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How can I protect my H-1B and green card if I am laid off?

alcorn.law

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Re: How can I protect my H-1B and green card if I am laid off?

#61

Post by snotrockets »

olliej wrote: post #40
causi wrote: post #2

This can pose a big problem for people who have made their homes in the U.S. for decades, diligently working, paying taxes, buying houses, and raising their children. It's perverse there is any visa that lets someone stay in the country for decades without offering them a path to permanent residency and citizenship.

H1-Bs do have a path to permanent residence and so citizenship. The problem is that the various rules around being on an H1-B make it super easy to exploit workers - which has a side effect of reducing permanent resident and citizen wages.

Not a universal path. It depends on their employer benevolence, or them matching a specific criteria of excellence, which I'm assuming many won't.

Compare with other countries, where the eligibility for residency is automatic for all foreign workers for have worked in that country for a given amount of time.

Re: How can I protect my H-1B and green card if I am laid off?

#62

Post by Sophie_Alcorn »

whack wrote: post #29

IMO, the solution offered in the article is not realistic. If you're getting a job offer from Coinbase that's 30% higher than Google's (tweet referenced by the article), neither company will agree to you working both jobs concurrently. Even if they astonishingly did, they would likely require at least 30 hours each, which is extremely bad for your mental health. Here are a couple more realistic options to consider: 1…

I know a lot of immigrants who can get an offer for concurrent employment for 5-10 hours a week at smaller companies that don't make as many headlines as a company like Coinbase.

It's a lot cheaper to get qualified for an O-1A or EB-1A than an EB-5 if you're just comparing financial investment.

Re: How can I protect my H-1B and green card if I am laid off?

#63

Post by snotrockets »

dhruvarora013 wrote: post #15

So the recommended solution to losing your full time job and H-1B, is to get a part-time H-1B and a second job?! Also a Green Card is not something you can lose/have to protect. I think the title should be updated to reflect "Green Card Application", which you absolutely can lose/have cancelled.

You can loose your green card if there is a suspicion you do not plan to continue to reside in the US (in theory, every time you cross the border, the customs agent can decide to revoke your green card on the spot. Luckily, this usually doesn't happen).

Re: How can I protect my H-1B and green card if I am laid off?

#64

Post by Sophie_Alcorn »

dhruvarora013 wrote: post #15

So the recommended solution to losing your full time job and H-1B, is to get a part-time H-1B and a second job?! Also a Green Card is not something you can lose/have to protect. I think the title should be updated to reflect "Green Card Application", which you absolutely can lose/have cancelled.

Yes, that is the solution I recommended in the article, because a lot of people are worried that the 60 day grace period won't be enough if they are laid off from their current H-1B employer.

Re: How can I protect my H-1B and green card if I am laid off?

#65

Post by Sophie_Alcorn »

Grazester wrote: post #11

If you have a Green Card there is nothing to protect(You're a permanent resident of the U.S.). If you are laid off then just find another job. There are no restrictions on a Green card except that you should spend most of your time(at least 6 months) in the U.S. a year.

That is generally true, except perhaps in the first couple years of having your green card if you got it through employment. It could come up in a citizenship application if you didn't work at the sponsoring company long enough.

Re: How can I protect my H-1B and green card if I am laid off?

#66

Post by Sophie_Alcorn »

andymcsherry wrote: post #14
Grazester wrote: post #11

If you have a Green Card there is nothing to protect(You're a permanent resident of the U.S.). If you are laid off then just find another job. There are no restrictions on a Green card except that you should spend most of your time(at least 6 months) in the U.S. a year.

If you read the article, you can tell they are talking about people who have applied, but not yet received their green card. Citizens of some countries have a decade or longer wait to get processed.

Yes, your interpretation of my article is correct!

Re: How can I protect my H-1B and green card if I am laid off?

#69

Post by lostmsu »

andymcsherry wrote: post #14
Grazester wrote: post #11

If you have a Green Card there is nothing to protect(You're a permanent resident of the U.S.). If you are laid off then just find another job. There are no restrictions on a Green card except that you should spend most of your time(at least 6 months) in the U.S. a year.

If you read the article, you can tell they are talking about people who have applied, but not yet received their green card. Citizens of some countries have a decade or longer wait to get processed.

Don't they receive EAD cards, which are almost green card and work until your green card case is decided?

Re: How can I protect my H-1B and green card if I am laid off?

#70

Post by Sophie_Alcorn »

snotrockets wrote: post #58
Sophie_Alcorn wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

H-1B holders can seek green cards through a variety of ways: green card lottery (for certain countries), family sponsorship (such as marriage green cards), and employment sponsorship (the EB-1, EB-2, EB-3, EB-4, and EB-5 categories.) Within the EB's, most companies will sponsor H-1B holders for green cards in the EB-2 or EB-3 categories in a 3-step process: PERM, I-140, I-485. If an H-1B holder wants to get a green c…

I forgot about EB2 NIW (which again, I understand isn't open to all, due to the NIW requirement). But unlike what the top level commenter wrote, the option for an H1B holder to become a permanent resident by their own action, rather then by their employer benevolence, is limited to very few (the green card lottery and the above mentioned narrow self-petition categories), and isn't a thing you can just do after a cert…

That's true! But I've helped a LOT of people go from unqualified to qualified for Eb-1A or EB-2 NIW. Here is my class that teaches people how: https://alcorn-immigration-law.teachable.com/p/extraordinary...
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