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20000 EB Nurse Visas Per Year - HR 5924 Bill Status

To reduce nursing shortage in US, HR 5924 bill would provide 20,000 EB(employment-based) visas per year for three years for nurses. HR 5924 is introduced on April 29, 2008 and the key points that are part of the legislation -- Lifting retrogression for Schedule A workers, 20,000 visa quota, Review Schedule A I-140 cases within 30 days of receipt, A fee of $1500 from Schedule A workers will be used in US school to develop local talent and short the supply. The full bill text is available at this lcoation. Great discussions and updates on this Nurse relief visa legislation at Hammond's Law.

Other bills pending for approvals -- H.R. 5882 (Reduces Green Card Waitimes by acquiring unused past visa numbers), H.R. 6020 (Immigration benefits for immigrant soldiers and their families), HR 5950 (Medical care for immigration detainees).

Labels: Immigration, Immigration to the United States, Nurse, Nursing shortage, Permanent residence, United States, US, Visa

written by Kalyan @ 12:22 PM, ,

2008 October Visa Bulletin EB2, EB3 dates moved back

The suspense is over of what will be the cut off dates for EB2 and EB3 category in October'2008 Visa Bulletin. The October month is when the new fiscal year begins for visa number allotments. The allotments at start of year is always cheering to the numerous immigrants waiting for Greencard approvals.

The Mumbai consulate released the cut-off dates today --

http://mumbai.usconsulate.gov/cut_off_dates.html

Cut Off Dates - U.S. Consulate General Mumbai, India via kwout

Many predictions were that EB2 will slow down and EB3 changes significantly from unavailable to a much advanced date. Mumbai cut-off dates are available now and its back to square one. For EB2 dates are retrogressed to 1 April 2003 where as for EB3 it is 1 July 2001. Some pleasing news for EB3 as it changed from "Unavailable".

Unless the legislation to acquire all unused past Green card numbers is passed, the wait to become numbers current is a day dream.

Here is the link you can find October's 2008 visa bulletin from USCIS

Labels: eb-2, eb-3, Fiscal year, H-1B visa, Immigration, Mumbai, United States, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, USCIS, Visa

written by Kalyan @ 12:51 PM, ,

Free BankOfAmerica weekend Museum Admissions in 2008/2009

Bank Of America is giving away free admissions for its card holders to many museums all over US. This year there are many states included in the promotion like Illinois (Chicago museums) and Michigan. The difference in this promotion is that only on first weekend and just card holders are admitted free. Earlier promotions allowed one free guest with the card holder. As per promotion looks like the cards can be anything credit cards or debit cards.

The savings are around $20 per person. It is better than searching for coupons to get such deals.

Free first weekend BOA museum admissions with dates :

http://promotions.bankofamerica.com/museums/

Museums on Us 2008 via kwout

Free Chicago museum admissions :

1) Art Institute of Chicago
2) Chicago history museum
3) Museum of contemporary art

Museums on Us 2008 via kwout

Labels: Bank of America, Credit card, Debit card, free, KPMG, Museum, United States, US, Visa

written by Kalyan @ 1:06 PM, ,

H1-B visa caps led to High-tech Jobs unfilled

This article in Gazette highlights the problems that Maryland employers facing as a result of 85000 H1-B visa cap. Getting H1-B in US is a lottery system now with so many applicants fiercely competing for meager 65,000 H1-B visas.

Students in US are some what better off in the sense that they can work on F1 visa for 29 months and apply for 20,000 H1-B visas available.

Chamber of commerce's lobbying was not working to increase the cap back to 195,000 quota of 2003.

Is H1-B effecting the salaries and jobs taken away from US workers ?

Globalization and the American IT Worker(pdf).

