H-1B visa system is broken, needs to be fixed: Top US business body BRT April 09, 2015 19:00
With the announcement that both the 65,000 and 20,000 H-1B visa caps for fiscal year 2016 have been reached, a top business body in the US has made a renewed call for Congress to fix the immigration system that keeps US companies from hiring the top world talent they need. "Congress cannot claim it's too hard to allow top world talent to contribute to America when other countries have figured out how to do it for their own economies," said Business Roundtable (BRT), an association of CEOs of leading US companies which works to promote public policy and American economy. "The problem is simply lack of action in Washington," said Greg Brown, chairman and CEO of Motorola Solutions, and Chair of the BRT Immigration Committee. "How many more H-1B caps do we have to reach before policymakers fix the system?" Brown said. The outdated H-1B visa system was one of the factors in a new BRT analysis that put the US ninth out of 10 advanced economies in terms of employment-based immigration policies, a media statement said. "State of Immigration: How the United States Stacks Up in the Global Talent Competition" revealed that US employment-based immigration policies are "mostly unfavourable" to economic growth, while many of its competitor nations have adopted more favourable policies across the board. In addition to insufficient H-1B visa numbers, the BRT report found other challenges for the US immigration system include low annual limits on employment-based green cards, high denial rates for intracompany transfers and a lack of visas for both immigrant entrepreneurs and year-round lower-skilled workers. The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) on April 1, started receiving H-1B petitions for the fiscal year 2016 beginning October 1, 2015. It received more than the allocated quota of 65,000 H-IB visas in the first five days, and the successful applicants would be decided trough a draw of lots. FWD.us, comprising a diverse group of leading innovators, entrepreneurs, job creators, and business owners from the tech community, have launched a petition urging the Congress to fix broken immigration system in particular the H-1B system. According to a Brookings research released this week, high-skilled foreign workers are concentrated in a small number of places. Half of all approved H-1B petitions nationwide went to only nine metropolitan areas, and one-quarter went to just three: New York, Dallas, and San Jose--home of Silicon Valley. New York, with over 29,000 approvals, had by far the highest number. Dallas and San Jose had almost 20,000 and 16,000 approvals, respectively. Durham in North Carolina ranks first among metro areas for the ratio of H-1B approvals to its total employed population. The top 10 metro areas by this measure include large finance and technology hubs (eg. San Jose, Dallas, San Francisco, and Seattle), along with smaller metro areas that are home to large research-intensive universities (Durham, College Station, and Ann Arbor).
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US H1B cap reached for third time in a row. This time withint 5 days April 08, 2015 18:08
The US today said it has reached the cap for the much-coveted H-1B work visas for 2016 within the first five days for the third consecutive year and will now conduct a lottery system to allocate the visas highly popular among IT professionals from countries like India. The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) said it has reached the congressionally mandated H-1B cap for fiscal year 2016, besides receiving more than the limit of 20,000 H-1B petitions filed under the US advanced degree exemption. USCIS will now use the computer-generated process, also known as the lottery, to randomly select the petitions needed to meet the caps of 65,000 visas for the general category and 20,000 for the advanced degree exemption. The agency will first randomly select petitions for 20,000 visas allocated to foreign nationals with advanced degrees from U S universities. All unselected advanced degree petitions will then become part of the random selection process for the 65,000 general limit. “Before running the lottery, USCIS will complete initial intake for all filings received during the filing period, which ended April 7. Due to the high number of petitions, USCIS is not yet able to announce the date it will conduct the random selection process,” it said. This is the third year in row that the US received sufficient number of applications within the first five working days in April for the H-1B work visas to meet the Congressional mandated cap of 65,000. However, USCIS will continue to accept and process petitions that are otherwise exempt from the cap. Petitions filed on behalf of current H-1B workers who have been counted previously against the cap, and who still retain their cap number, will also not be counted toward the congressionally mandated FY 2016 H-1B cap, the agency said. Summary of the USCIS Press release : USCIS received enough number of petitions to fulfill the H1B Visa cap for fiscal year 2015 More than 20,000 petitions were received for Masters Quota. The H1B Visa petitions acceptance window for FY 2015, ended today and no petitions will be accepted after today. Due to high volume of petitions received, they are still processing and will not be able to tell the exact data of the petitions received for conducting the random selection or lottery H1B 2015 Lottery Information USCIS will conduct a random selection ( H1B Lottery) for the Masters quota first and select 20,000 petitions. The Masters quota petitions not selected in the first round, will be put in to the pool of Regular quota and then random selection( lottery) will be held for the regular quota to choose 65,000 petitions. It will be done used a computer generated process. NO Manual work ! USCIS will reject and return the all cap subject petitions that are not selected in lottery. If a duplicate is found, then the fee will not be returned. H1B Cap Exempt Petitions – Accepted USCIS will continue to accept the H1B 2015 cap exempt petitions Cap exempt petitions for H1B Extensions, Employer Changes, Employer terms and conditions changes, H1B petition for concurrent jobs, H1B petitions filed by research institutions
