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Comment by gopalv | Hacker News Reader

> The employee can change companies without too much trouble. Am I mis-informed?

This rule changed so recently that it hasn't trickled into the job market yet.

https://www.uscis.gov/news/news-releases/uscis-publishes-fin...

Effective from Jan 17th, 2017.

Previously, if your employer found out that you interviewed elsewhere (due to to a reference call or other means), they could fire you and there was only 10 days where you could wait for the new employer/offer to materialize.

https://www.uscis.gov/tools/ombudsman-liaison/practical-immi...

So, yes - you're somewhat married to your company.

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Previously you didn't have 10 days to find a job when you were fired. Based on USCIS rules previously, you had to be employed the day you file your H1 transfer. So in case you are fired, and if uscis asked for your latest pay stubs covering your employment of date of filing, you would need to leave the country, file it again and come back in.

When I filed an H1 for my startup, they issued a Request for Evidence just because the documentation mentioned our investor pitch "founder previously employed by LinkedIn". They thought I had already quit my job. Luckily I was still employed and was able to send the pay stubs.

I switched jobs while I was on H1B in 2004. I don't think legally a company can fire you just because you are looking for a job, that too without giving a notice. They have to put you on some sort of a Performance Improvement Plan or something like that right ?

> I don't think legally a company can fire you

In places which have "at will employment" regulations, they can. From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/At-will_employment:

   At-will employment is a term used in U.S. labor law for contractual relationships 
   in which an employee can be dismissed by an employer for any reason (that is, 
   without having to establish "just cause" for termination), and without warning.

> I don't think legally a company can fire you just because you are looking for a job, that too without giving a notice

I wish - not where I work (California).

There are protections by law [1], but none that protects an H1B employee from being fired for trying to quit.

[1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/At-will_employment#Statutory_e...

Notice period is typically 2 weeks and company can pay for that period in lieu of notice period. So none of those things are comforting for an employee on visa.

In many states they don't even need a reason to let you go.

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