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VISA PREMIUM PROCESSING FOR H-1B AS WELL STARTING JULY 30

As of July 30, 2001, H-1B applicants as well can have their applications processed within two weeks within the US with the help of Premium Processing. For Premium Processing, the applicant's employer has to pay an additional $1,000 to the Immigration Service.

The H-1B is the most used work visa in the US Charges are still increasing, however, because in addition to the new fees there has also been a "normal" fee for some time of $1,000. So now the H-1B costs $2,110 in total. However, we are not under the impression that the higher fees will have a negative effect on the employers' willingness to hire foreign employees. Obviously, they still have such a lack of experts that they pay without a fuss for (highly qualified) foreign persons.

What is a bagel and why is it so special (sequel) Our author is almost constantly hungry, so here is something about his favorite topic today...

According to Webster's dictionary a bagel is a hard bread-roll, made from yeast-dough, formed like a donut and boiled in water before it's baked. The bagel is the only bread product that is cooked before it's baked. This process gives the bagel its specific skin and its shine. Legend has it that in 1683, a Jewish baker in Vienna wanted to thank the Polish King for protecting his compatriots from Turkish attackers. He made a special bread in the form of a stirrup - fitting the King's favorite recreational activity.

When the Eastern European and Jewish immigrants arrived in North America, they brought the bagel with them. The American bagel industry started in New York between 1910 and 1915. The group of 300 craftsmen with "bagels in their blood" limited their members to the sons of their founders. At the time it was probably easier to get medical training than to become a trainee in one of the 36 bagel shops in New York and New Jersey.

In the late 50s and 60s the bakers from New York and New Jersey started spreading to other parts of the country. One of those forerunners who opened a bagel shop in a suburb of Washington DC in 1966 remembers his skeptical landlord who asked him "who would spend 7 cents on something like that?"

Find more about the bagel on www.magazinusa.com/lv2/inside/i_bagel.asp

Let's make our state more attractive to immigrants... thought the governor of Iowa, Tom Vilsack, and promised a sum of $50,000 to those cities who developed projects and ideas to attract immigrants and shared them with other cities and communities. The pilot places are to be Mason City, Fort Dodge and Marshalltown, where the ideas are to be developed. Unfortunately, a number of anti-immigration groups have decided to act against the governor's plans and now it seems the population of the trial regions start doubting the necessity of the ambitious project. Thousands of signatures were collected, expressing the populations protest. They are especially opposed to the idea of immigrants taking away their jobs. Despite the protests the city council of Mason City has approved the governor's plans with 4 Yes and one No vote. Similar results are expected from the other cities.

Scholarship for the US The Deutsch-Amerikanische Studiengesellschaft (German-American study association) offers students a high school year in the US starting August of 2001. Application deadline is October 26, 2001. You will have to pay DM 3,000 yourself for flight and insurance.