spicy_guy
08-11 12:09 PM
Pappu: Can we do anything about it? It does seem to be a good bill.
If voting on the website really has any impact, why can't we do it?
If voting on the website really has any impact, why can't we do it?
wallpaper Day of the dead. Tattoo by
JSimmivoice
01-22 11:11 PM
Has anyone of you heard about Nunc Pro Tunc H1B? Will that help in my current situation with a valid and approved LCA?
TeddyKoochu
09-25 11:34 AM
I won't be surprised if they pull a quick July 07 or something on those lines to collect more money for filing and renewal of EAD/ AP
I hope this happens, looks like in the current atmosphere there is a high likelihood of it happening as well. It will be a great step forward for people who missed Jul 07, it will be an opportunity for us to have EAD / AP and have a peep at the next step!
I hope this happens, looks like in the current atmosphere there is a high likelihood of it happening as well. It will be a great step forward for people who missed Jul 07, it will be an opportunity for us to have EAD / AP and have a peep at the next step!
2011 Day Of The Dead Art - El Dia
logiclife
05-11 11:40 AM
Venue
Bombay Palace
2020 K St. NW, Washington, DC
Time
6:30pm to 9:30pm
Valet parking available(Free after 5:30 PM)
Metro directions
(Easily accessible by metro.)
Few blocks from the follow. metro stops:
Farragut North (RED line - Connecticut Avenue and K Street) and
Farragut West (BLUE and ORANGE lines - 18th and I street)
RSVP by Friday (05/12) 4:00 p.m.:
(Please include the total number of people. Children not allowed.)
jay@immigrationvoice.org (http://us.f524.mail.yahoo.com/ym/Compose?To=jay@immigrationvoice.org)
info@ immigrationvoice.org (http://us.f524.mail.yahoo.com/ym/Compose?To=info@immigrationvoice.org)
Bombay Palace
2020 K St. NW, Washington, DC
Time
6:30pm to 9:30pm
Valet parking available(Free after 5:30 PM)
Metro directions
(Easily accessible by metro.)
Few blocks from the follow. metro stops:
Farragut North (RED line - Connecticut Avenue and K Street) and
Farragut West (BLUE and ORANGE lines - 18th and I street)
RSVP by Friday (05/12) 4:00 p.m.:
(Please include the total number of people. Children not allowed.)
jay@immigrationvoice.org (http://us.f524.mail.yahoo.com/ym/Compose?To=jay@immigrationvoice.org)
info@ immigrationvoice.org (http://us.f524.mail.yahoo.com/ym/Compose?To=info@immigrationvoice.org)
more...
insbaby
07-17 11:01 AM
I recieved reply from consulate stating that I need to get PCC from US consulate as I have not being living in India for a long time therefore there is no use of getting PCC from local police station. Now anybody let me know if I fly to SFO they would give my PCC with in a day or would take time ??/
If you are holdng a Passport issued by other than SF Consulate:
* If applying at the counter in-person, 30 business days or on receipt of clearance from Passport Issuing Authority concerned, whichever is earlier
*If applying by mail, 30 business days, excluding time taken in mail, or on receipt of clearance from Passport Issuing Authority concerned, whichever is earlier.
As it takes around 30 business days to issue PCC, you must submit photocopy of passport at the time of applying. As soon as the clearance is received from the Passport Issuing Authority concerned, you will be called (provided you have mentioned your telephone number in the application) to submit your original passport for stamping of PCC.
If you are holdng a Passport issued by SF Consulate:
Applying in person: Same day or latest by the next working day
Applying by mail: 10 (ten) business days excluding the time taken in mail
http://cgisf.org/misc/miscservices.html
If you are holdng a Passport issued by other than SF Consulate:
* If applying at the counter in-person, 30 business days or on receipt of clearance from Passport Issuing Authority concerned, whichever is earlier
*If applying by mail, 30 business days, excluding time taken in mail, or on receipt of clearance from Passport Issuing Authority concerned, whichever is earlier.
As it takes around 30 business days to issue PCC, you must submit photocopy of passport at the time of applying. As soon as the clearance is received from the Passport Issuing Authority concerned, you will be called (provided you have mentioned your telephone number in the application) to submit your original passport for stamping of PCC.
If you are holdng a Passport issued by SF Consulate:
Applying in person: Same day or latest by the next working day
Applying by mail: 10 (ten) business days excluding the time taken in mail
http://cgisf.org/misc/miscservices.html
bang
01-09 06:41 AM
Because this is the case where it is not clear if the H-1B was applied for before or after oct 2006 and if the H-4 was in H-1 status ever before.