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Indian Man shot dead in US by Two Masked Men April 08, 2015 16:37
A 39 year old Indian man, Sanjay Patel, was shot dead at his working place as two masked men fatally fired him on his chest and hand. The incident took place around 7:30 pm (local time) on Tuesday in the US state of Connecticut. Raj Ali, the owner of the Gas-station (where Patel works as a clerk) told the NBC that the robbers took Patel's life just for couple of hundred dollars. And the NBC reported that the wounded man was taken to the Yale-New Haven Hospital where he died an hour later. According to the media reports the slain man’s wife was pregnant with their first child. Gas-station owner had said that Patel was a nice person and was friendly with everyone. It's not worth it. It's bad." Witnesses said they saw two masked men running from the scene after the incident. "We are looking for two people that may be involved," said New Haven police spokesman Officer David Hartman. Police said they were searching for the two men as the investigation continued. -Kannamsai
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Indian Born Lord Swaraj Paul Donated 1mn Pounds to a University April 08, 2015 15:26
Indian born industrialist Lord Swaraj Paul, the founder- chairman of Caparo Group, which employs an estimated 2,500 people in the West Midlands region, has made a big donation of one million pounds (Rs 10 crores) to the University of Wolverhampton through the Ambika Paul Foundation. The Ambika Paul Foundation was set up by Paul in memory of his daughter. The fund would be used towards general upgrade of facilities at the campus in the West Midlands region of England. Interestingly, he has been associated with the university since 1999 as Chancellor. He said, "It is part of my continued connection with the university, which is based in Britain's industrial heartland. It is a university which takes pride in training students from ordinary backgrounds to create the next generation of leaders and entrepreneurs for the country and beyond" "The Ambika Paul Foundation has one very specific mission: to enhance the lives of the next generation through education, culture and health. What the University of Wolverhampton stands for and its quest to provide opportunities for young people resonates with me and where I have come from, to where I am today," he said The philanthropist will also be leading a delegation from the university to India next week to take initiative in strengthening education and business ties between the two countries. "The BBC has described this university as among the friendliest in the UK and it is also among the most multi-ethnic. This expansion plan will help enhance its role as an innovation hub where new ideas and products can incubate. It has a more hands-on approach, which appeals to me. I hope the large Indian-origin population in the region can feel proud of my association with it," said Paul, who had made a similar donation to the London Zoo in 1994, a place his daughter Ambika loved to visit. "Remembering our daughter has always been at the heart of the work funded by the Ambika Paul Foundation. This gift is dedicated to her memory; but it is also a way of giving something back to the community, and specifically young people," he said. The university has described his donation as the "single biggest gift" it has ever received. He has been associated with the Labour party and was a member of the House of Lords, and held many offices in UK parliament and government. -Kannamsai
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India's rescue operations in Yemen April 07, 2015 17:18
India's rescue operations in Yemen have been widely appreciated and 23 countries seeking help in evacuating their nationals is testimony of this fact. The rescue operations in Yemen were probably one of the toughest for India since the battle is not just fierce, but there are several stake holders in this war. The Shia Houthi rebels, Al-Qaeda, the Yemen government and also Saudi Arabia are all locked in war and this scenario could be extremely confusing for any rescue team since none know who the enemy really is. Yemen rescue op: Why India did better There are various factors that have ensured that India carried out a better rescue operation when compared to the rest of the nations. The diplomacy with Saudi Arabia directly overseen by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, vast experience gained in the Iraq rescue operation and more importantly not taking sides in the Yemen conflict has led to Operation Raahat being such a huge success. No room for red tape: Normally evacuation operations are hit by red tape. However, India has ensured that the top brass would be part of the rescue team and this would ensure reduction in any sort of delay. It was a combined effort of both military and civilian assets directly monitored by the Prime Minister's office and the Ministry for External Affairs. In a rescue operation there are several stumbling blocks that arise when it comes to taking decisions. Normally the chief of operations needs to take orders from the ministry at all times if there are diplomatic issues that crop up. However the presence of General V K Singh at the scene of operations has done India a world of good since direct and quick decisions were taken. Operational heads normally enter into a spot of bother when it comes to taking diplomatic decisions. In the case of Yemen there was no room for any delay. In