Working remotely from Chennai for US employer

[goVenkat]

Hi -
Anyone here works remotely (from home) for an US employer or can help with this?

My status in the US is, 7+ years @ work, EAD, GC pending - not worried about giving it up.

I am working on a proposal to my management that would let me work out of my hometown,Chennai. I would like to move in March/April of this year (yes, in next few months)
For this purpose I am gathering information below.

I am looking for advice on how to respond to questions like connectivity issues (Downtime) and power outages. The thing is I am working on such a proposal for the first time. The motivation to R2I is high and it is driving this. I am not sure if I can think of all that is required for me to consider when making a proposal.

Here are my current open questions:

1) Which are the areas in Chennai with least electricity outage issues?
2) What would an average 3 bed room apartment (with 24x7 generator) in such areas cost in rent?
3) Can we take highspeed internet as a stable service? If outages are to be expected how bad is it usually - hours/days?
4) If I were to maintain my green card application in active state how many days in a year must I be in the US?
5)Are there other important considerations I should be aware of?- please add

What I am already aware of:
1) My employer won't pay in US$ - I need to transition to the Indian sub and take a pay cut
2) No worries (yet) about schools since my kid is ~6 months old.
3) My employer will take care of relocation

Thanks in advance for any inputs on this subject
Cheers!
[Venkat]

[marina]

I am doing it for last 4 months from Chennai. Here are my answers to your questions.
1. I am living in MRC nagar(RA Puram) and I have less power outage. I spent 10K Rs. for a APC UPS. It is working out very well.

2. A decent 3Br flat varies from 25K to 60K.

3. I am using airtel DSL with a speed of 2Mbps. Nowadays I see the ad. for 8Mbps. BTW, DSL comes with a landline also. I had zero downtime and the connection is pretty good. I am using Vonage. Even during powercut with my UPS I dont have any glitch with Vonage or router. I strongly advice not to take cable modem.

4. I am a USC. I dont have first hand experience on this topic.

After moving to Chennai, it took a month to move to my flat. After that things got settled slowly. It took a week to get DSL connection. Make sure to have a ration card or rental lease agreement or something like that for address proof. It is very important. Keep at least 20 passport photographs. You need photot for every small thing. As a backup I have GPRS (wireless internet) from airtel.

If you need more information ping me.

[goVenkat]

Thanks Marina
This is good information.

I am still working on a detailed proposal while simultaenously evaluating the cost of living,savings potential etc., with the change in pay.

If you can post a rough idea on the cost of living for a family of 3 that would be great. (PM me if that works better)

Man! the rental costs could range from 25K?! Are these gated communities with a great standard of life....or regular apartments in prime areas.?

Thanks.
It is really helps to know you are working remotely from there now.

I am doing it for last 4 months from Chennai. Here are my answers to your questions.
1. I am living in MRC nagar(RA Puram) and I have less power outage. I spent 10K Rs. for a APC UPS. It is working out very well.

2. A decent 3Br flat varies from 25K to 60K.

3. I am using airtel DSL with a speed of 2Mbps. Nowadays I see the ad. for 8Mbps. BTW, DSL comes with a landline also. I had zero downtime and the connection is pretty good. I am using Vonage. Even during powercut with my UPS I dont have any glitch with Vonage or router. I strongly advice not to take cable modem.

4. I am a USC. I dont have first hand experience on this topic.

After moving to Chennai, it took a month to move to my flat. After that things got settled slowly. It took a week to get DSL connection. Make sure to have a ration card or rental lease agreement or something like that for address proof. It is very important. Keep at least 20 passport photographs. You need photot for every small thing. As a backup I have GPRS (wireless internet) from airtel.

If you need more information ping me.

[marina]

Cost of living varies based on the lifestyle. There are few threads in this forum that discusses the cost of living in details. You can get tons of information from those thread. The flats I mentioned are the one in prime area. We focussed only in Adyar, Besant Nagar and RA Puram. In suburbs or other areas might be less. BTW if you go to suburbs you may not get high-speed DSL internet connection. When you choose the area check with airtel or BSNL for internet speed. I am using Airtel, but BSNL is also good. But BSNL takes more time to provide the service.

[hitraj]

Iam also basically from chennai ,currently in usa and would love to have that sort of arrangement of working from chennai.If its ok,can you give me the company info whihc is giving such opportunity
Thanks
Raj

[marina]

Iam also basically from chennai ,currently in usa and would love to have that sort of arrangement of working from chennai.If its ok,can you give me the company info whihc is giving such opportunity
Thanks
Raj[/quote]

There are lot of companies giving that option. If it is a big multinational company with Indian operation, you need to work with HR and the manager. In case of small companies without indian operation it depends on the individual basis based on your current position, contribution and understanding with your manager and team members. I know for sure in my company they won't take any new employee and let them work remotely. Best bet is try it with your current employer.