
Show HN: Find tech jobs that come with a visa - negrit
http://www.jobsintech.io
======
negrit
For those interested by the stack:

\- RoR, twitter bootstrap and some jquery.

\- The search is powered by Algolia.

\- The server is on a OVH dedicated server.

\- Deployment with Capistrano and Active Job is paired with sidekiq :)

Also something that is not mentioned anywhere on the website. Job posted are
distributed to +- 20 US universities(USC, UCSD, Cal Tech, Standford, ...) and
few French computer science schools.

And I forgot to mention, it's 100% right now.

~~~
eloisant
OVH, Algolia... Is that built by French people?

~~~
negrit
Correct sir. I'm French :) However I chose Algolia because the service is spot
on and I'm a long time fan of OVH. They're have a really good service and they
are cheap!

~~~
UserRights
OVH quality seems to be changing dramatically. I tested one of the new vps
offers and it was totally laggy, with freezes and disconnects. But what really
disappointed me was the fact that I got zero reaction from OVH support, even
after three emails - seriously, no reaction. This is new to me, they have
always played very well, but this was very bad.

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yayolius
Every work in there comes with a visa, or just a part of them? Because i can't
find information about that in the website

~~~
negrit
The companies posting the offers are willing to sponsor a work visa for the
person(s) applying to the job ads if it's a good fit.

~~~
joeyspn
Awesome, this was also my doubt... Hopefully now that you're in the front page
more companies will post their offers. A lot of people would love to explore
new cultures! =)

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winmillwill
Here's a script I've been using in my search for a job in the UK:

github.com/winmillwill/uk_sponsors.sh

Note that this doesn't do anything to verify that the company has jobs in
tech, or if they're actually in London or nearby, or if they have a position
listed for which they would sponsor a visa. I just use it to eliminate an
otherwise promising listing if they can't sponsor.

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cupofjoakim
Cool stuff - would be nice with some filtering though, it kind of sucks that
you have to go in to each individual ad to actually see if they sponsor
visa's.

~~~
negrit
Yes, definitively coming in the next release!

For the time being I tweaked the search to only return jobs that sponsors for
visas.

Thanks for the feedback!

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dataker
There's nothing worse than being qualified and fitting in a company, but
hearing "sorry, no visa sponsorship"

~~~
nnd
At least you've hopefully learned something from the programming challenges if
there were any. And then you shouldn't feel bad about something that is out of
your control.

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swalsh
This is kind of cool! At one point a while ago, I really wanted to move out of
the US to Europe or anywhere for a year or two. It seemed like an exciting
idea.

A bit late for me though... I have kids and a mortgage now :(

~~~
davidw
It's not easy, but still doable. And think what a great chance for your kids
to learn another language and experience a different way of life!

------
zerr
Another idea to expand: find tech jobs that _don 't_ do flawed SiliValley
style whiteboard algorithm coding interviews.

And also add REMOTE support to that...

~~~
collyw
Actually having done various coding tests recently, I decided that whiteboard
in front of people is probably my favored method.

At least that way I can explain my thought process. Far better than "You have
two hours to design, implement and test this". Sure, if the domain a clone of
your everyday work its quite feasible, but any other problem, I prefer to
think through properly rather than rush it. I personally see that as a sign of
my maturity as a developer.

~~~
zerr
Besides the specific stressful situation (which one will never experience on
the job, doing day-to-day duties), one thing that is really flawed in those
kind of interviews - it is assumed that you spent several months preparing for
coding interviews. Many don't have a time for this, and many don't even enjoy
these kind of puzzles, competitive programming. There is nothing wrong with
that.

~~~
balls187
> it is assumed that you spent several months preparing for coding interviews.

Not all companies are like that.

The point for prepping is that you're likely going to go through several
coding interviews at a variety of companies, and the upfront prep time is to
kick the tires on those skills.

Whiteboard coding _is_ a skill, and like any skill can be mastered with
practice.

~~~
collyw
I like the fact that you can explain the way you are thinking. You might not
get things right, but people can see where you are heading. As opposed to
google's test where a brilliant solution popped randomly into my head. Half an
hour after the phone interview.