We had applied in July 2006, last few days before the Quota got closed, she completed her Masters in July as well. For some reason it took all this while to get an approval even when converted to Premium in October, they sent a RFE for my H1 & paystubs later took for ever to acknowledge th erecieval and then fianlly approval, as i mentioned we are still waiting to see the approval document to make sure there is a I94 attached.
We had applied in July 2006, last few days before the Quota got closed, she completed her Masters in July as well. For some reason it took all this while to get an approval even when converted to Premium in October, they sent a RFE for my H1 & paystubs later took for ever to acknowledge th erecieval and then fianlly approval, as i mentioned we are still waiting to see the approval document to make sure there is a I94 attached.
more...
hary536
05-18 07:41 PM
Hi,
My Company has decided to have a force shutdown one day per week starting from this month. So now we will be working 4 days instead of 5 days. We also cannot use PTO during these days. So effectively will be working 32 hrs instead of 40 hrs and getting paid for 32 hrs only.
Does this affect my legal H1 status? Will i still remain in valid legal H1 status, even if i work and get paid for 32 hrs?
Am i still considered full-time? Or is there any amendment needed to be filed? How can i determine, if there is any amendment needed to be filed? If needed, does the company have to file both H1B and LCA amendment or just LCA.
When one files amendment, is it like again the entire process of H1 approval and can the amendment be rejected?
Also if they file LCA amendment, then do they have to show and pay the salary according to current year? or the year when they initially filed my LCA first time?
If i try for H1B transfer after few months,can that be denied due to paychecks of 32hrs salary only used for H1 transfer?
Pls help, if you have any idea about this kind of situation. Lot of companies are having shutdowns and salary cuts this year? How is it handled in your companies guys?
Currently, I am working on H1B since Oct'08.
My company has decided to have forced shutdown 1 day per week. So All employees will be working and paid for only 32 hrs instead of 40.We cannot use the paid leave also.
In My LCA, prevailing wage: 52K, and my salary in LCA and I-129: 64.5K
My questions:
1) Is working 32 hrs still considered full-time and do I still remain in legal H1 status? (I heard that in US more than 30 hrs is considered full-time?)
2) Since my effective annual salary will be less than 64K due to working for only 32 hrs,will i be out of status? Can the company cut my salary below the rate of pay mentioned on my LCA but higher than(or equal to) the Prevailing Wage mentioned on my LCA?
3) If i try for H1B transfer after few months using paychecks of 32hrs salary only,can that be denied?
4) Are there any other options(without filing any H1B/LCA amendment) to maintain my H1 status while still working for 32 hrs only?
5) IF company files LCA/H1B amendment, then do they have to again use the wage survey for 2009 or they can use the same one used for my initial 1st LCA filing? Do they evaluate the entire H1B application again for amendment? Can the H1B amendment be denied?
Anyone pls advise? I am really tensed.
My Company has decided to have a force shutdown one day per week starting from this month. So now we will be working 4 days instead of 5 days. We also cannot use PTO during these days. So effectively will be working 32 hrs instead of 40 hrs and getting paid for 32 hrs only.
Does this affect my legal H1 status? Will i still remain in valid legal H1 status, even if i work and get paid for 32 hrs?
Am i still considered full-time? Or is there any amendment needed to be filed? How can i determine, if there is any amendment needed to be filed? If needed, does the company have to file both H1B and LCA amendment or just LCA.
When one files amendment, is it like again the entire process of H1 approval and can the amendment be rejected?
Also if they file LCA amendment, then do they have to show and pay the salary according to current year? or the year when they initially filed my LCA first time?
If i try for H1B transfer after few months,can that be denied due to paychecks of 32hrs salary only used for H1 transfer?
Pls help, if you have any idea about this kind of situation. Lot of companies are having shutdowns and salary cuts this year? How is it handled in your companies guys?
Currently, I am working on H1B since Oct'08.
My company has decided to have forced shutdown 1 day per week. So All employees will be working and paid for only 32 hrs instead of 40.We cannot use the paid leave also.
In My LCA, prevailing wage: 52K, and my salary in LCA and I-129: 64.5K
My questions:
1) Is working 32 hrs still considered full-time and do I still remain in legal H1 status? (I heard that in US more than 30 hrs is considered full-time?)
