FEWER L1 VISAS BEING APPROVED

This is especially true for L1 visas for intra-company transfers.

In 2011, approvals for L1 visas were 28% lower, show data from independent public policy think tank National Foundation for American Policy. On the other hand, such visa approvals rose by 15% for applicants from the rest of the world, leading to concerns that India is being singled out for discrimination.

More than 25,000 Indians travel to the US every year to work on assignments for software companies. Up to 40% of work permits are usually under the L1 category.

Most people in the software industry believe there is a deliberate policy of discrimination against Indians, but they are wary of voicing their opinions publicly for fear of antagonising the American government, especially when a presidential campaign is on and unemployment is a major theme. Infosys, HCL, TCS and Wipro declined to comment for this report.

Software industry grouping Nasscom said it is "working with" the Indian government and US authorities on the issue of rising visa rejection rates. "While some part of the work gets contracted, some IT firms are now focusing on hiring locals for domain-specific work in the US," said Ameet Nivsarkar, Nasscom's vice-president.

In mid-2010, when the US increased the fee for some types of work visas used by Indian outsourcers, Nasscom had estimated the additional cost burden on Indian IT industry at up to $250 million.

But not everyone is complaining about the turn of events. At staffing firm TeamLease, where over 70,000 employees work on contracted projects for various companies, revenue soared 30% last year due to the increase in subcontracting. Similarly, at Ikya Human Capital Solutions, another global staffing firm, demand from Indian IT firms for subcontracting work in the US rose 8-10% in the past six months.

"Any change in the economic conditions first reflects in the staffing industry. We are a springboard in good times and a shock-board in bad times," said Ashok Reddy, managing director and co-founder of TeamLease.

Source: Economic Times

H-1B Visa Petition Process To Get Cheaper

An electronic registration system for H-1B work visa, the most sought after by India's IT professionals, could save American businesses more than $23 million over the next 10 years, a top US immigration agency has said.

To be published on Thursday, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) proposes to establish an advance registration process for US employers seeking to file H-1B petitions for foreign workers in specialty occupations.

The proposed electronic system would minimise administrative burdens and expenses related to the H-1B petition process including reducing the need for employers to submit petitions for which visas would not be available under the statutory visa cap, USCIS said.

"The proposed rule would create a more efficient and cost-effective process for businesses interested in bringing workers in specialty occupations to the United States," said USCIS Director Alejandro Mayorkas.

Improving the H-1B petition process is part of USCIS's ongoing efforts to leverage new ideas and innovation to streamline our operations and enhance customer service, he said.

Under the proposed rule, employers seeking to petition for H-1B workers subject to the statutory cap would register electronically with USCIS, a process that would take an estimated 30 minutes to complete.

Before the petition filing period begins, USCIS would select the number of registrations predicted to exhaust all available visas. Employers would then file petitions only for the selected registrations.

"The registration system would save employers the effort and expense of filing H-1B petitions, as well as Labor Condition Applications, for workers who would be unable to obtain visas under the statutory cap," the press release said.

The US had recently hiked visa fees in certain categories of H1B and L1, mainly used by Indian software professionals, to fund security measures along the US-Mexico border.(PTI)

Hyderabad To Newyork In 2 Hours Flight

How will it be if you can reach Delhi from Hyderabad in just 15 minutes? And how it will be is you can fly between Hyderabad and New York in 2 hours nonstop? Well, this might sound impossible but then this impossible is likely to become possible and the credit for that goes to NASA. If you are wondering what this is all about, here is the story.

Research is on in NASA to come up with a hypersonic plane that can travel 5 times faster than the speed of sound. Reports say that about three years will be spent in research and the technology will be scram jet powered. Usually, the speed of sound is 1035 km/hr so with the new hypersonic jet, one can travel from Mumbai to Delhi in just 14 minutes.

On an international level, the journey from Sydney to New York will be 1.5 hours. Sources reveal that about 24 crores is spent per year on the research and for now, they are facing hiccups in the engine design and fuel. The length of the jet is likely to be 12 feet in length, 5feet in width and weight is approximately 1300 kgs.

