Insurances for your company

As soon as you hire your first employee you must buy the workers compensation insurance that covers them if they are accidentally injured at work. Once you partner with another company or vendor you should buy the liability insurance which will cover your corporation from third party losses.

If it’s mandated by the state, employers must provide workers’ compensation (WC) coverage for all of their employees, including seasonal and part-time workers. States like Pennsylvania audit companies for Workers Comp coverage on a regular basis. Never delay buying one to avoid penalties. The one exception from buying WC insurance is working for your own company. You can request the state for exemption by filing a UC-8 exempt form. Workers Comp insurance premiums are calculated on the basis of the employee’s salary. They have a fixed rate per every hundred dollars you pay in wages.

Liability insurance offers protection against third party insurance claims, i.e., if one of your vendors or clients suffer losses because of your employees. Most of the vendors require the certification of this coverage to start doing business with you.Your liability insurance premiums vary depending on the industry you are in.

I use Hartford, one of the leading insurance providers. Check their website for details and quotes http://www.thehartford.com/business/ .Also get quotes from other insurance providers like state farm to compare and decide. To start with one employee the total insurance premiums for these two insurances will be less than eight hundred dollars per year. And remember that these premiums are tax deductible and to renew them each year.

Port Of Entry:Talking to the Immigration Officer Etc

Spend the last one hour of your long and tiring flight journey to freshen up, double check the I-94, Customs Declaration forms you have filled.Along with the passport keep all the documents that you took to the visa interview handy.

There will be two lines at the port of entry. One for the US Citizens, Green card holders, and another for the Visa Holders. The Immigration officer looks at your passport, visa, and I-94 form,questions about the purpose of your visit, takes digital picture and digital finger prints, stamps your passport and provide a departure date on I-94.

In some cases you will be sent for a second interview. And if that happens do not panic.You are not alone and there are many visa holders who go through this process each day. Look at it as a double check on their part. As soon as you get in, the immigration officer will take your documents and will ask you to wait as they pull up your immigration information. No matter how long the wait is , stay focused and relaxed. And when it’s your turn, wish the officer with a smile.Answer to their questions slowly and confidently. Do not over talk, just answer to the point. All they want to know is how long you are going to stay in the US and why. No matter how many times and how many ways they ask you the same question reply patiently and provide the required documents/proof.

Despite your long stay in the US, anticipate and be prepared for this every time you fly out of the country and come back to the Port Of Entry on a Visa.

One Village One India : Updates and Future Events

I am glad to inform you that we have received the Pan Card required to setup a bank account for our non profit charity organization One Village One India. The next task we will be taking up is to extend our snacks during study hour program to four other schools in Vinjamur mandal. This will happen pre-exam season in March 2012.

Schools that are  covered currently:


Z.P. HIGH SCHOOL,Vinjamur


Total of one hundred and fifty students.

Schools that will be benefited in 2012 :


Z.P. HIGH SCHOOL (GIRLS),Vinjamur
Gundemadakala ZP High School
Katepalli ZP High School
Utukuru ZP High School

Total of one hundred and fifty students.

One time sponsorship for this event is five thousand rupees or hundred dollars per school. The permanent sponsorship for this costs one lakh rupees or two thousand dollars for these four schools. You can read more on the permanent solution by going to the following post .

Providing snacks to students during the study hours.

Your contributions will help provide quality nutrition which in turn will improve the quality of education for hundreds of poor children.If you are interested in donating for this cause, please send me an email to - thippireddy.bharath@gmail.com

I will summarize the contributions made as blog posts to allow transparency.

Related Articles

Indian Caste System : Know your history


5 Ways to Eradicate World Hunger In Our Day


Inspiring Teachers : Importance of quality education


A Day To Remember- One Village One India!


Providing snacks to students during the study hours


Giving back to your school


From an NRI to an NRI : Unity and Clarity


One Village One India-Primary School Building and Facilities

Employer agreements for Visas and Green Cards

As we hop from one employer to another or from one consulting position to another we come across corporations whose values range from professional to unethical. The ethical ones do your H1b Visas/Transfers and green cards with out making you sign any agreements. While the second kind look at it as an opportunity to make you their slave. 

Any agreement or offer letter you sign with your employer or vendor should not obligate you to work for them beyond a two week notice or a months notice in some cases. Read every line and in between them and make sure you understand every point. Talk to a lawyer if you are not sure and if your employer does not give you enough clarification. Try to add a clause which explicitly states your two week notice. 


