About 60% of all H-1B visa professionals are being grabbed up by only 20 companies. How do you get in on the action? Try these shortcuts around the red tape   By Julia King   No Time Like the Present   For companies that aren't already targeting H-1B visa candidates, it may be too late The government has yet to decide whether thousands of extra H-1B visas mistakenly issued in fiscal 1999 will be deducted from this year's quota of 115,000. But assuming that they are and that the number of new applications keeps pace with previous years, experts predict that the cap could be reached as early as February a full eight months short of the end of the fiscal year. This includes the estimated 20,000 visas that the INS approved last year but couldn't issue because it already had reached the 1999 limit in April. This makes starting the process early all the more critical. "Advanced planning is the key," says Julie Emerick, a Chicago-based immigration attorney. "I have companies project how many software engineers they'll need for the entire year and file labor condition applications not for just one position, but for 10 engineers." Other experts recommend that companies apply now for H-1B visas for those workers they want to retain but who are now working under F-1 visas. These are one-year visas granted to foreign students who graduated from U.S. universities. "Before, we may have waited for an F-1 visa to almost expire," said Suzy Nisbet, human resources manager at SAS Institute in Cary, N.C. "But now, we're filing almost immediately because we don't know when the cap will hit." Julia King November 8, 1999     Between now and next October, 115,000 new foreign workers are expected to enter the U.S. to work on H-1B employment visas. At least six out of every 10 will probably head to high-tech companies, which currently remain critically short of skilled IT workers. On the surface, the process of securing an H-1B visa for a prospective employee from abroad is pretty straightforward. After finding a foreign national candidate for a specific job, an employer certifies it will pay the worker the prevailing U.S. wage. The company then files an H-1B visa application with the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), which is supposed to take between 30 and 45 days to review and either approve or reject the visa request. That's on the surface. But dig just a little deeper and plenty of logistical complexities begin to emerge. First is beating out the thousands of other U.S. employers that also are looking to obtain visas for foreign workers. Compound that with the fact that about 60% of H-1B candidates are hired by just 20 companies that have lots of experience doing this. What are your odds for getting in on this action? Well, the visa cap for fiscal 2000, which ends Sept. 30, 2000, is 115,000 for all workers, including much-needed information technology professionals. But last year, when the cap was also 115,000, the visas ran out by April 9. The year before that, a cap of 65,000 was met by May (see related article above). Making matters worse this year are reported computer system problems at the INS, which the agency says may have caused it to mistakenly issue as many as 20,000 more H-1B visas than it should have for fiscal 1999. Whether the overage will be deducted from this year's quota is still unknown [Page One, Oct. 11]. The months ahead will likely bring more of the same problems, experts say. "They are definitely going to run out [of available visas], especially if they count the screwed-up visas granted last year to the cap for fiscal 2000," says Carl Shusterman, an immigration attorney in Los Angeles. That makes filing a complete and accurate application the first time around all the more critical, experts say. Companies can't afford to lose days, weeks and even months going back and forth among job candidates, attorneys and the INS for information. "INS says processing time is between 30 and 45 days once they get an application, but now they are running very, very behind schedule. It's taking two times that amount of time," says Suzy Nisbet, human resources manager at SAS Institute Inc., a software firm in Cary, N.C. Top 20 Companies Employing H-1B Workers 1. Mastech Corp. 2. Tata Consultancy Services 3. Computer People 4. Oracle Corp. 5. PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP 6. Lucent Technologies Inc. 7. Motorola Inc. 8. Syntel Inc. 9. Intelligroup 10. Comsys Technical Services 11. Deloitte & Touche LLP 12. KPMG Peat Marwick LLP 13. Cisco Systems Inc. 14. Keane Inc. 15. Ernst & Young LLP 16. Intel Corp. 17. SAI Software Consultants Inc. 18. Indotronix International 19. Complete Business Solutions Inc. 20. Computer Horizons Corp. Together, these firms account for approximately 60% of all H-1B visas applied for and approved in fiscal 1998 (ended Oct. 1, 1998, which is the most recent data available) Source: U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Services, Washington

• Determining the prevailing wage for a specific job.
• Obtaining a labor condition certification from the Department of Labor.
• Filing a petition for a non-immigrant worker with the INS.

Here are some tips for speeding the process along:

Use the Department of Labor's fax-back system to obtain a labor condition application.

After countless hassles and snafus, several attorneys report that this system seems to be working and that it's the fastest way to obtain a labor condition application, which is a prerequisite to petitioning the INS for an H-1B. The Web-based form is filled out online and sent back electronically by the attorney or employer, who must certify that the candidate will be paid the prevailing wage for his work at the U.S. company. What's faxed back is a computer-coded H-1B application, which will be filed with the INS. Several

attorneys, including Julie Emerick, a Chicago-based immigration attorney, report receiving the H-1B application back in less than a week, compared with several weeks or longer previously.

Apply for H-1B visas only on behalf of candidates who can easily pass the INS's education and experience requirements.

H-1B candidates must have at least the equivalent of a U.S.-issued bachelor's degree in computer science or a closely related field. At SAS, Nisbet says the company looks for a degree plus at least six months of experience. For an accurate comparison, she also suggests obtaining English translations of all of a candidate's credentials, including academic records, diplomas, degrees and transcripts.

Substitute previous job experience for qualified candidates lacking academic degrees.

The INS allows three years of professional experience to compensate for each year of university-level studies. "If a candidate has six years of work experience, it could translate into two years of college," says Shusterman. But the INS is looking for highly detailed and specific information. "They don't want to see a two-line letter stating that 'Joe Smith was here for three years and we were very pleased with his performance,' " Shusterman notes. Instead, the documentation should include full descriptions of the kinds of projects on which the candidate worked, what computer programming languages he used, whom the candidate reported to, how much the candidate was paid and how the projects fit into the previous company's overall business.