Hi,

Sorry to burst your bubble, but it's not that easy. In paper, it looks fine but in reality, it's harder than it is.

To get your H-1B visa, an employer has to sponsor you. IN this sponsorship, basically what immigration will look for (that the sponsoring company has to prove) is that the person being sponsored (you) is an individual of exceptional quality that no other American can do the job that the position has to be outsourced to a foreigner (you again). This is where most Hi-B applications fail. Another factor to consider is that there is an annual quota of H1-B visas relased each year that basically starts in October. When the doors of immigration opens this in October, lawyers who have H1-B applications on their hands rush to get theirs in, and so almost always, this window shuts after about 2 weeks, probably less. You have to have a very good lawyer with lots of connections to be able to muscle in your application before the cut-off is met and the doors are shut. And this is considering you have what it takes to be granted the H1-B, based on the arguement above.

It is not to discourage you, I have an IT degree as well, finished in the US, but ended up in banking. Loved the experience, mind you, but in IT, most ads you'll see there are for people with alot of experience. You might get lucky, but that's the path you're looking at.

I spoke with a very good immigration lawyer when I was there, courtesy of family connections, and explored my options, which I will share with you.

Your other option would be an L-1 visa, also known as an intercompany transferee visa. Say wherever country you are, your company has an office in the US. Your company will apply on your behalf an L-1 visa and send you to the US. That's alot easier and more feasible than the H1-B, as your chances of approval are higher. But you ar eonly eligible for this L-1 visa if you've been working for that company for at least a year.

Do explore this option.

As for the green card, once you're in the US on your H1-B or L-1, you count 5 years before you can obtain permanent residence, or the green card.

As for the H1-B linked to employers, yes the H1-B is linked to whoever applied it for you. So if you transferred jobs, that new company will have to do the same process.

Good luck.