TANA Scholarships for Telugu students planning to Study in USA

TANA Foundation of USA is pleased to announce seven $2000/- (two thousand dollars) Graduate Scholarships for Telugu students who are currently residing in Andhra Pradesh ONLY to pursue higher education in the USA in 2013-2014 academic year. Each scholarship recipient will receive $500 each semester upon submission of the Grades received in the previous semester and a request from the recipient to TANA Foundation stating that he/she has completed the course work successfully in the previous semester.

TANA FOUNDATION'S GRADUATE SCHOLARSHIPS(2013-2014)

SCHOLARSHIP’S NAME	SPONSORS
Chereddi NarayanaRao & Radhamanohari (of Guntur, A.P)	Padmavathy & Ravindranath Guthikonda of Edison, N.J, U.S.A.
Gadde Sitaramamma & Tirupataiah (of Tullur, Guntur Dt., A.P)	Swarajyalakshmi & Sudhir Babu Guthikonda of Fulton, N.Y, U.S.A.
Guthikonda BasavapunnaRao & Umadevi (of Tenali, Guntur Dt., A.P)	Swarajyalakshmi & Sudhir Babu Guthikonda of Fulton, N.Y, U.S.A. & Padmavathy & Ravindranath Guthikonda of Edison, N.J, U.S.A.
Guthikonda Ramabrahmam & Balamani (of Moparru, Guntur Dt., A.P)	Swarajyalakshmi & Sudhir Babu Guthikonda of Fulton, N.Y, U.S.A. & Padmavathy & Ravindranath Guthikonda of Edison, N.J, U.S.A.
Kodali Veeraiah & Sarojini (of Tenali, Guntur Dt., A.P)	Swarajyalakshmi & Sudhir Babu Guthikonda of Fulton, N.Y, U.S.A. & Padmavathy & Ravindranath Guthikonda of Edison, N.J, U.S.A.
Vallabhaneni Sukundamma & Lakshmaiah (of Zampani, Guntur Dt., A.P)	Satyavathy & YugandharaRao Vallabhaneni of Flemington, N.J, U.S.A
TANA Foundation Graduate Scholarship	TANA Foundation

2010-2011 Scholarship Recipients >>

Applicant's eligibility for TANA Scholarship

• Must have been admitted to a Graduate School in a US University in2013-2014 academic year. Students already in the USA will not be eligible to apply.
• Must show need for financial aid. TANA Foundation will assess the need based also on the information received independently from sources other than that provided by the applicant.
• Each recipient must promise to support financially, through TANA Foundation, a new Telugu student from Andhra Pradesh within three years after arriving in the USA. Recipient must be willing to be in touch with TANA Foundation on half yearly basis until such promise is fulfilled.

Application Requirements

THERE IS NO FORMAL APPLICATION.
e-Mail applications & scanned attachments of supporting documents may be sent toprasadkakarala@yahoo.com by July 25, 2013. However hard copies of the application and authentic supporting documents shall be sent by regular air mail or Express Mail only. Registered letters are not necessary and will only delay the applications.

THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION IS REQUIRED

1. Name, Address with pin code and Phone number (if available) of applicant.
2. Profession and annual Income of applicant. (Enclose all documents in support) 
3. Name, Address, and Phone number of Parents.
4. Professions and annual incomes of parents. (Enclose all documents in support)
5. Net worth of all assets (homes, cars, land, farms, business, savings, investments etc.) of applicant and parents together. (Enclose all documents in support)
6. High School and College educational qualifications and work experience of the applicant. (Enclose a copy of the transcripts)
7. Name, Address and Phone number of the department and the University in the US where the applicant intends to enroll. (Enclose a copy of the letter of admission)
8. Sources to finance your education including financial aid and loans. (Enclose copies of letters of financial aid, loan documents, bank statements and I-20 Form from the University where the applicant is enrolling)
9. A letter of recommendation from one of your most recent lecturers, Professors etc. explaining your academic accomplishments and justifying financial need to receive TANA Foundation Scholarship. Emphasis on justification of financial need is essential.
10. A signed applicant's statement that you promise to support, through TANA Foundation, a new Telugu student from Andhra Pradesh within three years, and that you promise to be in touch with TANA Foundation on half yearly basis until such promise is fulfilled.
11. TANA Foundation's Scholarship check will be paid directly to the University where student is planning to enroll. Checks will not be issued in the name of the recipient.