2) Since my effective annual salary will be less than 64K due to working for only 32 hrs,will i be out of status? Can the company cut my salary below the rate of pay mentioned on my LCA but higher than(or equal to) the Prevailing Wage mentioned on my LCA?
3) If i try for H1B transfer after few months using paychecks of 32hrs salary only,can that be denied?
4) Are there any other options(without filing any H1B/LCA amendment) to maintain my H1 status while still working for 32 hrs only?
5) IF company files LCA/H1B amendment, then do they have to again use the wage survey for 2009 or they can use the same one used for my initial 1st LCA filing? Do they evaluate the entire H1B application again for amendment? Can the H1B amendment be denied?
Anyone pls advise? I am really tensed.
2010 day of dead skull tattoo.
jayleno
12-16 10:42 AM
Its very sad that such employers exist. What did your lawyer have to say regarding this? Is the lawyer appointed by the company or yourself? If the lawyer was apoointed by your ex-employer, I think the safest thing is to get your paperwork and move to a different lawyer to represent you. Please do not panic, fight it out.
I'm EB3 (ROW)...PD: May 2006. My I485 is pending more than 18 months and I140 is approved a year ago. Recently, my boss fired me. I left the company and got a better job within a week. thanks god.
Now my ex-employer is calling my lawyer and bringing some alligation against me and asking my lawyer to withdraw my case. He also mentioned to my lawyer that he is going to call the immigration and take action against me by withdrawing my case.
1...Does anyone have any idea how the immigration going to react after listening to his alligation against me?
2...by submitting any paperwork to them can he hamper my proessing?
3...Do i have anything to scare about?
4...what should i do now?
This issues a very crutial to me now. he is one of those nasty desi employer's who underpaid me last 6 years not just acting funny when I'm asking for my rights. He setup the whole alligation against me and have some office staff working and supporting him.
I need help.....please let me know what should i do....please people help me....
I'm EB3 (ROW)...PD: May 2006. My I485 is pending more than 18 months and I140 is approved a year ago. Recently, my boss fired me. I left the company and got a better job within a week. thanks god.
Now my ex-employer is calling my lawyer and bringing some alligation against me and asking my lawyer to withdraw my case. He also mentioned to my lawyer that he is going to call the immigration and take action against me by withdrawing my case.
1...Does anyone have any idea how the immigration going to react after listening to his alligation against me?
2...by submitting any paperwork to them can he hamper my proessing?
3...Do i have anything to scare about?
4...what should i do now?
This issues a very crutial to me now. he is one of those nasty desi employer's who underpaid me last 6 years not just acting funny when I'm asking for my rights. He setup the whole alligation against me and have some office staff working and supporting him.
I need help.....please let me know what should i do....please people help me....
more...
vinodp1978
06-29 09:30 PM
Guys,
I am in a situation where if i dont file I-140 by PP i will not be eligible for H1b extension. My Labor date is april 27,2007 and my 6th year H1b expiration date is Feb 2,2008..so the 365 days rule wont work. The only way i can be in this country is if my 140/485 gets accepted and i get EAD or PP for 140 gets reinstated for me to extend.
Also if PP for 140 goes away what is the typical time to process from NSC?
can anyone tell me if i am reading the laws right?? any other options?
Thanks.
I am in a situation where if i dont file I-140 by PP i will not be eligible for H1b extension. My Labor date is april 27,2007 and my 6th year H1b expiration date is Feb 2,2008..so the 365 days rule wont work. The only way i can be in this country is if my 140/485 gets accepted and i get EAD or PP for 140 gets reinstated for me to extend.
Also if PP for 140 goes away what is the typical time to process from NSC?
can anyone tell me if i am reading the laws right?? any other options?
Thanks.
hair Day of the Dead Tattoo -
ganeshpv
05-01 01:26 PM
Yeah.. I realized that. And I think I can qualify for emergency appt. BUT that wasn't my question. My question was do I HAVE to go to Chennai or can I get it done in Bangalore (they have an office that seems to have drop box like feature).
more...
onemorecame
03-26 01:09 PM
I Wish "C" for all category
hot left thigh tattoos-day of dead
tnite
07-26 09:27 AM
Hello everyone,
I got to know about this website recently and I wish I had known it earlier.
Anyway, I need advice/conformation
I got married recently outside the US. However, I did not come back with my wife b/c of a couple of reasons. And I cannot bring her here in the next 3 weeks. (My H1B is getting renewed...)