An aircraft will go upto 40000 feet and from there, the hypersonic jet would be dropped and then it flies. For starters, the first phase will have unmanned jets and after the desired results, passenger flying will take place. It is heard that the hypersonic jet is being prepared with warplane technology. However, inside members say that the main objective of NASA is to use this jet to visit the Mars planet and examine the possibility of existence of life there. Get ready for the new age aircraft folks.

Indian Government became online

http://www.india.gov.in/

Anti-outsourcing bill blocked in US senate

Wed, Sep 29 07:49 AM

Lalit K Jha Washington, Sep 29 (PTI) Senate Republicans successfully blocked the passage of an anti-offshoring bill that would have denied tax breaks to US companies which move jobs overseas. Republicans in a 53-45 vote prevented the bill from overcoming a filibuster.

At least 60 votes were needed to overcome the Opposition''s obstruction. As per the bill, there will be a ban on government contractors from using American taxpayers'' money to move jobs offshore.

What is seen as an electoral populist move, the Creating American Jobs and End Offshoring Act aims at small manufacturers and included a payroll tax exemption for firms that move jobs to US, but the bill also contains provisions to prevent businesses from deferring US taxes on the income they make from foreign subsidiaries. Indian IT honchos had said the bill won''t make much of an impact on India.

However, they warned that US companies operating in other countries may be beaten by the same stick. Several business groups such as the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) were strongly opposed to the legislation.

It had sent a letter to senators arguing the measure would make US corporations less competitive and hurt job creation. Terming the bill as an election gimmick, Republican senator Orrin Hatch slammed the Democrats for their "height of irresponsibility" that would put the US economy at "greater risk.

" "Desperate times call for desperate measures and the majority is showing how desperate they are with a bill that increases the tax burden on job creators and ship much-needed US jobs overseas." Hatch feared that "raising taxes on companies'' overseas profits will just incentivize them to move their domestic facilities to another country.

That is not the prescription that will cure our ailing economy." More PTI LKJ.

Analysis of New Logo of Indian currency

New logo of Indian currency will going to be strengthening the Indian economy says Randheer Kumar, International Renowned Graphologist, Consultant AMR group

A company logo represents the corporate identity of a business enterprise. It is very important that the logo should have balanced shape and colours. Logos not only leaves good impression to others, but also promotes the stability and strength of the company.

Many of them are not aware that a good logo can make or break of the company. A logo is the Face and actual force for any business. Logo shows actually a positive source of encouragement - it is like a goal to strive for.

Logo’s are all about curves, circles and straight lines, if we look at our new logo of Indian Currency,

Two parallel lines at top indicate, developing great inner strength, self sufficient to be independent to handle the economic situation. At the same time two parallel lines also reveals all the imports from anywhere in the world is going to be expensive it could be petrol or furniture we need to pay more. The semi circle in the letter ‘R’ clearly indicates that soon India is going to attract entire global INTEREST for investment, in no time India will be a hub for investment activity. It will not only strengthen the Indian economy, but also its going to be investors paradise.. Line passing from the curve at times gives challenges and stress to government but finally it will going to come out with flying colours.

As we understand our new currency logo will going to be Indian Tricolour, Orange, white and Green is perfect combination. The Safron colour reveals about enthusiasm, friendliness, cheerful, balance, whereas white reveals about a symbol of purity, self respect and pride. Needless to say Green speaks about growth of our economy.

According to Mr. Randheer, New Indian currency logo will bring is going to bring fortunes for India. As per Dr. Randheer, the logo is the identity of your company or nation. You must treat your logo as the spokesperson for your business. Dr Ranadheer’s Shape of the logo will talk about the performance; Colours will talk about the life of the organization.

Dr Ranadher also states that the origin of logos from the ancient times. In ancient time, mariners curved their warships with mythical figures to show of their military might sculptured faces with intimidating features to scare off the enemy and designed flags to present themselves and boost morale.

Dr Randheer is International well known Graphologist and logo expert and working as Consultant in AMR Group.

Only 800 H1B Visas Left for FY 2010

As of December 15, 2009, approximately 64,200 H-1B cap-subject petitions had been filed. USCIS has approved sufficient H-1B petitions for aliens with advanced degrees to meet the exemption of 20,000 from the fiscal year 2010 cap.

Looks like remaining 800 will be gone in another few days. Its already Dec 17, 2009, most likely next update from USCIS will say H1B Cap for 2010 is full.