I have total 5 years experience in IT industry. I am planning to go to US with my husband who is on H1B. His H1b petition is till september end and company is saying will extend it. Project duration is of 3 years. However, I am little bit confused about my career. Will I get job over there on 5 years experience with H1B sponsor? Will Study will be good option during my stay there? I should I wait till H1B gets extended. I am really not getting what to do in this. Kindly suggest on this.
If you know where you guys will be located in US, I would suggest to look for any openings in and around that place which matches your skillset (I assume you will prefer not to live in different locations). That would give you an idea of the availability of positions. If you happen to move to one of the areas like San Francisco Bay Area, or New York/New Jersey, then finding emloyment opportunities is still better.
Even when zeroing on potential H-1 sponsors, you need to be very careful as lot of these companies do not have good track records, and often result in petition denial. You should get in touch w/ your friends, family, colleagues in US to know if they can recommend any consulting company for sponsoring H-1s. When you have someone vouching for a company, it adds more credibility.
If you are unable to find good sponsors, then studying is also a good option. You can complete 1-2 year course, then get OPT and look for employment on H-1 thereafter. Studying in US is an investment and is fruitful in the long run.
As H-1 cap is about to open in April, you need to make the decision now and start looking for sponsors by Feb. If you miss out on this year’s cap, then you will have to wait until April 2014.
Thank you Saurabh. This will defiantly helped me to somehow solve my confusion. We are locating to New Jersey.
For H1 sponsors, do we need any specialized skill set or any certifications? Because I am in automation testing and worked as Testing Lead. Does it require Development background only?
Automated testing is good enough as it requires a Bachelors degree. You can go to dice, monster etc and look for job openings in and around NJ. Then see what the specific requirements are for those roles and start working towards filling those gaps. Certain trainings and certifications do help when you do not have similar on-job experience.