Updating the blog after a long gap... Was waiting for some news to actually update this memoir with.
So here goes... 25th Aug 2005 - the day the American on the other side of the sealed window, said to me, "Please pay the stamping fees @ counter #1". This is how I and maybe countless others have been told that their H1B is now a reality...
The scene was different last year. Till then, people working in the top-notch IT forms of India just needed to interact with their HR departments and submit their documents whilst sitting in the comfort of their cubicles. Then came 9/11, which altered the way things worked.
Now, every aspirant to the US has to visit the consulate and first record himself / herself in the American database of humans (by giving them their fingerprints), then get interviewed and approved (for the lucky ones) for their respective visas.
The interview in itself was short. Nothing major asked. Guess, my work experience and the company I came from had an influence on that...
I say so cos I saw people being gruelled thoroughly on the other windows... some trying to justify their reason for an American education, some for visiting the country to meet their beloved ones, some for proving their marital status... The reasons were endless, bu so was the swiftness of the interviewers in respnding with a negative.
They were right in their stand, while the Indians were correct in theirs... but explaining the point to the person in a 'foriegn language' (for most) in a short span of 15 minutes was demanding to say the least for the rejectees.
Anyways, my stay inside the embassy was short, and not a disappointing one. I tried to take the approval in the stride and casually walked outside the consulate to catch a 'rick' to return to the company guest house (GH) to spend the rest of the day before catching the train back to Bangalore.
To my utter amazement, the auto-drivers understood that I had been approved (maybe their experience in noticing similar techies by the number of folders being carried - went in with 2, came out with 1) and started congratulating me for the same (as if I had been victorious in some regal battle).
The actual reason was to be disclosed as soon as I told them my destination and will to hire one of them for commuting to the GH. The fares went sky-high. The demand for a measly 5 kms shot-up to INR 200 and not less. All my attempts to bargain turned futile as none of them agreed to take me as a passenger for less...
Somehow managed to get to the GH for INR 150 (bigger achievement this is than getting the approval)...
Came back to reality on 26th and am back to the grind for now... Next starts the quest for finding and grabbing the opportuinity to actually utilize the H1 and travel to the US on a long-term assignment.
So here goes... 25th Aug 2005 - the day the American on the other side of the sealed window, said to me, "Please pay the stamping fees @ counter #1". This is how I and maybe countless others have been told that their H1B is now a reality...
The scene was different last year. Till then, people working in the top-notch IT forms of India just needed to interact with their HR departments and submit their documents whilst sitting in the comfort of their cubicles. Then came 9/11, which altered the way things worked.
Now, every aspirant to the US has to visit the consulate and first record himself / herself in the American database of humans (by giving them their fingerprints), then get interviewed and approved (for the lucky ones) for their respective visas.
The interview in itself was short. Nothing major asked. Guess, my work experience and the company I came from had an influence on that...
I say so cos I saw people being gruelled thoroughly on the other windows... some trying to justify their reason for an American education, some for visiting the country to meet their beloved ones, some for proving their marital status... The reasons were endless, bu so was the swiftness of the interviewers in respnding with a negative.
They were right in their stand, while the Indians were correct in theirs... but explaining the point to the person in a 'foriegn language' (for most) in a short span of 15 minutes was demanding to say the least for the rejectees.
Anyways, my stay inside the embassy was short, and not a disappointing one. I tried to take the approval in the stride and casually walked outside the consulate to catch a 'rick' to return to the company guest house (GH) to spend the rest of the day before catching the train back to Bangalore.
To my utter amazement, the auto-drivers understood that I had been approved (maybe their experience in noticing similar techies by the number of folders being carried - went in with 2, came out with 1) and started congratulating me for the same (as if I had been victorious in some regal battle).
The actual reason was to be disclosed as soon as I told them my destination and will to hire one of them for commuting to the GH. The fares went sky-high. The demand for a measly 5 kms shot-up to INR 200 and not less. All my attempts to bargain turned futile as none of them agreed to take me as a passenger for less...
Somehow managed to get to the GH for INR 150 (bigger achievement this is than getting the approval)...
Came back to reality on 26th and am back to the grind for now... Next starts the quest for finding and grabbing the opportuinity to actually utilize the H1 and travel to the US on a long-term assignment.
