monster board anyway, and you might get lucky. But please don't try looking for a job while on a tourist visa---it isn't worth the risk. All it takes is for one conscientious potential employer to phone the INS, and you will be in deep trouble. You may have been able to get away with it once, but as I said, these immigration guys are not dicking around any more.

Joachim Feise

shaggy wrote:
    > What you're suggesting is completely illegal. If the INS discovered
    > that you were looking for a job while here on a visitor's visa, you
    > could be subject to immediate deportation and a mandatory
    > ban

AFAIK, not entirely true. On a tourist visa or visa waiver you are supposed
to be a visitor for pleasure, and looking for a job would in fact be
incompatible with that. But as a B1 visitor for business, I think
it would be permissible.

    > Even if you found an employer willing to sponsor you, you could still
    > not file for adjustment of status from a visa waiver. You would have to
    > return to your home country while the H-1B is processed.

Please get your terminology right. Adjustment of status has to do with
becoming a Permanent Resident.
What you are talking about is change of status. You are asuming that the
OP would use a visa waiver. It is in fact not possible to file for a change
of status from a visa waiver, but it is possible if a person is in B1 or
B2 status. There still could be issues with INS since you are not supposed
to have the intent to change status when you originally entered.

-Joe

shaggy

I remember this from when I used to visit the US on business. A B1 or B2 is notoriously difficult to get in Visa Waiver countries. You can sometimes get one for an extended business trip if you can prove that you will be working for a company and you have concrete ties in your home country. If you (actually, it would normally be your employer) can convince the DoS of this, then yes, there is nothing to stop you from looking for a job while on your "business trip".

But to get a B visa as a visitor from a VW country is almost impossible unless, for whatever reason, you do not qualify to use the visa waiver (i.e. if you have previously overstayed). The first thing they ask when you apply for a B1/B2 is "reason for your visit". Applying for one of these visas from a visa waiver country immediately generates suspicion. If you say you are coming to the States to look for work, you won't get any further. If you lie to them, that will almost certainly come back to bite you later when they find out that you were looking for work.

This is why I presumed we were talking about a visa waiver, and I apologize for getting my terminology wrong. You are correct---I did mean change of status, and not adjustment. But the principle is exactly the same in this scenario.