A number of studies have found that the H-1Bs are paid on average 15% to 33% less than comparable U.S. IT workers.Given the similarity in salary savings between offshoring and labor importation, and the fact that having the work done on-site is far more productive, it is much more cost-effective from a CEO’s point of view to hire H-1Bs than to offshore the work

Labels: H-1B visa, Immigration, Recreation, Society and Culture, Travel, United States, US, Visa

written by Kalyan @ 11:29 AM, ,

CCFsettlement for foreign transactions class action lawsuit on Visa or Mastercard or a Diners Club credit cards

I just received a mail notice from U.S District Court settlement administrator approved refund notice regarding the foreign transaction fees class action suit and settlement.If you have used your Visa or Mastercard or a Diners Club credit cards in another country in the past decade, you can fill out a claim for refund that you got in mail or online at http://www.ccfsettlement.com/

Several major credit card companies were successfully and recently class-actioned for charging unnecessary fees for overseas transactions. The class action law suit claim form specifically states that since our Card Company did not adequately notify card holders of the fee charged between February 1, 1996 and November 8, 2006, we are now entitled to get that fee returned to us.Consumers will share in a $336 million settlement of a lawsuit accusing several banks and credit card groups of conspiring to charge excessive fees on foreign currency transactions.This is a wonderful news for tens of thousands of cardholders, including companies whose employees travel internationally, may recover money.

The first option is a flat $25 payment in trade for forgiving all the card companies from any other claims.My case I'll probably go for this option and I wonder why don’t the credit card companies use their computer records to compute the amount of my foreign charges and relieve me and compensate the excessive fees ? Anyway good that this is unexpected extra cash in our pockets.

Like me many of you should start receiving claim forms in the mail, but if you can’t wait for yours to come, you can download a claim form at http://www.ccfsettlement.com/

Updates :
1] Is this a scam ?

There has been too many rumours that this is a scam.This is NOT a scam.Please check this link.

The settlement, signed off on by U.S. District judge William H. Pauley, covers MasterCard, Visa or Diners Club credit card users who held the credit cards between Feb. 1, 1996, and the preliminary approval date. Final approval is set for November 2007.

Even MSNBC covered this on December 7 about this settlement.

Still not convinced I'd go with 25$ option as we have nothing to loose even if its a scam.

2]When will I get my refund?

After receiving the notice from the mail -- Enter the code into the website and you will receive a claim number.

The settlement website FAQ

When will I get my refund?

Refunds will be paid after the Court finally approves the settlement, and approves any award of attorneys' fees, awards to the class representatives, and allocation of the settlement fund among Settlement Damages Class members, and any appeals related to that approval are resolved. It is possible that this could take several months, or, if appeals are filed, several years. You may want to check this website from time to time for updates.

Labels: class action lawsuit, credit cards, foreign transactions, Mastercard, Visa

written by Kalyan @ 9:59 PM, ,

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About me

I'm Kalyan from Chicago, Illinois, United States. I write articles about Cricket matches and their reviews, Money saving Deals and tips, Immigration info related to Green Card or EAD or AP or H1-B, Road to MBA degree and afterwards. I'm writing in hope and passion that one person will be better because he or she benefits from these posts.

Deals

Cyber Monday 2008 Starts in - Cyber Monday 2008 deals - click me for the post link.

Select the dropdown below for various Deals,
I'll add/update Deals as I find them

Black Friday is day after thanksgiving in US i.e November 28 2008. This is the day almost all stores put items on sale on fire sale prices. They open early in the morning so that consumers stand all night in the cold to buy reputed stores door buster items
> Black Friday 2008 store opening times
> List of All Black Friday 2008 Posts
LCD HDTV Deals , Plasma HDTV Deals , GPS Deals , Wii, PS3, Xbox 360 Video Games Deals , Appliances Deals , Blu-Ray DVD Player Deals , Point-And-Shoot Digital Camera Deals , DSLR Camera Deals , Digital Photo Frame Deals , Camcorder Deals , MP3 Player Deals , Computer Software, Hardware, Memory, Security Deals , Laptop Deals , Desktop Deals , Printers Deals , Home Theater, Receivers Deals
> Black Friday 2008 Websites

All US November 2008 Coupons To be updated ...

