| I emigrated to Europe but I have about 20 friends who are on the H1B living in the US. I think folks on the H1B put up with awful treatment and don’t even know how awful it is because they haven’t seen a country that’s actually welcoming to immigrants. I’ve pointed out this awful situation where you can not afford to ever get let go from your job under any circumstances without jeopardising your life and your family’s life. In response I get “well if they’re so highly skilled, why are they getting let go?” Ask that question to the top comment on this thread, if you think it’s a fair one. Every year H1Bs need to go back to their home country to get their visa stamped. Why can’t they just go to a government agency within the US? Fuck if I know. Switching jobs again is a huge pain. A friend of mine has been waiting in India for a few months for his visa to be transferred from one company to another. Imagine if he had kids who were going to school. But you think this is temporary right? Eventually you get a Green Card and everything gets much better. Wrong. If you’re Indian it could take anywhere between 15 to 20 years to get that Green Card. You will be living the life of a H1B until then. Contrast all this to my experience in Europe. I got my visa within 2 weeks. I’m treated with respect here. There’s a clear path to Permanent Residency here - just stay in the country for 5 years on my current visa. There’s a clear path to citizenship if I want it - just be a Permanent Resident for 1 year. I don’t get jerked around with stamping requirements. My spouse can work without worrying about rule changes. Of course, the vagaries of the H1B program along with the indignities and suffering that people go through might actually be a feature, not a bug. The goal could be to create a “hostile environment” to keep the bad sort out. In that case it’s doing really well. |
Unless you are filing as EB1, expect to (and plan to) not get it in your lifetime unless the govt changes something.