------
gorkemyurt
Getting an H1B is is getting harder every year its expected to be less than
50/50 chance, so this website is more like; jobs that come with a chance to
enter the lottery so that you can start working in 7-8 months

~~~
negrit
H1B isn't the only visa available to work in the US. It doesn't take 8 months
to get the visa once you applied.

~~~
gorkemyurt
Well you can only apply in April.. So what happens if you get the job in
August :) ?

~~~
almassapargali
If employer really needs it, one can work remotely for a while.

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vayarajesh
I was really looking for this specific option "visa". I have applied many
companies and unfortunately the process for rejected due to the visa issue.

Nice work!

Do you know if there is such site for other departments like Biotech or
Research ?

~~~
negrit
I'm not aware of such website. The visa situation is not easy. For a previous
job in the US I had to explain why sponsoring for a visa was not complicated
and not time consuming.

------
yellowapple
Apparently "everywhere in the world" consists entirely of San Francisco,
Paris, and _maybe_ Palo Alto ;)

Cool idea regardless; just needs a more diverse assortment of job offers.

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archlight
It is good initiative. I am looking for a job in US without immigration
intention. I just want to spend good time in vast land with beautiful nature
before my 2 years old son goes to school. currently we stayed in city state on
tropical island. it is clean and civilized and low tax. but just nowhere to go
during the weekend other than air conditioned shopping mall. seriously I am
open to be exploited

------
myth_buster
Does this aggregate postings from different sites or does it only show jobs
posted there? A blanket search on Colorado doesn't return any. :(

~~~
negrit
No aggregation is being done. I don't have a lot of jobs yet.

~~~
hauget
Would be great if you aggregated job postings with H1Bs or similar from
HNhiring. GREAT PROJECT though!

~~~
negrit
I thought about doing, definitively on one of my todolist!

Thanks for the kind words.

------
lochieferrier
Great service, spotted a typo. "You've applied for the job, you should hear
back form the Plume Labs soon! Good Luck!"

Keep it up dude!

~~~
negrit
Thanks! Correcting it asap!

------
djapolinares
Hello. Thank you so much for this article. This is very helpful to me because
I can now learn french via skype. I have also tried some lessons by skype with
a native speaker from [http://preply.com/en/french-by-
skype](http://preply.com/en/french-by-skype) and it was also worth trying.

------
gokhan
Unrelated, but the mission description on this one is really interesting.
Delivering ads fast in a competitive environment is quite a beast. (See 'Your
mission'):

[http://www.jobsintech.io/jobs/senior-data-
scientist-020615-c...](http://www.jobsintech.io/jobs/senior-data-
scientist-020615-criteo)

~~~
stingraycharles
As the ex-founder of an online adserving platform that did similar things, I
concur; the whole reason I got into that world was because the technical
challenges are so.. well, challenging.

Having said that, it was the most stressful 8 years of my life, I learned so
much, but I would never want to go back fo that again.

By the way, Criteo is a fairly big name in the CPC/remnant inventory world,
and they are used almost all over the world. The qualifications look brutal,
too brutal in my opinion -- it seems to be only about qualifications, and none
of the people I hired had qualifications like that. I suggest that if this job
interests you, and you have some leverage, apply anyway.

------
ttty
They should add the "react" skill!

~~~
sunilkumarc
The reason why React probably has not been added is, it is a relatively new
technology. And there are only few companies out there who are using it right
now.

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mFixman
From where do you get the list of companies? Both Facebook and Google sponsor
H1B visas, and neither is on this site.

~~~
negrit
I know, it's a pity they did not use my service :(

Kidding, the jobs are posted by the companies. It's not a job directory :)

------
toaskaquestion
Are there other job finding sites like these? Not necessarily ones that come
with a visa. Thanks!

~~~
negrit
I'm not aware of competitors yet.

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louhike
I think there is a bug. There is a window on the right side telling "French
jobs aren't being displayed. You can change it:".

