grrrr - stupid in college email system!!!

here's what I sent:

I'm not a lawyer, but I have been pondering the same thing as you, so take it for what it's worth.

My understanding of the H-1B is that if you change *anything* about the conditions of employment you will have to resubmit your visa petition. That applies especially if you change institutions - I think it is the school that actually is sponsoring you - although I suspect it is actually a case of taking the same paperwork and changing a few names in most cases.

Hope this helps. Our International office is pretty good about answering questions so I can ask them in more detail if you'd like. Plus my girlfriend is starting her green card appilcation soon, so she has been talking to some immigration lawyers I can refer you to if that would help.

Hope this helps,
Best of luck,
Nick

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http://pavlov.psyc.queensu.ca/~psyc382/rockgold.html
(Norman Rockwell's "Do Unto Others")

Been there. Have you started the process for a greencard yet? If so, depending on where you are in that process you are free to move and change employers. I beleive it when your I-140 has been approved and you have filed your I-485.

If you ahve not started the greencard process, your new employer needs to file for another H1B.

Why don't you go for a J-1 visa based on your special skills/knowledge? That way you should be able to get your greencard fairly rapidly.

Professors and Research Scholars:
Professors and research scholars may be sponsored as J-1 exchange visitors to engage in research, teaching, lecturing, observing, or consulting at research facilities, museums, libraries, post-secondary accredited educational institutions, or similar institutions.

• A professor is defined as an individual primarily teaching, lecturing, observing, or consulting at post-secondary accredited educational institutions, museums, libraries, or similar types of institutions.
• A research scholar is defined as an individual primarily conducting research, observing, or consulting in connection with a research project at research institutions, corporate research facilities, museums, libraries, post-secondary accredited institutions, or similar types of institutions. Research scholars may also teach and lecture, unless disallowed by the sponsor.

I believe J1 is limited to 2 years (1 year + 1 year extension) and I used that already

My mistake, I meant to say O-visa. Friend of mine did it, went really fast. When approved, immediately start the adjustment of status procedure (I-485).
Edit: Off course, your extraordinary ability would be education/science( not athletics, you wish!!!).


O VISA REQUIREMENTS AND CHECKLIST



Description: The O visa is set aside for aliens of "extraordinary" ability in the sciences, arts, education, business or athletics, certain aliens accompanying or assisting those aliens, and their family members. The fundamental requirement for an O visa is to have reached the top of the profession or endeavor for which the alien seeks admittance into the Unites States. The beneficiary of an O visa may remain in the States until the event, project or activity for which the alien is admitted is completed. The initial period of stay can be sought for three years and thereafter one year increments may be sought to complete the activity, event or project. An employer must petition for the O alien; the petition must be submitted only after the employer consults with a peer group, labor organization, or management organization regarding the work to be performed and the alien's qualifications. In most cases the consultation takes the form of a written advisory opinion from a peer group.

Requirements:

• receipt of a major, internationally-recognized award, or
• documentation of at least three of the following:
  • receipt of nationally or internationally recognized prizes or awards in the field of endeavor
  • membership in association in the field which requires outstanding achievement of their members
  • published material about the alien concerning the alien's work in the field
  • scientific, scholarly, or business-contributions of major significance in the field
  • authorship of scholarly articles in the field in professional journals or other major media
  • employment in a critical or essential capacity for organizations and establishments that have a distinguished reputation
  • high salary or other remuneration commanded by the alien
  • participation on a panel, or individually, as a judge of the works of others in the field.

If you want to talk to an attorney, get in touch with AmyMI. There are some very good immigration law attorneys in her firm that deal with visa issues related to employment.

ok, Francois, you blew it. Despite my efforts, you have ignored my advice about moving to New Jersey. Here, not only would you be welcomed with open arms, the governor may have found you a high paying job for which you were completely unqualified. No citizenship required. By the way, did you serve in the Israeli army?

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the requirements of O1 seem rather 'easy' to get. in practice they are subject to interpretation which can make it a bit harder than it looks...
right now there are two options for me:
O or National interest waiver, but it is my understanding that the INS is very reluctant to give the NIW...

applying at different places (UC Ber. included)
when I get offers, I will decide...not sure.

I guess a university/company that takes care of my visa will be near the top of the list.

Francois:

Where are you in terms of your visa? Are you on your first 3 years or have you applied for an extension? Is the job you're going to same or similar to the one you have now? Have you applied for permanent residency.

H1-B's can be portable, i.e. you can take them to another employer depending on your circumstances

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1st year of the H1-B
job will be exactly the same if I remain in the academia (very likely)
haven't applied for pemanent residency yet.

Francois:

I am a labor and employment who practices a little business based immigration. I will answer generally, but my advice would be to seek the advice of counsel who advises your soon to be new employer...



