[pm90]

This is a common misconception. It is a very easy process to change jobs on an H1B. The difficult part is the Green Card process, which gets reset (IANAL) and currently getting a green card takes upto 10 years, if you're from India.

The problem essentially is that many of these workers either don't know that they can switch jobs, don't have the skills relevant to get another job or, in many cases, have a sort of loyalty to their present company for 'giving them an opportunity to come to the US'.

The last sentiment is a lot more common than you would imagine.

[hibikir]

The problem is that many of those workers WANT green cards, as getting one while you are an H1 is arguably the most sensible path forward, and chances are that a company that sponsors your green card will make you pay a penalty if you change jobs while the process is going + 1 year. The end result is that You have an H1, but you not only have to restart the green card process (or at least set it back, depending on the moment you are applying), but you might end up paying 10K+ for the privilege... on top of the other company sponsoring the H1 AND the Green Card.

So, in practice, the mobility provisions are only non-onerous in a small percentage of the cases: If you don't want to stay in the US, or you want to, but no Green Card paperwork has been filed.

There's also companies that play games with your green card: A friend of mine changed departments (the company he is on goes through constant reorgs, and the company decided that the job description had been changed enough that they had to file a new labor certification. Guess what? If you have a 10 year wait, and every time your job description changes a bit, you decide your green card must restart, you'll never, ever get it.

And you can't ask for the green card by yourself: The employer does, so you are at the mercy of their lawyers too.

[mavelikara]

You can apply for a new green card via the new employer (or any potential employer too). Once you get through to the I-140 stage of your second GC again - provided that the new job is one similar to your previous one - you can use your same place-in-line in the GC as before.

The green card application can get stuck in the bureaucratic backlog for any number of reasons - for years. These delays messes up with your peace of mind in ways you can probably imagine. Internet is full of horror stories about these things. This prevents people from changing jobs, or making any long term plans about buying a house etc.

It is a long-standing request from many people stuck in GC backlogs to not have them go through the _unpredictable_ re-application process, when they switch jobs. This was hinted as part of President Obama's Executive Action on immigration reform.

In a memo[1] dated 11/20/2014, Jeh Johnson (Secretary of Dept. of Homeland Security) stated:

  As you know, our employment-based immigration system is
  afflicted with extremely long waits for immigrant visas, or 
  "green cards," due to relatively low green card numerical limits 
  established by Congress 24 years ago in 1990.
  ...
  To correct this problem, I hereby direct USCIS to take several 
  steps to modernize and improve the immigrant visa process.

But USCIS has not done anything to improve this situation yet. 18 months have passed since Secretary Johnson's original memo, but USCIS has not made any move to grant an EAD to people waiting in long GC backlogs. While everyone rails at politicians, body shops etc, USCIS gets a free pass at continuing their ineptitude.

The latest visa bulletin [2] lists India EB2 priority date as 1st Nov 2004. Let me translate that for people not familiar with the jargon - an immigrant from India who is being granted Green Card now applied on 1st Nov 2004 and s/he already had 5 years industry experience then.

USCIS rarely wastes an opportunity to remind [3] everyone that it receives very little taxpayer money for immigration services and about 95% of it's budget comes from fees. But this self-financing is made possible by leeching off of thousands of legal immigrants for decades. If they could do their assigned jobs properly - providing EAD for immigrants with approved I-140, recapturing unused green card applications from prior years etc - it would have been a huge relief for many immigrants.

[1] Executive Action: Support High-skilled Business and Workers - https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/14_1120...

[2] Visa Bulletin July 2016 - https://travel.state.gov/content/visas/en/law-and-policy/bul...

[3] USCIS on Twitter - https://twitter.com/USCIS/status/740574919717715968

[techie64]

A large number of well qualified Indian and Chinese immigrants are in the same situation. The Chinese situation is a bit better (China @ 2010 vs India @ 2004). However, none of us are taking a stand on it and making sufficient noise about it. There are thousands of tax paying legal immigrants stuck in limbo. The tax money + fees that are paid are in billions and yet apparently somehow we have no voice.

[enraged_camel]

>>This is a common misconception. It is a very easy process to change jobs on an H1B.

No it isn't. Even though the process is informally called an "H-1B transfer", changing employers while on H1B actually requires filing a brand new H-1B petition with USCIS. The only difference is that this petition is not subject to the annual cap. Everything else - the crazy requirements and loops you and the sponsoring employer have to jump through - is the same.

What this means is that there is a big risk associated with the process. Since it's a new petition, it can be rejected. You are literally at the mercy of the USCIS officer processing your application, and they can deny it for any reason.

Of course, this also assumes that you're able to find an employer who is willing to sponsor your visa. Considering the legal expenses (thousands of dollars per worker), the hassle and the risk, most companies don't. And if your skills are in a niche field, good luck finding any that do.

[nopzor]

I've done h1b transfers before, as an employer.

I wouldn't say it's "very easy", but it's not super hard either.

I don't disagree with what you're saying in general, but shouldn't there be some cost incurred by the new company?

Remember, like it or not, the h1b program is technically designed to only come into play when a company can't find suitable local talent to fill a position.

In our case it was a few thousand dollars of legal fees and gov "expedite" fees

If we were doing a lot of them our legal fees could go way down, and we'd get good at doing them.

The cap is a big deal, and the reason most h1bs get rejected.

Like you said, if an h1b worker is already here, the cap doesn't apply -- I think that's a good thing.

It seems to be a common misconception that h1bs are bound to their employer.

I simply don't think that's true.

[brendangregg]

It's not supposed to be true, but take the company who is making threats to have their employees deported if they complain or leave.

[nopzor]

Couldn't they make sure to transfer their h1b before they resigned from their old job?

(And not threaten or complain until the transfer is processed successfully?)

[brendangregg]

With the IANAL caveat: that helps prevent one type of employee abuse, the "retaliation termination" intended to force an ex-employee out of the country rather than starting their new job. (Which is also the reason why a visa worker who is waiting on the H-1B "transfer" is advised by immigration lawyers not to tell their current employer that they are thinking of leaving, no matter how much they want to.) But, that's just one situation.

[nopzor]

What other kind of abuse is there that applies specifically to people on h1b, and not to Americans?

[brendangregg]

Yes, but it can be worse than that. There was a different article about it recently, where the employer threatened to falsely report their visa employees as illegal if they complained. Which means the employees can wind up leaving the country and possibly never returning. For an employee who has worked in that country for years and calls it home, this is akin to being threatened with exile.

[brendangregg]

> This is a common misconception. It is a very easy process to change jobs on an H1B.

Have you tried changing jobs on a H-1B, with an employer who wants to stop you, and who gets legal advice on how to go about doing that? It SHOULD be an easy process to change jobs.

[ropiku]

I wouldn't say 'very easy' but 6 years after you get an H1B you are cap-exempt. So any new employer can apply for an H1B for you right away though it only gives you the years left in the original visa not another 6y.