Selection Process for TANA Scholarship

TANA Foundation is pleased to announce these seven scholarships for the upcoming academic year sponsored by the above mentioned donors to provide more opportunities for higher education in the USA. Selection will be based on (a) need, (b) merit,grades, and recommendations, (c) scores in standardized tests like GRE, TOEFL, (d) reputation of the College/University in India from which the applicant is graduating , (e) reputation of the school in North America in which the applicant is planning to pursue higher education, (f) the field of study in which the applicant is planning higher education, (g) extra curricular activities the applicant is proficient in, and (i) only if the applicantis a Telugu student from Andhra Pradesh. Since the selection committee will consist of some non-Telugu professionals to avoid any bias in the selection process, it is essential that only truly meritorius and needy students are encouraged to apply so that the selection committee will not be inundated with too many applications to screen. It is also essential that all scholarship applications are received with all supporting documents on or before the last date. The applicant's "need" will be assessed based on the information received (a) from the applicant, and (b) from TANA Foundation's own sources in Andhra Pradesh.

If you feel that you meet the above eligibility and requirements, please send your required details with enclosures to Prasad Choudary Kakarala, 66 Harvest Lane, Tiffin, OH 44883, USA (prasadkakarala@yahoo.com) so as to reach before July 25th, 2013.

Obama Planning to Issue 34 million Greencards

Obama's Administration looking for Contractors to supply 34 million green cards. Proposal for Greencard printing is on the govt website. It's a big news for the Immigration community who are waiting on Greencards for many years. It's a life changing news for people living in US Illegally and separated from families. It's a Game changing news in US Politics too. 

Why Ordering for 34 million Empty Greencards is a Big news?

USCIS issue less than a million Greencards every year including Family, employee based category and Diversity visa lottery. Over the next 5 years USCIS may need only 5 million Empty cards. But this announcement if for 34 million Greencards.

President Obama has been stressing out that he would sign the executive order to issue Work permit to the Illegal immigrants living in this country and he would help the US Businesses by supporting High skilled immigration which is nothing but Greencards for Employment based categories. He clearly specified that he would take action after mid term elections on November 4th.

Key things in Greencard production Bid proposal

FedBizOpps.gov said it is planning to order these empty cards to prepare Permanent Resident Cards(PRC) and Employment Authorization Documentation (EAD).

Highlights of the proposal includes - 
Vendor company must be able to Supply minimum of 4 million Greencards a year.
In the first year 9 million greencards may be needed.
Total order will not exceed 34 million.
They must store the empty card until government needs them.

What It means for Masters Students in USA, EB2 and EB3 categories?

With out giving EADs or Greencards to legal workers staying in USA govt can't issue GCs to Illegal immigrants. For sure EB2 and EB3 people will be the primary beneficiaries. Eliminating the country cap and increasing the number of greencards to EB2 and EB3 categories is expected.

Obama will do something good for Masters students directly since Immigration reform mentioned International Students who graduated from US Institutions will be given preference in Issuing Greencard . They might get a separate pipeline. Espicially Technology giants like Facebook, Google, Microsoft are looking for this and pushing the skilled immigration reform.

H4 EAD

EAD for H4 visa holders another primary announcement OBama made couple of months back. Over a million un-employed spouses of H1B Visa workers will get immediate EAD if everything goes well.

H-1B Visa 2015: USCIS Formally Announces on Petition Acceptance and Premium Processing Dates

USCIS (United States Citizenship and Immigration Services) announces regarding the H-1B Visa for the Fiscal Year 2015. The USCIS will be accepting the applications for the H-1B Visa Petitions from the 1st April of 2014, Tuesday. The H-1B Visa Premium Processing service for cap-subject petitions would begin from no later than 28th April 2014 as per USCIS.

USCIS Anticipates H-1B Visa 2015 Cap to reach within the first 7 Days from April 1st2014

 USCIS anticipates that they may receive more number of H-1B visa petitions this year, which may exceed the cap between 1st April 2014 and 7th April 2014. USCIS assumes a lottery system would come in place, if the H-1B petitions would exceed the cap.