Effective October 17, 2000, The American Competitiveness in the Twenty-First Century Act, (AC21) provides that a non-immigrant who was previous issued an H-1B visa or provided H-1B non-immigrant status may begin working for a new H-1B employer as soon as that new employer files a new H-1B petition on the non-immigrant's behalf. So it is possible to "transfer" H1B status to another employer based on the timely filing of a petition for new employment by that sponsoring employer. Upon receipt by that employer of the "receipt notice" from USCIS, which indicates that USCIS has received the petition and the date on which it was received, the beneficiary is eligible for employment with the new sponsor. The job must be similar.

Based on the long processing times, you are in a good position being early in your H1B status. We usually run into problems when the potential employee is in year 5 or 6.

Good luck.

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thanks a lot for the info.

I hope that whatever my new place is, it will be somewhere where they have an immigration attorney taking care of all this... :-(

There is a quota system for H1-Bs. But if you stay in academia you should be ok.

From a newsletter that I get:

Annual H-1B Quota For 2005 To Be Reached Soon
Prior to fiscal year 2004 (which started on October 1, 2003), the annual quota of
allowed new H-1B visa approvals was well above the actual need. For fiscal year
2004, the quota dropped back to 65,000. This was not sufficient, and the 2004 quota
was reached about five months into the fiscal year. Since April 1, employers have
been filing H-1B petitions to count toward the quota for fiscal year 2005, which
begins on October 1, 2004. An announcement is expected within weeks that the
fiscal year 2005 quota has been reached. Unless new legislation is enacted to
increase the quota, approvals for new H-1B workers will not be available until
October 1, 2005.

Some H-1B workers are not subject to the annual quota and cases for such persons
may continue to be filed without regard to the quota. These include persons working
for colleges and universities and persons changing from one H-1B employer to
another (unless they are moving from a quota-exempt to a quota-subject employer).
H-1B extension petitions for persons already in H-1B status are not subject to the
quota.

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when I read this I understand why you need a lawyer to take care of visa issues...

is there a US citizen here (preferably a woman :-) ) who would marry me? (let me check this with my wife too ;-))

Not going to read them all:

Have had 2 H-1B's and got GC.

Change of anything requires complete resubmission. My first one was approved in 5 weeks, the second with the same paperwork was rejected and took nearly 2.5 months to resolve.

So changing does require re-submitting.

Yes you can move while awaiting adjustment of status. Bear in mind however that once out of status from the visa awaiting the approval of the 485, IF you leave the country you will not / do not have to be let back in.

Also bear in mind that processing times for adjustment in status at the 485 point were 9 months in NE 2 years ago, cant imagine it has got any better since 9/11.

Also bear in mind that the entire process, if you are going the reduction in paperwork route (which was the way I did it) and going for labour cert first, the entire process took 2.5 years approx.

In that time I was out of status for more than a year and had it not been approved I would have had to leave toute suite :)

Yes, but is'nt the problem with taking the new job that if your application is rejected or they are out of H-1B's for the year you are SOL and can not work?

If the application is not accepted you would be out of status if you continued to work would'nt you?

How can an employee apply for an extension on an H-1B in year 5 or 6. My understanding was that H-1B's are limited to 2 periods of 3 years and then a year abroad is a requirement unless you are attempting a change in status to a GC?

You should be able to obtain an Advance Parole (allows you back into the USA). This can be filed at your regional service center. Don't know how long that will take to be processed. Mine came through in two weeks (pre 9/11).

good point, i did not do that as the 485 was approved, but it still took 8-9 months for the card to come through.

travelling on a stamp in a passport was a little concerning when I was pulled out of immigration at Newark and taken to a small little room to the side :)

We have had only one ocassion to file to transfer an H1 and it came back ok. so long as the jobs are the same or similar. We review carefully before we make the offer of employment to avoid any such problems.

You are correct you cannot file for an extension for an H1-B after filing for the first, except if you have filed to adjust status and it is pending, then you can get 7 years. Where we have trouble is where the employee doesn't have much time left, hasn't filed to adjust. The process takes so long now, that the person's H1-B would expire before we could get a response on the adjustment.

It is very tricky and you are right if it is rejected, then the person is out of status and would need to leave the US. But with the right screening and being the right type of employer, this shouldn't be a problem.

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There is also an option for an expedited process at extra cost - USD 1000.-:

http://uscis.gov/...tsheets/prefeefs.htm



If the paperwork is incomplete or raises questions the time frame will probably not be met... hence, you always need (at least I think!) an experienced lawyer who ensures that the document submission will answer all questions they could possibly come up with...

yes, that thing is called "official bribe" oooppsss. I meant 'premium processing fees" :-)

Don't get me started...