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Computerworld - Ask Debbie Kaylor what the best things about hiring foreign national technology workers under the H-1B visa program are, and she quickly cites cultural exchange and "really great Indian dinners."
On further reflection, Kaylor, a recruiting manager at Extended Systems Inc., a software development firm in Boise, Idaho, says the real advantage, obviously, is getting skilled technology workers during a time of great shortage.

			Tips for H-1B Hiring What happens after the hiring manager identifies a foreign national job candidate and wants to hire him? Here are some tips from David E. Yurkofsky, co-chairman of the Continuing Legal Education Committee of the New York chapter of the Washington-based American Immigration Lawyers Association: •Make sure it's a job that requires a four-year college degree. If other workers doing the job didn't have college degrees at the time they were hired (or the mandated equivalent of 12 years' work experience), it is, by definition, not an H-1B position. •Ensure that the job is paying the prevailing wage. This means checking the proposed wage against labor department statistics for the occupation and geographic region of the U.S. or, if those figures aren't available, conducting an independent survey. •Use the Department of Labor's fax-back system to obtain an approved labor-condition application. Also note: 3A company can't hire someone until his H-1B is approved. •If the candidate was already working through an H-1B visa at another company in a similar type of job, he can begin working at the new job as soon as the application has been filed. •Other filing requirements and frequently asked questions are available online at the Immigration and Naturalization Service's Web site: www.ins.usdoj.gov.

With the near doubling this year of the number of H-1B workers that can be sponsored annually, Kaylor says, many IT managers will soon be discovering this source of IT labor for the first time. The intense competition for those visas by sponsoring companies and the time involved in getting an application approved puts the burden on IT managers to learn the process quickly.
"You learn a lot going through the process, but my advice is to use an attorney and not to risk making mistakes like filling out the form wrong and getting it sent back," Kaylor says.
In fact, communication, tenacity and good legal counsel - not to mention a multinational approach to hiring - are the best assets to have when using the H-1B visa program to fill technical positions.
Take MasterCard International Inc. in Purchase, N.Y., for example. The financial services firm