The company's lawyer is advising me not file for I-485 and wait till I become current again and apply with my wife then. (I am EB3 and my PD is March 2005)
After reading this web and others, if I go ahead and apply now the following are the choices that I have later. Please confirm if I am right or wrong
1. Get every document ready for my wife at all times and apply for I-485 immediately after I become current. As long as they receive her I-485 before they approve mine, she is going to be fine. She will be fine even if they receive her I-485 a day before they approve mine.
2. If my I-485 gets approved before my wife’s I-485 get there, under section 245(k), she has 180 days to send in her I-485 as long as PD is current. And there is no penalty and no other problem with this. She can stay in the country and wait for her I-485 to approve.
3. If I though that it was a grave mistake to apply for my I-485, I can withdraw it before it gets approved and reapply later with my wife’s when I become current again. No problem with this other than paying the fees again.
4. My wife and change her H4 to F1 any time she wants to as long as she goes to school full time. She could be on F1 and apply for I-485 when I become current (I feel uneasy on this one).
Please, let me know if what I listed above is right. These are the only choices that I have ready about. If there are more choices please, let me know that too. I have to make a decision by the end of tomorrow. Thank you all!
I think your lawyer is too optimistic about EB3 March 2005 being current in the immediate future.Maybe he's right .I dont know
But looking at the possible choice you have mentioned :
1.This is the best option . ie you apply for I485 right now and add you wife when she's in the US later when the date is current.The reason being that for USCIS to approve your GC the date should be current and if its current then you're eligible to apply for your wife's I485.Its a loop. For one thing(GC Approval) to happen the other thing(Date being current) has to happen.
2.The 2nd choice is same as the 1st one. Many here are prediciting that there will be severe retrogression in the Oct bulletin and no one with a right state of mind can even guess the dates at this point of time.
3.Why do you think it would be a grave mistake in life? If you think u'r taking a big risk then make your wife's status independent of your's by applying for H1b or F1 which is option 4. You should talk to a lawyer about the intent issues on F1 visa. I am not aware of that. I know that if one's one F1 or any other non-dual intent visa they shouldnt(risky and chances are higher for denial) apply for any immigrant visa within 90 days of their arrival or in your wife's case change of status.Search for more info on the web.
But my choice would be the first one. It's not risky for the reasons I had mentioned.
my 2 cents
I got to know about this website recently and I wish I had known it earlier.
Anyway, I need advice/conformation
I got married recently outside the US. However, I did not come back with my wife b/c of a couple of reasons. And I cannot bring her here in the next 3 weeks. (My H1B is getting renewed...)
The company's lawyer is advising me not file for I-485 and wait till I become current again and apply with my wife then. (I am EB3 and my PD is March 2005)
After reading this web and others, if I go ahead and apply now the following are the choices that I have later. Please confirm if I am right or wrong
1. Get every document ready for my wife at all times and apply for I-485 immediately after I become current. As long as they receive her I-485 before they approve mine, she is going to be fine. She will be fine even if they receive her I-485 a day before they approve mine.
2. If my I-485 gets approved before my wife’s I-485 get there, under section 245(k), she has 180 days to send in her I-485 as long as PD is current. And there is no penalty and no other problem with this. She can stay in the country and wait for her I-485 to approve.
3. If I though that it was a grave mistake to apply for my I-485, I can withdraw it before it gets approved and reapply later with my wife’s when I become current again. No problem with this other than paying the fees again.
4. My wife and change her H4 to F1 any time she wants to as long as she goes to school full time. She could be on F1 and apply for I-485 when I become current (I feel uneasy on this one).
Please, let me know if what I listed above is right. These are the only choices that I have ready about. If there are more choices please, let me know that too. I have to make a decision by the end of tomorrow. Thank you all!
I think your lawyer is too optimistic about EB3 March 2005 being current in the immediate future.Maybe he's right .I dont know
But looking at the possible choice you have mentioned :
1.This is the best option . ie you apply for I485 right now and add you wife when she's in the US later when the date is current.The reason being that for USCIS to approve your GC the date should be current and if its current then you're eligible to apply for your wife's I485.Its a loop. For one thing(GC Approval) to happen the other thing(Date being current) has to happen.
2.The 2nd choice is same as the 1st one. Many here are prediciting that there will be severe retrogression in the Oct bulletin and no one with a right state of mind can even guess the dates at this point of time.
3.Why do you think it would be a grave mistake in life? If you think u'r taking a big risk then make your wife's status independent of your's by applying for H1b or F1 which is option 4. You should talk to a lawyer about the intent issues on F1 visa. I am not aware of that. I know that if one's one F1 or any other non-dual intent visa they shouldnt(risky and chances are higher for denial) apply for any immigrant visa within 90 days of their arrival or in your wife's case change of status.Search for more info on the web.
