Immigrants behind 25 percent of startups - BusinessWeek

Foreign-born entrepreneurs were behind one in four U.S. technology startups over the past decade, according to this study by Duke University and UC Berkeley. BusinessWeek further reports from the study that immigrant entrepreneurs' companies employed 450,000 workers and generated $52 billion in sales in 2005, according to the survey. Their contributions to corporate coffers, employment and U.S. competitiveness in the global technology sector offer a counterpoint to the recent political debate over immigration and the economy, which largely centers on unskilled, illegal workers in low-wage jobs.

One of the study's biggest surprises was the extent to which Indians led the entrepreneurial pack. Of an estimated 7,300 U.S. tech startups founded by immigrants, 26 percent have Indian founders, CEOs, presidents or head researchers, the study found. Indian immigrants founded more tech startups from 1995 to 2005 than people from the four next biggest sources -- United Kingdom, China, Taiwan and Japan -- combined.

Without permanent citizenship, inventors are more likely to take valuable intellectual property elsewhere -- and U.S. companies would have to compete with them, Wadhwa said. "The bottom line is: Why aren't these people citizens?" Wadhwa said. "We're giving away the keys to the kingdom. This is a big, big deal once you figure out what this means for U.S. competitiveness."

Agriculture workers get preference over high skilled workers

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), who has been relentlessly pushing the AgJobs bill since the CIR days, has introduced her puppy in the 110th Congress by itself. The bill plans to provide the previous illegals the Blue Card status for two periods of three years each. The Senate passed CIR bill of 2006 had these provisions in them and now they can't even wait for the bill to be re-introduced this year. Sounds a little surprising right? Well then here is the alarming part. Quietly worded in painstaking detail in the bill are provisions for their spouses to work too. This is an outright slap in the face of H-1B workers. Their spouses cannot work even if they have a Master's degree. Yet, spouses of former illegal aliens can now work legally? I'm not against their spouses working but does it sound fair on the thousands of spouses here legally on H4 visas?

The lack of legal work privileges for spouses of the skilled workers is why you see a majority of unmarried younger individuals on H-1B visas. Younger workers generally have lesser experience. Lesser experience means lesser starting salaries. This would then appear as if foreign workers are working for lesser pay than Americans. The anti-H1 groups then use this statistic to point out why they should restrict or stop the H1 visa program. This then causes the law makers to be extremely careful when enacting legislation, to not give too much away to the H1 workers. Not enabling spouses to work is one such restriction to prevent too many American jobs going to foreigners. Doesn't seem fair right? But that's how it is!

February 2007 Visa Bulletin

Every month around the 15th day, the U.S. Dept. of State, releases the visa bulletin which lists who can avail of a visa number next month to adjust status to permanent residency. This bulletin breaks down the numbers based on the category and also separates out over-subscribed countries from the rest of the world. When you apply for permanent residency you get a case number and a priority date. If your priority date is earlier than the date listed in the visa bulletin for your application category, USCIS will proceed with your case and in most cases you will get your permanent resident card in a few months. Here are the cut-off dates for employment-based permanent residency categories from the February 2007 visa bulletin:

For persons born in India:

Category	Cut-off Date	Movement from previous month
EB1	Current	No change
EB2	08 Jan 2003	No change
EB3	08 May 2001	No change

For persons born in China:

Category	Cut-off Date	Movement from previous month
EB1	Current	No change
EB2	22 Apr 2005	No change
EB3	01 Aug 2002	No change

For persons born in Philippines:

Category	Cut-off Date	Movement from previous month
EB1	Current	No change
EB2	Current	No change
EB3	01 Aug 2002	No change

For persons born in Mexico:

Category	Cut-off Date	Movement from previous month
EB1	Current	No change
EB2	Current	No change
EB3	15 May 2001	No change

For rest of the world:

Category	Cut-off Date	Movement from previous month
EB1	Current	No change
EB2	Current	No change
EB3	01 Aug 2002	No change

Since the past eight months, EB3 India has not advanced beyond May 2001. This is the first visa bulletin in a while where there has been no change in any of the above visa categories. Must have been due to the December vacation month.

Cisco's Grand India Ambitions

Here's the big story of the day and further proof that globalization is forcing companies to change they way they do business.