Bare the application fees if you have to and do not sign any agreements that bond your to slavery.If you have already signed such agreement talk to a lawyer and see what it takes to break the bond. In most cases these agreements do not stand in court and your employer does not want the hassle of getting black listed either. What looks like a great opportunity to sign any kind of agreement today might soon be obsolete as the markets improve and you find better opportunities. Never sign an offer letter or contractual agreement that obligates your duration of employment in exchange for your green card or visa fee/sponsorship. 

No conditions apply.

Read the following articles for further details:

1)Use your EAD ASAP

2)File Your Green Card on Day One

3)Start your company today

4)Tips to start your company

Florida Part 2:Miami The Paradise

At the end of a beautiful key west day!

If there is place in the US that we would like to go back to, thats Miami/Key West. Not just because I love water/sea but it’s just a spiritual Nostalgia!


Blue are the skies ,Blue are the clear water beaches surrounding us for the four hour drive to Key West; It’s a drive in and to the paradise.


As we touch the southern most tip of US , Cuba was just ninety miles away.The street that never sleeps where anytime is party time!


Though the south beach reminds me of the Maipadu beach back home, it gets deeper as soon as we step in.


Weather reminds me of Bangalore as it rains every evening, but it only helped us drench further!. Dive in to the sea, off in to the swimming pool and then in to the hot water Jacuzzi right next to the pool.


Lying back on the south beach chair listening to the waves that never stop talking we discover answers to every question that life has in mind.

ఇక్కడ మేము ఎన్ని సార్లు అయినా ఎప్పుడైనా వెల్లిపోవడానికి రెడీ గా వుండే ప్రదేశం ఏదయినా వుంటే అది మయామీయే.

దారి పొడవున్న రోడ్డుక్కి అన్ని వైపులా క్లియర్ వాటర్ బీచ్లు చేరబొయే అందమయిన కీ వెస్టుని ప్రతి క్షనం గుర్తు చేస్తు వుంటే నాలుగు గంటల డ్రైవ్ అలా స్వర్గ లోకపు అంచుల దాకా సాగి పోతూనేవుంటే బావున్ను అనిపిస్తోంది.

మరో తొంబై మైల్లు అట్లాంటిక్ లో ఈదేస్తే కుబన్ సిగార్లు చవకగా వూదేయొచ్చంట.అదే అమెరికా కి సదరన్ మోస్టు పాయింటు.నిదురే ఎరుగని దువాల్ స్ట్రీట్ లో పార్టీలకు వేల పాల వుండదు.

మయమీ సౌత్ బీచ్ ఇసుకలో గొడుగు కింద కుర్చీ వేసుకొని పనుకొని అలుపెరుగని అట్లాంటిక్ అలలతో మాటలు వింటూ ఈ బిజీ లోకన్ని మరచి పొతే అందవా అన్ని ప్రస్నలకు సమాదానాలు?

సాయంకాలం అయ్యే సరికి వర్షం బెంగులూరు వాతావరనాన్ని గుర్తు చేస్తుంటే ముద్ద ముద్ద గా తడచి , మా సింహపురి మయిపాడు బీచ్ లో లా కాకుండా అడుగు పెట్టగనే పీకల లోతుకు మునిగిపోయి ,అటు నుంచి అటే హోటల్ వెనక పూల్ లో దుంకి,పక్కనే ఎదురు చూస్తున్న వేడి వేడి జకుజీ లో సేద తీర్చుకొని కాని రూంకి చేరలేదు.

 Duval Street - Any time is party time! 

 Clear are the waters,Clear are the skies 

 Palm Trees Florida (TM) 

Parasailing-Just the beginnings of the adventure!

South Beach Miami From our balcony

Naren-One of those best friends from college

Talking to the tides

Ferry around miami downtown

 Expensive celebrity homes 

Brad Pitt owns that one..

Lets start with some coastal american lunch

Followed by some Middle Eastern Fish Kabobs for two straight days

Served with pita bread and hummus

Nights make it look even more beautiful

Related Articles


UK Visitor Visa for non US Citizens in USA


Hasinis Day Out


Florida Part 1:Six days in Orlando

Texas:Take 8


F.E.A.R:-Forget Everything And Ride!!


Niagara Falls With West Coast Gang


Little Rock ,Arkansas


Wild Wild West 2


Dance in Delaware


Austin Texas


First Ski


Kerala


Wild Wild West 1


Denver The Mile High City


Ocean City

Beyond the five elements and senses

Within and beyond the reach of my five senses that keep my mind wandering,within and beyond the five elements that make up my body you exist.The so called tough times of my life were only when i took things in to my hands forgetting you.But you were always there for me blessing in disguise.I now love the tough times as they only move me closer to you.No matter how much my mind and body roam around ,only when i close my eyes to see the lotus feet of you do i fell an unlimited happiness!