But my choice would be the first one. It's not risky for the reasons I had mentioned.
my 2 cents
more...
house mexican day of dead tattoos.
alkg
08-13 08:41 PM
see the paragraph in bold letters.................
Greenspan Sees Bottom
In Housing, Criticizes Bailout
August 14, 2008
WASHINGTON -- Alan Greenspan usually surrounds his opinions with caveats and convoluted clauses. But ask his view of the government's response to problems confronting mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and he offers one word: "Bad."
In a conversation this week, the former Federal Reserve chairman also said he expects that U.S. house prices, a key factor in the outlook for the economy and financial markets, will begin to stabilize in the first half of next year.
"Home prices in the U.S. are likely to start to stabilize or touch bottom sometime in the first half of 2009," he said in an interview. Tracing a jagged curve with his finger on a tabletop to underscore the difficulty in pinpointing the precise trough, he cautioned that even at a bottom, "prices could continue to drift lower through 2009 and beyond."
A long-time student of housing markets, Mr. Greenspan now works out of a well-windowed, oval-shaped office that is evidence of his fascination with the housing market. His desk, couch, coffee table and conference table are strewn with print-outs of spreadsheets and multicolored charts of housing starts, foreclosures and population trends siphoned from government and trade association sources.
An end to the decline in house prices, he explained, matters not only to American homeowners but is "a necessary condition for an end to the current global financial crisis" he said.
"Stable home prices will clarify the level of equity in homes, the ultimate collateral support for much of the financial world's mortgage-backed securities. We won't really know the market value of the asset side of the banking system's balance sheet -- and hence banks' capital -- until then."
At 82 years old, Mr. Greenspan remains sharp and his fascination with the workings of the economy undiminished. But his star no longer shines as brightly as it did when he retired from the Fed in January 2006.
Mr. Greenspan has been criticized for contributing to today's woes by keeping interest rates too low too long and by regulating too lightly. He has been aggressively defending his record -- in interviews, in op-ed pieces and in a new chapter in his recent book, included in the paperback version to be published next month. Mr. Greenspan attributes the rise in house prices to a historically unusual period in which world markets pushed interest rates down and even sophisticated investors misjudged the risks they were taking.
His views remain widely watched, however. Mr. Greenspan's housing forecast rests on two pillars of data. One is the supply of vacant, single-family homes for sale, both newly completed homes and existing homes owned by investors and lenders. He sees that "excess supply" -- roughly 800,000 units above normal -- diminishing soon. The other is a comparison of the current price of houses -- he prefers the quarterly S&P Case Shiller National Home Price Index because it includes both urban and rural areas -- with the government's estimate of what it costs to rent a single-family house. As other economists do, Mr. Greenspan essentially seeks to gauge when it is rational to own a house and when it is rational to sell the house, invest the money elsewhere and rent an identical house next door.
"It's the imbalance of supply and demand which causes prices to go down, but it's ultimately the valuation process of the use of the commodity...which tells you where the bottom is," Mr. Greenspan said, recalling his days trading copper a half century ago. "For example, the grain markets can have a huge excess of corn or wheat, but the price never goes to zero. It'll stabilize at some level of prices where people are willing to hold the excess inventory. We have little history, but the same thing is surely true in housing as well. We will get to the point where there will be willing holders of vacant single-family dwellings, and that will no longer act to depress the price level."
The collapse in home prices, of course, is a major threat to the stability of Fannie and Freddie. At the Fed, Mr. Greenspan warned for years that the two mortgage giants' business model threatened the nation's financial stability. He acknowledges that a government backstop for the shareholder-owned, government-sponsored enterprises, or GSEs, was unavoidable. Not only are they crucial to the ailing mortgage market now, but the Fed-financed takeover of investment bank Bear Stearns Cos. also made government backing of Fannie and Freddie debt "inevitable," he said. "There's no credible argument for bailing out Bear Stearns and not the GSEs."
His quarrel is with the approach the Bush administration sold to Congress. "They should have wiped out the shareholders, nationalized the institutions with legislation that they are to be reconstituted -- with necessary taxpayer support to make them financially viable -- as five or 10 individual privately held units," which the government would eventually auction off to private investors, he said.