fact a delay would have been fatal and there were split second decisions to be taken. The Indian contingent literally pulled out its citizens amidst gun fire and bombs and for this there was a need to have a top man from the ministry at the scene to take immediate decisions. Diplomacy with Saudi Arabia: Dealing with Saudi Arabia was extremely crucial in such an operation. After all it is a major player in the Yemen conflict and has taken upon itself to beat down the Shia Houthi rebels. While it could be argued that the entry of Saudi has led to the situation turning sectarian in nature (Sunni vs Shia), India did understand that taking the Saudis along was extremely crucial to these rescue operations. Prime Minister Narendra Modi was in constant touch with the Saudi King Salman. The direct contact between the two leaders was extremely crucial for this operation. Saudi has placed its troops in strategic pockets in Yemen and it was extremely important for India to negotiate with them. The entire process was done while the Prime Minister was in touch constantly with King Salman. There were decisions that were needed to be taken and all through India stayed in touch with Saudi to negotiate a safe access for its aircrafts which was to ferry Indians out of Yemen. Staying neutral: India has taken a deliberate stand not to interfere in the Yemen conflict. India normally does not interfere in conflicts and has always played a role when it comes to humanitarian aid. India feels that this is an issue which concerns the locals and other players in Yemen and hence any interference would not be appreciated by any. This practically would mean that in Yemen, India does not have any enemy and this has in fact also helped in the evacuation mission. Indians are not the target in Yemen and any group fighting in there would not deliberately look out for Indians to target. India has taken a similar approach in Iraq as well from where it had rescued several stranded Indians. Experts tell Oneindia that this is a stand which has always taken and in times of conflict it has helped India especially when it came to rescue operations. India is also aware a neutral position is always the best bet since taking any stand would not only endanger its citizens but also cause problems back home. Experience and intelligence: India has a vast experience in rescue operations. We witnessed it recently in Iraq when several Indians were rescued from the blood stained streets of Iraq. It is always difficult to rescue citizens out of a country where the battle is extremely unorganized. India has also carried out similar rescue operations in Libya in 2011 and Lebanon in the year 2006. In such operations Intelligence too plays a very key role. The Research and Analysis Wing has worked overtime coordinating with agencies in the United States of America and also in Saudi Arabia picking up minute to minute details of the happenings in Yemen. The rescue team in Yemen was provided real time updates regarding the conflict and as a result of this they were able to make quick decisions on their movement. There were several times during the rescue operation that routes had to be changed as forces fighting in Yemen began to approach the streets unannounced. These movements were picked up by the intelligence agencies and in turn passed on to the rescue team which strategized accordingly. - Manohar. M
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Indian-American yoga Guru Denies Allegations of Sexual Assaulting April 07, 2015 17:15
The founder of the Bikram Yoga, Bikram Choudhury (69), who has been facing the allegations of sexual assaults by his former students ruled out those remarks on him, and said he lost his name and family because of those false notes on him. He said that the women who are accusing him over the sexual harassment were influenced by their lawyers. He in fact said that women only love him, but not he. He also said that he would not get the chance of assaulting them forcibly as they love him. "How can I share my heart, my spirit? Twenty-four hours a day, I work harder than any other human being. And this is the reward? I'm a rapist?" he said. Chaudary has been facing lawsuits filed by six women with a latest case filed in the Los Angeles Supreme Court in February by a Canadian woman identified as Jill Lawler. While Sarah Baughn, also a former student accused him of the same charges, and wanted his real identity should come out. They also accused him of betraying the young people who often come for his guidance. The Bikram Yoga form is usually practiced in hot rooms at a temperature of 105°F (40.6°C). -Kannamsai
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Interpol issued Red Corner Notice on NRI April 06, 2015 13:23
Delhi police have arrested Raminder Singh, a 28-year-old man, after receiving a request by UK police department. He was accused in a rape and attempt to murder in Scotland in 2012. The person was involved in rape and attempt to murder of two young women in Scotland, and the Interpol had issued a red corner notice on this grounds. "He was wanted for attempt to murder and rape in a 2012 case of two young women in Scotland. He had escaped from UK immediately after committing the crime and was staying in Chandigarh assuming a fake identity," said Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Ravindra Yadav to media. The man reportedly escaped from UK after the incident. Further details are not available. -Kannamsai
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2 Indian-Origin Entrepreneurs Charged With Insider Trading in US April 04, 2015 10:29
