If you want to work in the United States and are not a US citizen, you have to get a work permit. Like many aliens I requested an H1-B1 visa. Here's the journey of my H1-B1 petition into the California administration.
- 09/13/00 : a first petition is sent to the department of labor (DOL). According to the lawyer it takes about one week for the DOL to approve the petition.
- 10/20/00 : after five weeks the DOL approves the petition. They have had problems with their fax machines.
- 11/03/00 : the visa petition is received by the California INS center. According to their answering machine "it takes 30 to 60 days for us to process the case".
- 01/31/01 : after 91 days I am informed that the INS officer in charge of my case has requested additional information. But the request must first be approved by the officer's supervisor.
- 03/03/01 : after five weeks the request is sent by the INS. They were maybe short of stamps...
- 03/07/01 : my lawyer sends the requested information: the duplicata of a document. No fax machine, no stamps, no copier marchine...
- 04/02/01 : the officer receives the additional information. The INS internal post office needs almost one month to deliver a letter.
- 04/10/01 : the visa is issued by the INS.
It was a tough journey but I finally got it!
Note I: For the year 2001, 185,000 H1-B visa will be delivered by four INS centers
Note II: The state of California is the 6th economy of the world