Instead, Congress granted Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson temporary authority to use an unlimited amount of taxpayer money to lend to or invest in the companies. In response to the Greenspan critique, Mr. Paulson's spokeswoman, Michele Davis, said, "This legislation accomplished two important goals -- providing confidence in the immediate term as these institutions play a critical role in weathering the housing correction, and putting in place a new regulator with all the authorities necessary to address systemic risk posed by the GSEs."
But a similar critique has been raised by several other prominent observers. "If they are too big to fail, make them smaller," former Nixon Treasury Secretary George Shultz said. Some say the Paulson approach, even if the government never spends a nickel, entrenches current management and offers shareholders the upside if the government's reassurance allows the companies to weather the current storm. The Treasury hasn't said what conditions it would impose if it offers Fannie and Freddie taxpayer money.
Fear that financial markets would react poorly if the U.S. government nationalized the companies and assumed their approximately $5 trillion debt is unfounded, Mr. Greenspan said. "The law that stipulates that GSEs are not backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government is disbelieved. The market believes the government guarantee is there. Foreigners believe the guarantee is there. The only fiscal change is for someone to change the bookkeeping."
In the past, to be sure, Mr. Greenspan's crystal ball has been cloudy. He didn't foresee the sharp national decline in home prices. Recently released transcripts of Fed meetings do record him warning in November 2002: "It's hard to escape the conclusion that at some point our extraordinary housing boom...cannot continue indefinitely into the future."
Publicly, he was more reassuring. "While local economies may experience significant speculative price imbalances, a national severe price distortion seems most unlikely in the United States, given its size and diversity," he said in October 2004. Eight months later, he said if home prices did decline, that "likely would not have substantial macroeconomic implications." And in a speech in October 2006, nine months after leaving the Fed, he told an audience that, though housing prices were likely to be lower than the year before, "I think the worst of this may well be over." Housing prices, by his preferred gauge, have fallen nearly 19% since then. He says he was referring not to prices but to the downward drag on economic growth from weakening housing construction.
Mr. Greenspan urges the government to avoid tax or other policies that increase the construction of new homes because that would delay the much-desired day when home prices find a bottom.
He did offer one suggestion: "The most effective initiative, though politically difficult, would be a major expansion in quotas for skilled immigrants," he said. The only sustainable way to increase demand for vacant houses is to spur the formation of new households. Admitting more skilled immigrants, who tend to earn enough to buy homes, would accomplish that while paying other dividends to the U.S. economy.
He estimates the number of new households in the U.S. currently is increasing at an annual rate of about 800,000, of whom about one third are immigrants. "Perhaps 150,000 of those are loosely classified as skilled," he said. "A double or tripling of this number would markedly accelerate the absorption of unsold housing inventory for sale -- and hence help stabilize prices."
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121865515167837815.html?mod=hpp_us_whats_news
Greenspan Sees Bottom
In Housing, Criticizes Bailout
August 14, 2008
WASHINGTON -- Alan Greenspan usually surrounds his opinions with caveats and convoluted clauses. But ask his view of the government's response to problems confronting mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and he offers one word: "Bad."
In a conversation this week, the former Federal Reserve chairman also said he expects that U.S. house prices, a key factor in the outlook for the economy and financial markets, will begin to stabilize in the first half of next year.
"Home prices in the U.S. are likely to start to stabilize or touch bottom sometime in the first half of 2009," he said in an interview. Tracing a jagged curve with his finger on a tabletop to underscore the difficulty in pinpointing the precise trough, he cautioned that even at a bottom, "prices could continue to drift lower through 2009 and beyond."
A long-time student of housing markets, Mr. Greenspan now works out of a well-windowed, oval-shaped office that is evidence of his fascination with the housing market. His desk, couch, coffee table and conference table are strewn with print-outs of spreadsheets and multicolored charts of housing starts, foreclosures and population trends siphoned from government and trade association sources.
An end to the decline in house prices, he explained, matters not only to American homeowners but is "a necessary condition for an end to the current global financial crisis" he said.
"Stable home prices will clarify the level of equity in homes, the ultimate collateral support for much of the financial world's mortgage-backed securities. We won't really know the market value of the asset side of the banking system's balance sheet -- and hence banks' capital -- until then."
At 82 years old, Mr. Greenspan remains sharp and his fascination with the workings of the economy undiminished. But his star no longer shines as brightly as it did when he retired from the Fed in January 2006.
Mr. Greenspan has been criticized for contributing to today's woes by keeping interest rates too low too long and by regulating too lightly. He has been aggressively defending his record -- in interviews, in op-ed pieces and in a new chapter in his recent book, included in the paperback version to be published next month. Mr. Greenspan attributes the rise in house prices to a historically unusual period in which world markets pushed interest rates down and even sophisticated investors misjudged the risks they were taking.