Two Indian-origin entrepreneurs have been charged with unlawful insider trading in the US in connection with the 2013 proposed acquisition of American company Cooper Tire and Rubber by Apollo Tyres. Amit Kanodia of Massachusetts, a 47-year-old private equity investor, and a general partner at a venture capital firm - Iftikar Ahmed of Connecticut, have been charged with fraud by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in a complaint filed in US district court in Connecticut. According to the reports, SEC has mentioned that Kanodia tipped Ahmed and another friend after learning of the deal from his wife, who was Apollo’s general counsel at the time, more than two months before the merger was announced. Hence Ahmed bought (significant amounts) stock and options of Cooper Tire. Soon after the deal has become public, Ahmed liquidated his Cooper Tire holdings, reaping $1.1 million of ill-gotten profits. And Ahmed transferred $220,000 to Lincoln Charitable Foundation, a supposed charity that Kanodia controlled. The Cooper Tire and Rubber has lost heavily due their (Amit Kanodia and Iftikar Ahmed) planned execution. -Kannamsai
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Indian IT Analyst Died in Australia April 02, 2015 11:13
An Indian IT analyst, Pankaj Saw (29), has died after falling from the third floor balcony while speaking to his newly married wife. The reported incident took place at about 1 AM (local time) on Thursday in Macquarie Park. "About 1 am (Thursday, April 2), emergency services were called in to a unit block on Cottonwood Crescent, following reports of a man falling from a balcony," a NSW Police statement said. "On arrival, NSW Ambulance Paramedics located a man in his 30s, with serious head and internal injuries, however the man died at the scene," it said, adding "it's believed the man fell from a third floor balcony." Police from Ryde Local Area are monitoring (investigating) the scene. Police have recovered the cordless phone handset which was damaged after falling on concrete ground. He is reportedly working for an Indian firm located in North Sydney. -Kannamsai
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Indian American Woman Sentenced for 20 years on Foeticide Charges March 31, 2015 18:16
An Indian woman has been sentenced to 20 years imprisonment for committing abortion herself against to the rules prescribed in Indiana. The judge in South Bend, Indiana, announced the sentence on Monday. Public Radio international (PRI) online reported. According to the TOI report, Purvi Patel (33), who was from a family of Indian immigrants settled in Granger, Indiana, a suburb of South Bend, had showed up at the emergency room of St. Joseph Regional Medical Centre in the town of Mishawaka with heavy bleeding in July 2013. Doctors understood on examining that she had lost her pregnancy, and she also confessed that she left the foetus in a dumpster outside Moe's Southwest Grill in Granger, a restaurant Patel's parents owned. The police questioned Patel and checked her cellphone during her spent in hospital, where they found series of text messages, and the prosecution carried on her illegal abortion and felony charges. The prosecution claimed Patel, in those text messages, admitted to ordering drugs online to terminate an unexpected pregnancy. She allegedly ordered the terminating drugs from Hong-Kong, which led her foetus to the floor of her bathroom. Interestingly she was first to convicted on this foeticide charges in Indiana. -Kannamsai
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Indian-American Mother Approaches US Lawmakers for Her Children March 30, 2015 17:23
Indian-American mother has approached US lawmakers along with 60 Indian-Americans to help to get her sons (twins) back who were apparently abducted by her ex-husband six years ago. Bindu Philips, 44, testified before a sub-committee of the House Foreign Affairs Committee with several other parents of abducted children, requesting their help to reunite with her children, Albert Philip Jacob and Alfred William Jacob who are at 14 years of age now. “I respectfully request that you, the members of the Congress, help me to make my voice heard in a way that shall be meaningful and allow me to be reunited with my children who need the love and nurturing of their mother,” she said. Philips, from Plainsboro in New Jersey, accused her ex-husband Sunil Jacob of abducting her sons in the name of vacation to after getting separated each other in 2008. “Please help me to end this nightmare that Sunil Jacob has created for my family,” she said. Both Sunil and Philips are from Kerala. She informed the sub-committee that, she returned to the US four months later on April 9, 2009 with empty hands (without children) as Sunil was reluctant to return her sons. The parents of abducted children held a candle vigil at the White House and also went to the Indian Embassy to submit a memorandum to the Indian Government. In all the cases, they mentioned their ex-spouses abducted their children after marital disputes and court orders favorable to them. Image credits: file photo from America bazaar online -Kannamsai
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CB-CID arrests 3 Persons in an NRI Businessman Murder case March 30, 2015 17:14
CB-CID police have taken 3 persons into custody over a murder case in Salem. Following the complaint lodged by Vani (32), wife of deceased NRI Selva Vinayakam (40), Yercaud police found a decomposed body of the NRI businessman in Valukkuparai. And Vani moved to CM’s cell for a probe, then the case was handed over to Salem CB-CID. The CB-CID, during the probe, suspected some relatives of Selva because there was some property dispute. During the probe, CB-CID got information that one of Vinayakam’s relatives Rajendran (50) was preparing to move Madras HC for anticipatory bail, which became important in enquiry. In interrogation, they got to know that he involved in the murder. CB-CID arrested Rajendran, his friends Laxmanan (41) and Karunanidhi (45) on Saturday and remanded them in prison. Selva Vinayakam (40) was settled in Singapore and ran hotel and owned a commercial complex. -Kannamsai
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