Hello,
I am a GC working here for last 4.5 years. I would like to shift to USA for working.
How should I proceed?

finding a job in USA would be a good start..
or the greencard-lottery.. ;)

Since I am an Indian, I cannot apply through Greencard lottery.
Please send some good links where I can effectievly search a Job? Is it diificult to get an H1B from Germany?

You don't need to search from Germany, if you want to come to USA. Just contact known Consulting firm, they will sponsor your H1B and they will search job for you. But y do u want to move to USA? Don't feel bad after coming here... hope you never ever have seen HELL,,, u can see in USA in first months until u get ur job!!! This is my personal experience of course lots of people faced this... Rest is upto u. You can see the demand of ur field at www.dice.com.. this is the best site for jobs, u cannot apply from there(don't apply from there and lose one opportunity).. they prefer only local candidates(i mean u should be in USA for immediate availability), so i would suggest u to get H1B in Germany(very easy to get H1B in Germany, counter visa, no many queries).

But my personal opinion is, better stay in Germany. Definitely u don't like USA after being there in Germany. Life style is totally different. Initially 1 to 2 yrs is toomuch struggle until u have good Credit History in USA.

Tips: Before coming to USA, just collect letters from Stadtwerke(power, gas, water) that you have payed bills on time like that, those letters r very useful to avoid deposits to get ur local Electricity. Whatever you are paying there, just get letters from them(with exact dates). Also try to get your Schufa(i think i spelled right!!! it gives ur credit score in Germany).

Srikanth

Hello,

Getting H1B visa from Germany is not so difficult, I have a few friends who have already been to the USA with H1-B Status.

The procedure is simple, Firstly, you have to find good consultant in the USA to process your application for H1-B. There are lot of Indian consultancies in the USA. I guess they will charge some good amount of money (around USD 2000) after that they will start processing your application.

However, as far as I know the quota for the fiscal year 2006 has been already filled. So one cannot really go to the USA on H1B-visa till October 2006.

The application process for Fiscal Year 2007 starts only from April-2006.

Wish u good luck,

Suresh

Hi Srikanth,

Is that the credit rating that makes the life most miserable for new people in USA?

Hallo vsrikanth9,

Can you list addresses of these consultancy firms which sponser h1? I am interested to contact them.

Thanks ahead

I'm living in USA since June and in my opinion there is plenty of jobs here... but of course getting the visa is always the first step.

To have an idea just look in the usual job search engines: Monster.com, Dice.com ans Craigslist.org ... the last one is a source of a lot of interesting resources: From room rentals to cheap furniture, there is something interestng every day!

Nearly by accident I found this advertisement 2 days ago, perhaps it is interesting for you

http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/sof/110547193.html

Regards, Gus

Hello Guys,

Iam also an NE holder, came to germany in 2000, leaving to usa next week on h1b.

I can give you my friends company address who can sponsor the h1b. His website url is : http://www.ucs-us.com/

Definitely for the first one or two years life be tough in usa as srikanth mentioned.

Regards
Rajkumar

Well, the first couple of years may be tough but you have the opportunity to prosper and you will be living in an envoirnment where the word "foreigner" has no meaning. Germany will always be a class society, Germans on one side and foreigners on the other side. That attitude is in German Blood. Just an example I ran into the other day.
A German Software contract programmer is looking for another programmer, that is the company is and he put out the advertisement for that job on the net. It read somthing like: Software Programmer needed with .... qualifications.. MUST be NATIVE GERMAN, no EXCEPTION!!!.
For a moment I was thinking maybe I should apply for the job, since I do speak fairly well german and have the other qualifications and get rejected and follow it up with a nice antidescrimination suit and get the downpayment for a nice vacation house. Well I alerted the guy to it and said here is US not Germany and of course he appoligized and said he meant german culture, you see some never learn it the easy way, it is stuck in their head and in their blood. You think about this, what has software with german culture to do, uhhhhhhhh

Cheers as always

Please send links of some good consultants. Thanks in advance

I found your case really amazing JJ... one thing is to be nationalist, but in this times people have to be practical ;-) and hire the person that can do the job. Imagine if the american companies will hire only american citizens? most will habe to close ;-D

I think that's a great difference between USA and Europe. Here everybody is an immigrant... only the Indian Tribes are really "native american", and ironically they are living in their own reservations not in the cities...