But at the same time, I can see : "Full Stack Developper Afrostream Paris,
France Logo Mission"

~~~
negrit
Good catch, I'll look into it asap. What browser are you running?

~~~
louhike
Google Chrome (sorry if it is too late)

------
skatenerd
I moved to Beijing, and started working for a healthcare startup. I'm finally
on a legitimate work visa. It was a pain, but I'm definitely glad I did it.

Found the job by writing cold emails to people in Beijing through meetup.com

------
somehnreader
How does this tie in with the H1B situation in the US?

That means these companies are willing to try, but that only gives you a 50/50
chance for the H1B, as everywhere else, right?

~~~
negrit
Yeah, if they decide to sponsor you for a H1B but this is not the only visa
available for work.

~~~
winter_blue
> but this is not the only visa available for work

Hmm, care to elaborate?

I don't think there's any US work visa that is _easier_ to obtain than the
H-1B. As far as I know:

* The L-1 visa is only for intra-company transfers, so unsuitable in most cases.

* The O-1 visa is for proven extraordinary talent, and as such is inaccessible to 99.9% of the population.

* The EB-3 visa has a 4+ year waiting periods, so out of the question.

* The EB-2 visa, if you have a master's degree (related to the job), and were not born in India or China, can be obtained in circa ~1 year. (Labor certification alone could take nine months to a year.)

* The J-1 visa lets your work for a short amount time, but imposes a 2-year ban after the year is over. Anyone even mildly considering moving to the U.S. for longer than a year and half would not use this visa.

* International students in the U.S. can work for a short amount of time after graduation with OPT. But this requires being a international student in the US, of course.

* The EB-1 visa is primarily used by managers transitioning from L-1A visas. The "extraordinary talent" EB-1 oddly has a much higher standard than the O-1. (A good candidate would be a Nobel prize laureate.) For all practical purposes, it is inaccessible to 99.9999% of the world population.

So right now, the "best" alternative to the H-1B is the EB-2. But a company
will have to wait for a whole year vs. the 6-7 months for the H-1B. In
addition, labor certification is a very expensive process costing around
$10k-$20k. It's not guaranteed to return a positive result either. A single
_minimally_ qualified U.S. worker could bar the entry of the potential would-
be immigrant.

So in your knowledge, is there any visa that's actually easier to obtain than
an H-1B and that offers the (AC21) job portability of an H-1B as well?

~~~
GFischer
Nice, I didn't know about the EB-2 visa (and I do have a master's degree).

Would a prospective employer find an EB-2 sponsorship easier, harder,
preferrable than an H1B visa? I understand the 1 year vs 6 months, but it's a
50% chance with those 6 months. Does it have less restrictions on job
switching?

~~~
winter_blue
In terms of freedom, an EB-2 visa is actually a green card category. An EB-2
or EB-3 confers permanent residency status, which means you can do whatever
you want. Start a new company, be unemployed, apply for citizenship, etc. You
enjoy the same rights as citizens in almost every regard except voting (and
running for office).

A correction though: the EB-2 (and any employment-based green card) takes
about 21 months or more to process right now. So a company is looking at a
circa 2+ years processing time. Because of how complex, expensive, difficult,
and time-consuming the process is, I don't know if a lot of employers would
use it to bring someone over to the US.

In nearly 99% cases, companies bring people over on an H-1 or L-1, and then
over a period of 2-3 years (or more) help them transition to permanent
residency (via EB-2 or EB-3) if they really like the person (i.e. you're
performance is excellent, etc).

Unfortunately it's really really hard[1] to immigrate to the US. Most people
do _not_ realize how hard it is. The "easiest" route unfortunately, is to
interview with companies that are willing to apply for an H-1B, and then take
your chances at the annual lottery. You'll have to find a job with a company
willing to sponsor by mid-March in order to be able to have a shot at coming
to the US that year in October.

