* you can apply even now. there is NO limit on the number of applications to be recd by USCIS. Only, if there are more eligible applicants than the limit, there will be a lottery.
* there are consulting companies which specialize in visa workers. talk to them find out whether they can sponsor you. However, if you are not working on the speciality/project that you get your visa approved for, you may be violating the visa conditions.
* approach a attorney specializing in immigration and work visas. the fees are upward of $2500 for the entire process.
* you cannot get visa as a self-employed person. The application has to be sponsored by an existing US company. Sometimes you are even asked to produce tax returns of the sponsoring company for last 2-3 years, if the visa officer suspects you are self-employed etc.,
* you get to know the decision on your application some time b'n july and october.
* if approved, your visa will be valid from oct 14.
You could get an E2 visa and be self employed. You need to have funds invested in the start-up usually more than $50,000.
However, with Walsh and Pollard, (20 I. & N. Dec. 60, 63 (BIA 1988)), the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) held that substantial investment of $15,000 was sufficient.
An E2 visa has no route to a green card and usually needs renewed every two years.
You best bet would be to find employment in the US and have them sponsor your visa/GC.
I believe, in those cases, you also need to have a business plan that says you are going to hire a lot of Americans relatively quickly.
You also need to look like a business in the eyes of the law -- this means getting real office space and whatnot. So you can't plan on a super-lean ramen-profitability period.
Is that for the H1-B visa? Just to clarify: If a company wants to hire me on an H1-B visa starting Oct. 14 it is still possible and will cost upward of $2500 for the entire process?
The $2500 is what I know to be the fees my attorney charged my company for the whole process.YMMV. Some companies, esp those "specializing" in visa workers might ask you to bear the cost.
This year the stampede to file the application is less because of the weak economy. Finding a sponsor is a tougher task here.
If you can manage to find a employer/sponsor + you have good credentials(which you might have, given your UCB pedigree), you have a good chance of landing the visa this year.
> Some companies, esp those "specializing" in visa workers might ask you to bear the cost.
This is highly illegal. Don't do this. Don't go through all these shady "consulting" sweat shops. My suggestion is to look for jobs at non-profit institutions such as national labs, hospitals/medical centers (Mayo Clinic etc.)/university medical centers, universities (all state universities), university owned research labs (like ARUP etc.). They will sponsor your H1B (Non-Profit) which has NO quota. Search for more on this.(There's H1B Profit and H1B Non-Profit)
If you're really that desperate, search for jobs at the above entities that are based in the mid-west and south. They need a lot of smart people but not everyone's willing to move to their shitty place. Your immediate goal is to survive in the States as a legal non-resident so don't be too picky on Alabama and the bible belt.
It's not completely illegal, there are some costs associated with an H1B application that it is legal for the employee to pay. Just not the entire cost.
USCIS requires H1B petitions filed for an employee to be paid by the petitioner (employer). All those shady sweat shops who used to take poor Joe Schmoes' money for filing got raided big time in NJ and other areas.
my understanding was that if you have an H1b, it is /only/ okay to work for the company that the H1B is for; so it'd be illegal to work on your own stuff (unless your own company got you the H1b)
* there are no dirty tricks and short cuts, IMO.
* you can apply even now. there is NO limit on the number of applications to be recd by USCIS. Only, if there are more eligible applicants than the limit, there will be a lottery.
* there are consulting companies which specialize in visa workers. talk to them find out whether they can sponsor you. However, if you are not working on the speciality/project that you get your visa approved for, you may be violating the visa conditions.
* approach a attorney specializing in immigration and work visas. the fees are upward of $2500 for the entire process.
* you cannot get visa as a self-employed person. The application has to be sponsored by an existing US company. Sometimes you are even asked to produce tax returns of the sponsoring company for last 2-3 years, if the visa officer suspects you are self-employed etc.,
* you get to know the decision on your application some time b'n july and october. * if approved, your visa will be valid from oct 14.