[untog]

The real fix to this is to make sure that people brought over with an H1-B can easily change jobs

When I was on an H1B visa I changed jobs multiple times, very easily. Part of the problem is that people (including potential employers) aren't aware how easy it is.

[calvinbhai]

I think he meant, change jobs without needing to file for an H1b transfer or any documentation. Once a high skilled immigrant is in US, instead of giving work permit to a specific employer, make it so that its a work permit, with a time limit.

3 years, immigrant can work anywhere, any number of employers.

Guess how many illicit h1b employers will be interested in bringing an immigrant, if they are not guaranteed that the immigrant will stay with them?

[prostoalex]

The transfer documentation is not that onerous, to be honest. Allegedly it's a gatekeeper against H1 program turning into a spout for unqualified immigration where "an employer" hires you for extremely high salary, and you quit on day 2 to start an exciting career in dishwashing.

[bsder]

The simplest way is to convert to a green card after being employed for 12 months. Employer is responsible for all legal fees, background check fees, etc. over the course of your employment.

If you quit at day 2, the employer is still on the hook for all the fees.

It can be gamed, but if you make the fees something like 30-40K, genuine employers will simply shrug as they'll amortize that over 3-4 years. Sweatshops, however, will lose bad.

[prostoalex]

My understanding is that current employment-based green card process is constrained entirely by slow turnaround by Department of Labor and USCIS, not some company shenanigans or legislative provisions for artificial delays, at least according to http://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/USCIS/Resources/E2e... And that slow turnaround is predicated by DoL / USCIS budgets and their ability to hire and train proper employees.

[bsder]

You are 100% correct. HOWEVER, you don't see the companies lobbying to increase the funding to DoL/USCIS.

The reason is that the choke point benefits these companies. If you cleared the backlog so that a green card was a 12 month process, the companies would quit asking for H1-B's unless they really wanted them.

[calvinbhai]

not true. these green cards are given (in addition to employment based GC requirements) based on the country of birth (to maintain diversity).

If US gives X green cards to nationals of Y countries (X>>Y) in a year, each country is allocated X/Y number of green cards.

This puts Indians, Chinese and other high population countries at a disadvantage.

An Indian applying for green card in EB-3 category (minimum qualifications being undergrad degree + 3 yrs experience i think) has to wait for ~12 years from the date his gc process was started. EB-2 (advanced degree and/or 5+ yrs experience) is ~10 years (these are my ballpark numbers)

Its not the turnaround time, but the concept of diversity based green cards that slows down the process.

[logfromblammo]

I think the problem may be with those who intend to apply for permanent residency while legally present on an H1B.

Once you apply for a green card, you have to maintain legal immigration status continuously. Furthermore, nationals of India and China have to wait longer, due to country quotas and relative demand. There is something called a priority date, which is somewhat akin to taking a number instead of waiting on queue, except it's really more like a number for the secondary queue to get a number for the real queue.

There is an I-140 form that is part of the process, which is filed by the employer. If this form is withdrawn, perhaps in response to changing jobs, it can reset priority dates or cause extensions to be denied.

[hpagey]

i-140 can transferred between employers and you retain your PD. Typically, sponsoring companies do not revoke i-140.

[e15ctr0n]

The previous employer can choose to withdraw the I-140 petition, and typically does so because keeping I-140 petitions around for ex-employees can create problems for the I-140 petitions of current and potential new employees.