His views remain widely watched, however. Mr. Greenspan's housing forecast rests on two pillars of data. One is the supply of vacant, single-family homes for sale, both newly completed homes and existing homes owned by investors and lenders. He sees that "excess supply" -- roughly 800,000 units above normal -- diminishing soon. The other is a comparison of the current price of houses -- he prefers the quarterly S&P Case Shiller National Home Price Index because it includes both urban and rural areas -- with the government's estimate of what it costs to rent a single-family house. As other economists do, Mr. Greenspan essentially seeks to gauge when it is rational to own a house and when it is rational to sell the house, invest the money elsewhere and rent an identical house next door.
"It's the imbalance of supply and demand which causes prices to go down, but it's ultimately the valuation process of the use of the commodity...which tells you where the bottom is," Mr. Greenspan said, recalling his days trading copper a half century ago. "For example, the grain markets can have a huge excess of corn or wheat, but the price never goes to zero. It'll stabilize at some level of prices where people are willing to hold the excess inventory. We have little history, but the same thing is surely true in housing as well. We will get to the point where there will be willing holders of vacant single-family dwellings, and that will no longer act to depress the price level."
The collapse in home prices, of course, is a major threat to the stability of Fannie and Freddie. At the Fed, Mr. Greenspan warned for years that the two mortgage giants' business model threatened the nation's financial stability. He acknowledges that a government backstop for the shareholder-owned, government-sponsored enterprises, or GSEs, was unavoidable. Not only are they crucial to the ailing mortgage market now, but the Fed-financed takeover of investment bank Bear Stearns Cos. also made government backing of Fannie and Freddie debt "inevitable," he said. "There's no credible argument for bailing out Bear Stearns and not the GSEs."
His quarrel is with the approach the Bush administration sold to Congress. "They should have wiped out the shareholders, nationalized the institutions with legislation that they are to be reconstituted -- with necessary taxpayer support to make them financially viable -- as five or 10 individual privately held units," which the government would eventually auction off to private investors, he said.
Instead, Congress granted Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson temporary authority to use an unlimited amount of taxpayer money to lend to or invest in the companies. In response to the Greenspan critique, Mr. Paulson's spokeswoman, Michele Davis, said, "This legislation accomplished two important goals -- providing confidence in the immediate term as these institutions play a critical role in weathering the housing correction, and putting in place a new regulator with all the authorities necessary to address systemic risk posed by the GSEs."
But a similar critique has been raised by several other prominent observers. "If they are too big to fail, make them smaller," former Nixon Treasury Secretary George Shultz said. Some say the Paulson approach, even if the government never spends a nickel, entrenches current management and offers shareholders the upside if the government's reassurance allows the companies to weather the current storm. The Treasury hasn't said what conditions it would impose if it offers Fannie and Freddie taxpayer money.
Fear that financial markets would react poorly if the U.S. government nationalized the companies and assumed their approximately $5 trillion debt is unfounded, Mr. Greenspan said. "The law that stipulates that GSEs are not backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government is disbelieved. The market believes the government guarantee is there. Foreigners believe the guarantee is there. The only fiscal change is for someone to change the bookkeeping."
In the past, to be sure, Mr. Greenspan's crystal ball has been cloudy. He didn't foresee the sharp national decline in home prices. Recently released transcripts of Fed meetings do record him warning in November 2002: "It's hard to escape the conclusion that at some point our extraordinary housing boom...cannot continue indefinitely into the future."
Publicly, he was more reassuring. "While local economies may experience significant speculative price imbalances, a national severe price distortion seems most unlikely in the United States, given its size and diversity," he said in October 2004. Eight months later, he said if home prices did decline, that "likely would not have substantial macroeconomic implications." And in a speech in October 2006, nine months after leaving the Fed, he told an audience that, though housing prices were likely to be lower than the year before, "I think the worst of this may well be over." Housing prices, by his preferred gauge, have fallen nearly 19% since then. He says he was referring not to prices but to the downward drag on economic growth from weakening housing construction.
Mr. Greenspan urges the government to avoid tax or other policies that increase the construction of new homes because that would delay the much-desired day when home prices find a bottom.