The networking-equipment maker is shifting 20% of top brass to India, in a bid to set up a global, developing-technology hub on the subcontinent. After 11 years of low-key presence Cisco is now investing $1.1 billion in India in a variety of initiatives. "This is the largest commitment outside of Silicon Valley, as India is important to our global strategy," said John Chambers, Cisco's chairman and chief executive officer.

So what is the reason for this sudden transformation? It appears that they have learnt a lesson or two from their experiences in China.

In China, homegrown rivals like Huawei and Harbour Networks have been grabbing share from Cisco. The other issue is cost. Huawei can compete against Cisco on price because of its cheap talent pool. Facing those pressures, Cisco will find it hard to maintain its high margins unless it develops its own vast force of low-cost engineering talent.

This is an excellent example of how globalization works. While it opens up vast new markets, it also makes the business extremely competetive. There is no way Cisco can compete unless it employs a model similar to its competitors. Closed-door restrictionists will only see one side of this story - Cisco is moving top jobs to India..waah waah, mommy help me!

... Cisco now wants to make India its global hub for developing technologies in routing, software, and network management. It is investing in a manufacturing facility in Chennai in south India, and has roped in global manufacturing partner Foxconn of Taiwan to help out. While Cisco will make specific voice-technology products initially for the Indian market, it will eventually use the facility as a global sourcing base to export high-tech products. To make all of this happen, Cisco is tripling its headcount in India to 6,000 in the next couple of years. The move comes at a time when India is facing a severe dearth of engineers and every big and small information-technology company is on a hiring spree.

All those who made New Year resolutions to changes jobs and move to U.S., think twice, as we will see more top companies shifting top jobs from the U.S. to compete globally.

Disadvantages of not having a green card

A green card(permanent resident card) is not just another DHS document. It has a lot of importance when you travel internationally, open bank accounts, apply for driver's license. A post on ImmigrationVoice summarizes the hassles caused to persons without the green card owing to indifferent government rules.

Transit visa required at many international airports such as London, Paris, Germany. None required if you hold a recent valid U.S. permanent resident card.

Hassles and extra paperwork to open bank accounts, applying for student loans, home mortgages. Many application forms specifically allow U.S. citizens or green card holders only.

Problems with job changes. This is the single biggest disadvantage to not having a green card. One post summarizes this well.

"The biggest disadvantage for us is in our jobs - so many jobs are advertised with a clear mention that they don't support visa. This is not restricted to some mom and pop tech shops even some bigger companies do that. Also in big companies where H1B's are welcomed (like Cisco, Microsoft etc); they dont take you if you have less remaning time on your H1B. I knew a case where a friend of mine was interviewed and offered a very good position in one such reputed companies. The interview/background check process took two/three months at the end of it they realized that the personal have only 1year 4months left on his H1B visa. So they told him they wont take him; reason given is company policy that they need atleast 2 years on your H1B so that they have enough time to sponsor greencard etc. There are so many such instances where we are losing big time on our careers in the peak of our lifes." - nk2006

Driver's license issues. Here it all depends on your luck as one post summarizes it all:

"I have been in different states and this drivers licence rule differ substantially. California / florida strictly goes with your H1b validity date. For H4, it is much more difficult and my wife did not get it in CA but somehow managed ot get it in FL. When I moved to wisconsin, they gave me 3+years over my H1b validity date and also for my wife. The entire DMV process took us 5 mins whereas in FL, we stood in line from morining 3 am till evening 5pm and eventually got appointment for next day. When I asked about this in WI DMV, they said Wisconsin does not follow this and they are not aware of this." - GCBy3000

Missing out on thousands of dollars in savings on federal programs for students.

"My son who is in high school goes for a federal funded summer program every year. he is cursing me now as he cannot claim the $1000 stipend since he doesn't have an SSN(green card)." - GCAmigo

These are the real life hardships that legal residents face when there is no judgment on their application for permanent residency even after years of filing their papers. Many people think that the green card is just a document granting them permanent resident status but the examples above summarize the many real life scenarios where that single card is the difference between a simple and smooth transaction or a stressed out experience involving a lot of time and money.

Happy New Year!

Wishing all of my readers a very happy new year 2007. If you like me are stuck in the legal permanent resident application black hole, I hope this is the year where we see some light.