Hi Theo! As a french from centrale lille who already worked as an intern in San Diego your story is frightening.

I have a new intern offer in San Diego (I love this city) with a very good possibility of being hired after. Hope I will get my HB1 but if not I won't mind cheating like Indians.

Easiest way to get a green card is getting maried. As a french you should have used your French bonus of +5 attractiveness with girls :P

H1B game is fucked up for europeans anyway.

Just out of curiosity, how do you feel about the people on Hacker News who hate immigrant software engineers, and incessantly harangue here for the end to skilled immigration, every time the H1B visa comes up?

Is there any point to this comment except to stir up uncomfortable emotions?

I don't feel targeted to be honest :)

Do you have other options to get in?

I'm glad this article shows legitimate uses of the H-1B like you.

I made the math, if you don't have an advanced degree from the US, then the chance to get the H-1B is around 30%. With the advanced degree it's around 70%...

Good luck to you!

I'm working on another visa. I also started my own venture now: http://www.jobsintech.io

Just a suggestion, perhaps a company could directly apply for an EB-2 visa for you. The main requirement for it is a master's degree in the area of the job offer. The application process might take 12 to 18 months though. But the good thing is that you are issued a greencard as soon as you land in the United States.

Even the advanced degree route is fully gamed by mediocre Indian students. See my comment: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10540365

Can you please stop generalizing mediocre Indian students gaming the system? What evidence do you have to prove your fact? Let me tell you my story just to get some facts straight:

I did my undergrad in Mechanical Engineering from a small city in India. By 3rd year of Engineering, I realized I wasn't cut out to be a good Mechanical Engineer, as I wasn't enjoying CAD/CAM as much as I enjoyed writing C code. I decided it is in my best interests that I turn to programming as a profession, so I worked hard to get selected in campus placements to TCS (Yes, the same shit job which you said is beneath you). I took the job because none of the top tier companies would even look at my resume and this is best shot to work my way up. I spent close to 3 years of my time at TCS learning the basics of Programming, Web Development. Later based on my experience at TCS, I applied to top schools in US and got admitted into a top tier CS school. I took a massive education loan of 50k$ to pursue my MS in CS. Upon completion, after 13 attempts, I landed in a good start up and have ever since been working up the chain building products. I don't think I am an 10X Engineer, but I am regarded as one of the better Engineers in my company. It took a lot of motivation and courage to take such massive loans and pursue my higher education. I know of several people who have done something very similar to what I have done. So, please don't make these biased statements that just disparage the efforts of 1000's of students who come to US in hopes of a better tomorrow.

Rather than link to your own comment why this Time article saying the same thing (India is graduating zillions of cheaters)?

http://time.com/3752128/india-bihar-exam-cheating-climbing-w...

People will be more inclined to believe Time I think :)

I am in pretty much the same situation : very skilled in my branch but still need to play the H1B lottery in order to emigrate (and before that, find a company willing to subject itself to this bullshit).

I don't think this article can hurt your chances in any way but unless the system is revamped in order to remove these shitty outsourcing companies from it, we will have to get lucky next year..

Theo, what is the startup you are doing in France? Any prospects of coming back to the US to do a startup, or is your visa situation permanently screwed up?

How about Canada ? it is way easier for a french to move there than USA, if you have a solid education.

yup it's easier. But not as sexy.

what's up theo, david here! Your story always scared me so much, even more since I might be applying for one soon... and in my situation, I also have a girlfriend I wish could come to the US...