He did offer one suggestion: "The most effective initiative, though politically difficult, would be a major expansion in quotas for skilled immigrants," he said. The only sustainable way to increase demand for vacant houses is to spur the formation of new households. Admitting more skilled immigrants, who tend to earn enough to buy homes, would accomplish that while paying other dividends to the U.S. economy.
He estimates the number of new households in the U.S. currently is increasing at an annual rate of about 800,000, of whom about one third are immigrants. "Perhaps 150,000 of those are loosely classified as skilled," he said. "A double or tripling of this number would markedly accelerate the absorption of unsold housing inventory for sale -- and hence help stabilize prices."
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121865515167837815.html?mod=hpp_us_whats_news
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desibechara
06-19 04:42 PM
My HR called DBEC to get the final status of LC. They replied that "notice of forward" had been issued and since there is no query from that position. They have asked my Hr to call in 15 days to hear the final status.
Have you guys heard anything like "notice of forward"( it was something like this)...
These LC people in dallas are killing me..!
DB
Have you guys heard anything like "notice of forward"( it was something like this)...
These LC people in dallas are killing me..!
DB
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ragz4u
05-23 10:46 AM
This article was a result of the hard work done by Salil. He pursued the local paper to run a story on LEGAL immigration and ensured that we get due media attention
Thanks a bunch Salil.
Btw, the bonus is the Immigration Voice poster in his hand. That was really smart thinking :)
http://www.tulsaworld.com/NewsStory.asp?ID=060523_Ne_A1_Still55192#
Thanks a bunch Salil.
Btw, the bonus is the Immigration Voice poster in his hand. That was really smart thinking :)
http://www.tulsaworld.com/NewsStory.asp?ID=060523_Ne_A1_Still55192#
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dealsnet
08-04 12:15 PM
I have received the card with old number without any restriction in employment. Plain card with name and number. At the SSA office they told me the same. So feel free to get rid of last H1B bundle. (surrender old card for a new freedom card)
Did you recieve old SS# on new card ? or entirely new SS# ?
Did you recieve old SS# on new card ? or entirely new SS# ?
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Daffy_Duck
January 12th, 2005, 06:31 PM
Great shots Lecter. Here's my attempt except the colors are selectively desaturated.
http://www.pbase.com/eclecticphoto/image/38548124.jpg
http://www.pbase.com/eclecticphoto/image/38548124.jpg
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HereIComeGC
11-15 03:18 PM
Nope. Management activities fall into a different job code and you will be breaking AC21 rules by taking up this new role.
If your employer is cooperative and your lawyer is willing write the new job description to fall into the engineering category and not management, you may be OK. But if it is an "awesome" company as you put it, I doubt they will be willing to manipulate your job description.
Anyway, check with them and the lawyer before you give up.
Good luck
No Sir..Management is also included in 15-1031.00 - Computer Software Engineers, Applications. Here is quote from O*Net
"Supervise the work of programmers, technologists and technicians and other engineering and scientific personnel."
Link: http://online.onetcenter.org/link/summary/15-1031.00
If your employer is cooperative and your lawyer is willing write the new job description to fall into the engineering category and not management, you may be OK. But if it is an "awesome" company as you put it, I doubt they will be willing to manipulate your job description.
Anyway, check with them and the lawyer before you give up.
Good luck
No Sir..Management is also included in 15-1031.00 - Computer Software Engineers, Applications. Here is quote from O*Net
"Supervise the work of programmers, technologists and technicians and other engineering and scientific personnel."
Link: http://online.onetcenter.org/link/summary/15-1031.00
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chanduv23
02-17 11:09 AM
Back in 2007, we did a lot of PR work, we pleaded, begged, motivated, requested ... we kept on doing it consistently.
There is a lot of work that needs to be done. The active folks must motivate the passive folks.
There is a lot of work that needs to be done. The active folks must motivate the passive folks.
StuckInTheMuck
07-11 11:59 AM
When I went recently for my EAD renewal FP (I deliberately e-filed EAD renewal to get this FP notice, and it came fast), I took a copy of my I485 receipt notice, and explained to them that I have been waiting for that other FP for almost a year (never opened SR). They promptly took both FPs (code-1 for I485 and code-2 for EAD), and also told me I should never have waited this long, and instead should have contacted them (I guess they meant by Infopass) after 2-3 months.
wandmaker
11-21 04:10 PM
You ask your Ex-coworker to draft a letter with detailed duties and responsibilities and print it on his current companies letterhead. You dont have to get it notarized. I did issue a similar letter for one of my friend, it was long long ago, don't have the format yet. btw, i did not notarized, I just printed, signed and mailed.
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