UK Visitor Visa for non US Citizens in USA

U.S. citizens do not need a UK visa for tourist or business travel to this country for a stay up to 6 months. A valid U.S. Passport is required.

In addition to the 125 dollar visa fee we payed a 150 dollar expedite fee to the consulate and 175 dollar ABriggs fee per applicant. But its worth every penny when its a travel for your cousins wedding! Thanks to ABriggs expedite visa services, we have got our six month multiple entry UK visit visas in two days. And that is definitely the way to go when time matters. If you are in a hurry and want to use ABriggs here is the one stop Abrigss Link.Their customer service is always available on chat from their website or on phone to answer all your queries or track your passports.

For normal processing which on an average takes a month, you can fill in the form by going to the following link.VISA4UK Link.This is lengthy and tiring and you can always save the application on any page to continue later.Visa4uk will send you an email with the confirmation number and instructions to log back in. If you are applying as a family, you can fill in separate applications and then mail them together.

Print and mail the application along with all the supporting documents listed on Abriggs page to the embassy.You have to mail the documents to the appropriate UK Consulate depending on where you live in the US. Go to this link to find yours.

In addition to the documents listed on the ABriggs page, send them as many supporting documents as you can. Following are the additional documents we have sent.

IRS Returns

Home Lease/Mortgage Document

Copy of the first page of the sponsor’s passport

Wedding Invite

Wedding Certificate






Read the following articles for further details:

1)Employer agreements for Visas and Green Cards

2)Use your EAD ASAP

3)File Your Green Card on Day One

4)Start your company today

5)Tips to start your company

Cents and Dimes:What to do with the change?

Unlike the previous generation we neither know the value of a dime nor do we have the patience to count and use the cents .Never underestimate the value of the change you piled up over the years on the dashboard of your car,in a Coffe cup on your desk or at home.I have just printed my seventy five dollar starbucks gift card from the CoinStar machine for my change.So save the change in a easy to reach and safe location.

As you drop the coins in the tray,the Coinstar machine will sort the change , the amount on screen rolls up as if you won a jackpot on a slot machine in vegas.They charge a 9.8 percent service fee if you want cash for your coins.It can print several other gift cards like Amazon,ToysRUs,Itunes and not just Starbucks for free.It even filters and returns any non US currency which in my case were rupees and euros:) 

You can find a Coinstar machine close to you by going to the following link.Coin Star Locator. 

And the change goes to , CoinStar!

Invoices for Your Corporation

Creating an invoice can’t get any better than using freshbooks.com. Subscribe, Login, Add people/clients, Generate. It’s that easy to create invoices online. Register by going to the following link- Freshbooks subscription link and create a unique url for your company and a login.  

Create a client and  an invoice for the client by entering the hours and the hourly rate leaving the calculations to freshbooks. As this stage the invoice will show up as outstanding. You can print it, save it as a pdf , email it to your client or snail mail it by buying stamps from freshbooks. Tracing back to your invoice change the amount paid as and when the client pays you. The invoice will change to paid status once the payment is complete. Invoices are just one of the many services freshbooks offers. 

Their services are free with a limit of three clients .You can upgrade to go beyond that as your business grows. They also have a reports tab where you can check the payment history etc. Your existing billing or other software's can programmatically integrate with freshbooks using the API they expose.  This is just an introductory article and there are lots of informative articles on the freshbooks blog.

Contacting USCIS :To Expedite or Get Information

You can talk to a USCIS (US Citizenship and Immigration Services) representative using the below details .They will open a service request to either get you more information or to expedite your application process. Have the receipt of your pending case, pen and paper handy before you make the call.

Call 1-800-375-5283; options 1,2,2,6,1

• Enter your receipt number.
• Press 1 (Listen to updated case information)
• Press 3 (To continue to next step)
• Press 4

You call will be transferred to the service center where your case is pending. Then it will be transferred to an Immigration Officer/Representative. He might ask you for the receipt number again and a few more details to create the service request. In case of an expedite request he will read out the expedite criteria and will ask you to choose one you fall in to. Write down the service request number that he reads out for any future correspondence.

Creating as service request does not mean they will expedite you application. USCIS will contact you within five days to a week either by mail or phone to let you know if they are considering your case for expediting or if they need more details.

Here is an excellent article which lists the 12 ways to check your USCIS case status

Read the following articles for further details:

1)Use your EAD ASAP

2)File Your Green Card on Day One

3)Start your company today

4)Tips to start your company