[1] Recently a bipartisan group of senator published a document that lays out
a framework for immigrition reform. In it, they acknowledge: "Our failure to
act is perpetuating a broken system which sadly discourages the world’s best
and brightest citizens from coming to the United States and remaining in our
country to contribute to our economy. This failure makes a legal path to entry
in the United States _insurmountably difficult for well meaning immigrants_."
(see:
[http://www.flake.senate.gov/documents/immigration_reform.pdf](http://www.flake.senate.gov/documents/immigration_reform.pdf)
– page 3) The phrase " _insurmountably difficult_ " describes very well the
status quo of the U.S. immigration system.

~~~
GFischer
Thank you very much for your answer.

I agree, I've certainly been discouraged of immigrating to the U.S. due to the
legal system there.

I know several H1B visa holders, and while they're not doing badly (they might
be shorted a little salarywise, but not too much), they're pretty much tied to
their jobs (good thing they're on megacorps and can shuffle between divisions,
but they're severely limited in their job choices).

~~~
winter_blue
You are completely wrong on H1B visa holders being tied to their jobs. H-1B
holders can switch jobs quite easily. A law (commonly called "AC21") passed in
2000 enabled H1B visa holders to change jobs with ease[1].

I know plenty of H1B that have switched jobs with no problems. I don't where
this ridiculous myth originated. Also: there's absolutely nothing that
prevents you from getting paid well on an H-1B. If you're being underpaid, you
can find a company that'll pay you as you deserve, and yes, switch jobs.

[1] In tech, it's extremely easy for H1B visa holders to change jobs. That's
because, pretty much every tech company will sponsor an H1B transfer (not all
companies will do an original/initial H1B petition though). Perhaps in other
fields, it's a little harder to find a company that'll do a transfer.

------
vbezhenar
Searching for Java shouldn't return JavaScript results.

~~~
negrit
True, thanks for the feedback. I need to tweak the search.

------
pskittle
Do you list companies that are pro-remote?

~~~
codezero
You can also check out this repo for remote friendly companies:
[https://github.com/lukasz-madon/awesome-remote-
job/](https://github.com/lukasz-madon/awesome-remote-job/)

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knocte
If you look for "C#", you don't get C# jobs. Typical keyword bug in job sites.

~~~
negrit
You're right, the search need more work. This is def something I will work on.

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DaveMiller
I don't know about you guys , but i feel that US visas and UK work permits are
becoming easier to get through these days ... i remember 10 years ago
switching jobs in london that would sponsor me was a pain! now it's quite
easy. Do you agree?

~~~
potatote
US Work visas? No...unfortunately. There is not only a cap on it, but the
demand is way much more than the cap can handle (also thanks partially to
companies like Infosys which abuse the system).

------
avinassh
well designed site!

I saw some job listings mention about 'remote' working status. How do I find
out all the jobs which allow remote?

~~~
negrit
I did not yet implemented a search with faceting, this is definitively coming
in the next release. I'll edit my post in few minutes to make a list for you.

EDIT: Here you go
[https://gist.github.com/theonegri/26737451719ab2f3267a](https://gist.github.com/theonegri/26737451719ab2f3267a)

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RemoteWorker
Everything for PHP is in France :/

------
wahsd
This whole notion of "jobs that come with a visa" is so screwed up and wrong
and totally flawed at its core.

I am sure that doesn't line up with what the vast majority of people think,
especially on this site; but it's a wholly damaging and negative practice in
the long term, whose positive claims only mask the exploitative reality that
underlies it.

It's really nothing more than brain-drain, more like colonialism than not; the
siphoning off of resources, knowledge and information resources from less
advantaged places to be absorbed to compound the wealth in wealthy societies.

~~~
matthewmacleod
I'm not totally convinced by that – it's really easy to see that there could
well be long-term positives. For example, what proportion of people who travel
for work end up returning to their home country, bringing back skills which
are beneficial domestically?

I think we'd need to see some studies on that to draw any real conclusions,
but your reaction seems too negative.

~~~
fennecfoxen
There's also sort of an iron-curtain mentality emergent in telling people,
"you can't come to the West to work on these tech jobs: your home country
needs you to work on something you will probably find to be much less
lucrative, technologically advanced, and fulfilling."

People do not exist to be slaves exploited by their homeland any more than
they exist to be slaves exploited by a colonial power.

