[orochimaaru]

It’s not easy to switch. I’ve been on this more than a decade ago and if you’re laid off or leave you have 60 days to find something new.

Any job you take you need your new employer to be able to undertake the effort for H1B renewals and the inevitable green card application. There’s big companies that do it and smaller ones that will absolutely refuse to.

Either way an H1B prefers to stick around until the green card is done. They will not willingly prior to that unless they see a much better offer.

[dilyevsky]

It was probably closer to truth 20 years ago just for lack of experience among lawyers and hr but today h-1b transfer is not hard at all.

[1024core]

It may not be hard, but there are no guarantees and a clock is ticking.

Say you lose your job. Boom, the clock starts ticking and now you're in a rush to find an acceptable job that meets the criteria of H1B.

Say your manager mistreats you; denies you promotion, raises, etc. and you want to leave. You can't just quit and start looking. You have to line up something that will come through in 60 days and only then you can be free to quit.

None of these situations apply to citizen or PRs. It tilts the balance definitely to the employer's advantage.

[dilyevsky]

> You can't just quit and start looking.

So? You’re not entitled to always get your favorite thing. Shocking, i know. Get a transfer, then turn in the notice. How hard can that be?

Id argue if you cant just get another job you’re probably not entitled to this visa designed for workers in high demand.

[digitalPhonix]

This was in response to

> So you basically become an indentured servant, always afraid Da Bossman will fire you [...]

So it’s kind of hard to get a job before getting fired if the firing is a perpetual threat.

> this visa designed for workers in high demand

No, it’s designed for people with “theoretical and practical application of a body of highly specialized knowledge”. Nothing about demand. If there was one person in the world who could frombulate widgets and only one employer in the US who needed to frombulate widgets, that person would be suitable for an H1B (subject to all it’s other restrictions).

That person would not be able to find another job quickly.

[filleduchaos]

The point is not that the transfer is difficult, the point is that finding a suitable new job in the designated time period has a difficulty you can't predict.

[dilyevsky]

are we talking about just switching or getting fired and trying to find new h-1b job? because these are two completely different procedures from uscis standpoint. the claim about h-1b being "indentured servitude" that people are trying to make usually hinges on it being hard to transfer (which is not the case), not the short grace period after getting fired.

[filleduchaos]

I find it rather strange that you talk about them as if they are two separate things when they are intrinsically linked. You have ~60 days from the date of employment termination to have your work permit transferred or you are out of status, period. Leaving your job (whether via resigning or getting fired or laid off) without something already lined up is thus quite obviously much more risky than it is for someone who doesn't have that sword hanging over their head. I'd sincerely hope it doesn't need explaining how this tilts the balance of power even more in the employer's favour.

[dilyevsky]

> You have ~60 days from the date of employment termination to have your work permit transferred or you are out of status, period.

What the hell else supposed to happen to your temp worker visa when you’re no longer a worker? Are you supposed to just get an immigration hall pass indefinitely?

Same point as in sibling thread - if you cant get a new job lined up while still employed or within 60 days of being laid off, you clearly dont possess "distinguished merit and ability" which is the entire purpose of this visa

[sunshowers]

If someone is sexually harassed or assaulted while being on an H1B and becomes ill because of it, what should they do? People often have to take months off of work to recover from workplace sexual assault.

Any imbalance of power is a vector for sexual harassment, assault, or discrimination in general.

[filleduchaos]

I'm sorry but treating these as equivalent things is rather disingenuous to me:

> if you cant get a new job lined up while still employed or within 60 days of being laid off

Lining up a job while you are still employed is something you control. Being unexpectedly thrust into the job market due to layoffs for instance is something you don't, and the state of the job market you enter is equally something you don't control. Additionally I am not sure you understand what 60 calendar days from termination to being out of status means. You don't have 60 days to "line up a job". You have 60 days to be employed again, which for this purpose means that your new employer has properly filed a petition on your behalf.

Again, does it really need explaining that this puts pressure on H-visa holders specifically that other workers don't have, especially when the companies that do sponsor visas often have interview processes that can take over a month? Does it need explaining that risking their residence and not just a paycheck means that they are less able to both:

- leave a toxic, failing or otherwise dysfunctional employer (since you practically need to secure something else first versus being truly able to resign at will)

- reject substandard employment offers (under the pressure of literally not having the time to do any more interviews)

How is it not incredibly obvious that as I said, this tilts the balance of power even more in the employer's direction? Why does someone pointing this out raise your hackles?

Also, why do you assume that the US is the only country on earth that has non-immigrant skilled workers? For instance the EU's Blue Card programme (which despite the deliberate naming is not actually a permanent residence permit like the US' green card) is far more sensible and less exploitable by employers.