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Comment by suryacom | Hacker News Reader

I have crossed 6 years on H1B. So, if I change my job, maximum visa extension I can get is for 3 years (provided my employer was kind enough to give me a copy of the I-140 petition).

This is where it gets tricky. Within this 3 years I need to get a new PERM approved by the new employer. So, say I set aside 1 year for the new employer to get all the internal budgeting approvals and initiate my GC process. Then it takes at least another 6 months (no attorney's file PERM within 6 months these days) to file the PERM. And, then say another 1 year to get the PERM result. So, this will take me 2.5 years into my 3 years limit. Now, god forbid, if the PERM gets denied due to clerical error. There is not time left for another try. Pretty much pack-up and leave.

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> Within this 3 years I need to get a new PERM approved by the new employer.

I was able to transfer two jobs using the I140 from my first job. My case is clearly not an outlier.

> Now, god forbid, if the PERM gets denied due to clerical error. There is not time left for another try. Pretty much pack-up and leave.

No, you can use your old I140 to extend your H1B for another 3 years (when I changed jobs, that's what I did)

>No, you can use your old I140 to extend your H1B for another 3 years

That is based on the _assumption_ the previous employer did not withdraw the old I-140. I wouldn't recommend that to any H1B visa holder.

Yes it is based on an assumption you work for a _legitimate_ employer and not some shady consultant. I'll use your statement to prove that it's a fair assumption in the average case.

> So, say I set aside 1 year for the new employer to get all the internal budgeting approvals and initiate my GC process

On one hand, you claim that it takes a year for the employer to get your GC going. And now to withdraw it (which will include the same filing fee + lawyer fees - time spent= thousands of dollars) it takes them less than a month (or few months) to budget this?

No proper company would want to spend another penny on an outgoing employee. And this is a completely sane assumption. You can choose to disagree, in which case I'm sorry to say, you're paranoid.

>On one hand, you claim that it takes a year for the employer to get your GC going. And now to withdraw it (which will include the same filing fee + lawyer fees - time spent= thousands of dollars) it takes them less than a month (or few months) to budget this?

Why do you say withdrawal need to be done in a month? To pack-up an H1-B visa holder, withdrawal only has to be done within the 2.5 years.

Also, withdrawing I-140 is more about sending a message to the other H1-B employees to not leave. Companies are glad to cough up few hundred bucks to send that message.

Ok. So this is how a conversation between an HR and the finance department in a _legitimate_ company goes: "We need to send a message to the rest of the H1B employees, so please budget $X thousand for withdrawing an old employee's I140"

Yeah right. You make it sound like this witch hunt is normal course of action. It clearly is not in a legitimate company.

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