Speaking of immigration to USA, I read today in the papers that there is new boom in immigration , a lot bigger than the great immigration wave of 1910. Now there are 35 million immigrants living here... twice and a half more than in the 1910s

I will look for some URLs about this in Google News...

@GUS,

well, I can tell you from where I live that the economy is going crazy. That is in Silicon Valley, house prices go up every week and there is no shortage of jobs. And of course with the exception of that stupid Germann guy, nobody even thinks where you are coming from, even as a Citizen. In contrast to Germany where they want to exactly know your religion so that they can ripp you off with "Religion Tax" despite the fact that the churches are very wealthy. Hmmm, or ripping you off with "Radio TV Tax" what a joke and nobody complains.

Anyway, the true citizens are the indians and everybody else is an immigrant and "auslaender". A US passport doesn't make you a "citizen". I could go on but I better not. And of course we have some Germans working here too, like Mr. Rumsfeld, his aunts are in Bremen. Here goes the German influence again, not for the better in my opinion.
Maybe Stoiber & Co. are related to him :-)

Cheers and Happy Hollidays

Hi *,

Try to contact some of your friends in USA, and process ur H1B through known Consultant, or just contact RajKumar(he has given some site, he can help u).

Yes, if you do not have good credit history in USA, you need to pay lots of amount towards deposits... like if you want to rent an apartment, you need to put atleast 1 or 2 months deposit and 1 month advance, and for Electricity, Gas, or for any rentals you need to put/give deposit.. Of course everyone has to cross this situation.

How can you build your Credit History in USA...: Do not give ur SSN(Social Security Number) to anyone, unless it is required... many shops will offer credit cards and they say we give 5% or some percent discount if u buy some from their shops.. don't go for that, and don't give ur address or contact details anywhere, if u do that, u have to face lots of phone calls from marketing people. If u give ur SSN number to anyone they run ur credit report which hits ur credit history..

IT IS VERY BAD ON UR CREDIT HISTORY IF U GIVE UR SSN TO EVERYONE..

of course many people will do this mistake... but FYI only i am telling... To build ur credit history, take Secured Credit Card from banks(u need to deposit required credit amount as deposit in bank, that is ur credit limit), u need to pay ur credit card bills in-time... Hope mostly u need a car.. buy a car(end of month or July or August month end u can get very good offers from car dealers, so prefer to buy at month end) and take loan from DCU or some other banks.. initially u may have to pay atleast 11.8 % interest on ur loan amount.. Pay the installments as per their schedules... I would suggest u not to clear total amount in a year(OK), after 1 yr clear it fast.. it helps to improve ur credit rating... As i mentioned earlier, do not give ur SSN to anyone except ur bank, ur employer, or for apartment rental(if required) people, Mobile phone connection... Try to collect ur Credit rating from Germany (from Schufa.. or somewhere, it may help u) and also collect ur Stadtwerke letters, that u never paid late and always cleared the dues intime.. if u want the sample letter, just send an email @ vsrikanth9@yahoo.com , i can send u the format... even if u want more details or having particular questions, please send an email.. but don't ask about the consulting firms.. since here millions of consulting firms r there, don't know who is good or bad...!!!

U may find some H1B sponsors at www.h1bsponsors.com


best of luck,
Srikanth

the tips were great, thanks for the contribution!
I still don't have a car, but I will probably wait until july/august as you sugested ;-)
Meanwhile I rented an apartment near a metro station so for now I'm not desperate to buy a car. Cars are really cheap in USA, but then you have to consider parking, insurance, taxes, maintenance, etc... that usually cost you more than the car! And you also have to consider the time spent in the traffic and taking out the snow before using it ;-)
At least the "benzin" is not expensive here: $2,30 pergallon (ca. 55 EuroCents per liter)
I know people that survived a long time without a car, they just used public transportation and rented a car sometimes
I'm living in north Virginia, near Washington DC and I really don't have anything to complain, maybe is not the SiliconValley but they are also many IT companies and high tech IT services. And more important here is a lot more easier to get a decent job/living than in my country

Srikanth, I found this link interesting...

I think the tips are oriented to the american market but some of them can be also applied in Germany

The best time to buy everything
http://money.cnn.com/2006/01/20/pf/best_time_to_buy_everything/

Gus