Tips and tricks for the deals To be updated ...

Here are % off deals by category [Note the discount % off price below is based on list price and sorted by "BestSelling" in that category], Once you decided the category like say "toys" then Tip:start with 90% off first and if you don't find good deals then go to 80%, 70% ..

Apparel: --> 50% off | 60% off | 70% off | 80% off | 90% off

Baby--> 50% off | 60% off | 70% off | 80% off | 90% off

Beauty--> 50% off | 60% off | 70% off | 80% off | 90% off

Bed/Bath--> 50% off | 60% off | 70% off | 80% off | 90% off

Books--> 50% off | 60% off | 70% off | 80% off | 90% off

Cameras--> 50% off | 60% off | 70% off | 80% off | 90% off

Cell Phones--> 50% off | 60% off | 70% off | 80% off | 90% off

Computers--> 50% off | 60% off | 70% off | 80% off | 90% off

DVD--> 50% off | 60% off | 70% off | 80% off | 90% off

Electronics--> 50% off | 60% off | 70% off | 80% off | 90% off

Furniture--> 50% off | 60% off | 70% off | 80% off | 90% off

Gourmet--> 50% off | 60% off | 70% off | 80% off | 90% off

Grocery--> 50% off | 60% off | 70% off | 80% off | 90% off

Health--> 50% off | 60% off | 70% off | 80% off | 90% off

Home--> 50% off | 60% off | 70% off | 80% off | 90% off

Jewelry--> 50% off | 60% off | 70% off | 80% off | 90% off

Kitchen--> 50% off | 60% off | 70% off | 80% off | 90% off

Magazines--> 50% off | 60% off | 70% off | 80% off | 90% off

Musical--> 50% off | 60% off | 70% off | 80% off | 90% off

Office--> 50% off | 60% off | 70% off | 80% off | 90% off

Outdoors--> 50% off | 60% off | 70% off | 80% off | 90% off

Pet Supplies--> 50% off | 60% off | 70% off | 80% off | 90% off

Shoes--> 50% off | 60% off | 70% off | 80% off | 90% off

Software--> 50% off | 60% off | 70% off | 80% off | 90% off

Sports--> 50% off | 60% off | 70% off | 80% off | 90% off

Tools--> 50% off | 60% off | 70% off | 80% off | 90% off

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VideoGames--> 50% off | 60% off | 70% off | 80% off | 90% off

MBA Resources

Select the dropdown below for various MBA Resources, I'll add more resources as I find them

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20000 EB Nurse Visas Per Year - HR 5924 Bill Status 2008 October Visa Bulletin EB2, EB3 dates moved back Free BankOfAmerica weekend Museum Admissions in 2008/2009 H1-B visa caps led to High-tech Jobs unfilled CCFsettlement for foreign transactions class action lawsuit on Visa or Mastercard or a Diners Club credit cards Before you get too excited about getting your $25 check (yipee), you may be interested to know that the lawyers will be receiving 28% of the $331M settlement. And they pulled this off by "representing" us as plaintiffs in a class action suit. How many of us knew we were a plaintiff? How many of don't like the fact that our "views" can be represented in mass like this without our knowledge or approval? And for what, $25 in "damages" and $80M to some law firm. What's wrong with this picture WOW thats significant money to lawyers. I myself never knew that I'm a plaintiff for this lawsuit until I received the refund form in mail.

Thanks shammydog for sharing the info. Have you actually done any research on this? It sounds like you are blindly accepting what you read in a letter. I also received this letter and am highly suspect. If you received this in your email inbox, would you be so enthusiastic about it? I have not been able to find any evidence that this is not a scam. Just because someone sends an official looking letter, has a website and an 800 number does not mean that it is not a scam. BE CAREFUL and do your homework, especially considering all of the dodgey wording in the letter and the fact that using option number 3 requires you to submit credit card account numbers. Just because someone says you may receive a refund does not really mean you will. You may be waiting a very long time while many innocent people are scammed in the mean time. @Ram - You raised a very good concern and the time line for this notice is until May'2008 and we got enough time to find out more details.