USCIS Lottery System

The USCIS Lottery System is said to be a Random Selection Process. USCIS conducts a computer generated random selection process to select which H-1B petitions filed would continue to full adjudication. The same process was implemented during the Fiscal Year 2014, when approximately 124,000 petitions were received within the first five days of the eligible period per USCIS.

Premium Processing Starts No Later Than 28th April 2014

Premium Processing Adjudication starts no later than 28th April 2014. An H-1B Visa Petition filed and pending can also be upgraded to a premium processing, but only when a receipt notice is issued by the USCIS.  All requests for premium processing received between April 1, 2014, and probably April 28, 2014, will be adjudicated when premium processing begins on April 28, 2014 (or earlier) as per the USCIS.

So, the 15-day processing period will not begin until the actual premium processing start date (No later than 28th April 2014). So, even though your H-1B petition was filed on the 1st of April under premium processing and not subject to the cap, you may not expect to receive a decision within 15 days from 28th April 2014.

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H1B VISA 2015 – The Race Begins Today!

H-1B Visa 2015 Applications are officially being accepted from today by the USCIS. The applications are for the Fiscal Year 2015, which starts from October 1st 2014 and ends September 30th 2015.

According to the predictions by the USCIS, huge number of applications is expected to arrive with in the first 5 days from today and it is definite that there would be a lottery this fiscal year, just like how the lottery was held for the Fiscal Year 2014. For those who plan to file for H-1B during this fiscal year, it is time to file them as soon as possible within the first 5 days of April 2014.

Check the post on USCIS Update regarding H-1B Petition Acceptance and Premium Processing Dates

H1B Visa 2015 – Premium Processing

USCIS mentions applicants can file under premium processing starting April 1st 2014.  Although, premium processing at the USCIS will start no later than April 28th 2014. So, if you are filing your H-1B application under premium processing you may likely not hear from the USCIS in April 2014.

H-1B VISA 2015 QUOTA

The current H-1B Visa Cap is 65,000 visa cap each year, with an additional of 20,000 visas dedicated for master’s category applicants.

Check out the H1B Visa 2015 Q&A to learn about the process and procedure.

 H1BWiki will provide the visitors regular updates on the H-1B Visa Cap and predictions.

Green Card Process – Flow Chart

Green Card Process – Flow Chart

H-1B 2015 Predictions: Will there be a lottery again?

There have been many expectations on H1B 2015 already. It looks like the quota would be complete even before we realize it started. In 2012, the USCIS and the State Department began applying a much stricter standard when adjudicating L1 petitions and visa applications. The result in 2013 was that substantially fewer workers came to the United States in that category.

High Scrutiny in 2013

In 2013 we saw the consequence of this heightened scrutiny: H1B visa petitions reached to annual quota limit within days of the new filing period opening because the companies that had been bringing employees in as L1B workers decided to bring new workers in as H1Bs instead.

B1 Route Shut Down

With the B1 route now shut down, look for even more demand in the H1B category. Without question, the quota will be reached within the first two days of the filing period. This means that the USCIS must hold the registration period open for five business days. Next year, since April 1st occurs on a Tuesday, this means that the registration period will remain open for seven calendar days until Monday, April 7th.

H1B 2015 Estimate

Only those petitions physically received by the USCIS during this five day window will be eligible for the lottery. Those that are delivered before April 1st, or after April 7th will be rejected outright.

This past year, we saw approximately 124,000 H1B petitions filed during the five day window. A lottery was then held to select the 85,000 (65,000 regular cap and 20,000 master’s cap) petitions that would be processed.

With the continuing crackdown on L1B petitions, as well as the virtual elimination of B1s, it is reasonable to expect 180,000 or more petitions to be filed during the window next April. This likelihood of being selected will be about 45%. It also means that it will not be possible to file a “cap subject” H1B petition after the five day filing windows close.

This is a Guest Post by Attorney Jim Gotcher, Global Immigration Partners. H1B Wiki would like to thank Jim for providing valuable information to H1BWiki visitors.

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