Also I got involved in the past with class action suites with Verizon on restricting some bluetooth features on a e815 Motorola cell phone and successfully got a new phone for free for participating in that action law suit.

Also Sunrocket is another example.

This particular case If I dont research then option#1 is safer one to go for I believe. I was highly suspicious, too. I went online to 'file' the claim, put in the refund ID, and was told to make sure my name and address were correct before submitting. Guess what? It's not going to be correct - they put your first and last name in the 'last name' field, leave the 'first name' field blank, and since the name fieldS are required, prompts you to correct them - when you click the link to correct the name and/or address, it also asks for your credit card number and last 4 digits of your social. NEVER give this information out, people! This is SUCH a scam!!! From all the comments it seems like a scam.... I too recieved this via mail. How do we notify the authorities about this to investigate if this is a scam or not? I still doubt if this to be classified as scam as all major newspapers like CNN,MSNBC reported of this settlement.

A statement from credit card companies would help to clear the doubts that this is not a scam. Actually..i have the same letter.. Guess it is a Scam..coz..in the second page it says "Do not contact the court, the Defendants, or your blank with questions about this case"...guess this rings the alarm bells loud guys!! It's interesting that if you google CCF settlement there is no mention on the first couple of pages about this thing from any source other than people's blogs which, while entertaining and informative, are not usually on the Reuters line. About 5 pages into the search I found a local news affiliate of NBC had reported on it, but it didn't look as if they had done any research on it, so I sent them an e-mail asking them to follow-up on it - most channels have those candid camera type programs where they will go do the snooping for the community.

I did see a couple of BBB statements, though, so I'm not sure. Still, for my money I think I'll feel safer being $25 less rich if it means that I know nobody has my bank info other than me and my bank! from all the evidence I have seen so far it could be one of these two things
1. A scam based on an accurate information(according to the news)they just jumped at a chance to scam you by getting your info ( SSN, Bank info) because if the lawyers in question win this case the banks would just refund you the extra fee charged
2. Not a Scam but a rather fool hearty mission because who has ever won a case when there is so much money in question the US banks own this country and it's highly unlikely that they would let a case like this ever be settled in the near feature, they will keep this case tied up for years to come.

At least in my case I was charged only around $30 for foreign transactions because I always take cash and lots of it with me, I know it's unsafe but it's the only way to avoid feeding the fatcats in Washington. Not a scam, I am in the Air Force, and we just got email traffic from the top, saying it is not a scam whatsoever, and that we are free to claim our personal credit cards. Dale,

Do you have documentation that states this is not a scam that you can forward on to us?

Kindly,
Mimi It is a scam people. I was cautious and I sent my claim for the $25.00 refund by certified mail to the PO BoX address in Philadelphia. As of today, no one has picked up the form and my bank notified me last week that they had canceled my debit card and they will reissue another without providing a lot of info to me. Thank God. Some people who have never left the States also had received notification from this settlement. How they did get access to our personal info, who knows. Anyway, we need to notify authorities in PA and the US District Court about this settlement. Total scam by the info that all of you have come up with, 25 dollars is not worth the thousands that one will surely pay to cleanup there credit and name when they will suffer for there trust in this B S! They can have my so called 25 dollars and shove IT! im tired of peoples weak attempts to get rich, GET A JOB....We should Call the FBI and notify them. THE MAC from the O.C. I lived in UK for several years during this period and the sums involved are large, but w/ always shifting currency exchange rates it was impossible to know what was happening - you can bet though that if the shoe were on the other foot the banks would bleed us dry - with interest but there's been no mention of what interest we're being paid as of yet and why is this a class action suit instead of being handled by the justice dept?
Why do we have to pay people to enforce the law? How is it you can steal a half billion dollars and no one goes to jail? the crimes began in 96 , twelve years ago and the issue is still not settled? What ever happened to swift and sure justice?

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