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Comment by t1o5 | Hacker News Reader

> H1B is transferable between employers

Its not easy as it sounds. Being a single that time, I have transferred my H1B myself and it was a nightmare. I had sleepless nights and uncertainty. My GreenCard process was reset. Any H1Bs who knows about the system really well will not risk transferring because of the risks to their green card process.

There is no honest company which pays a fair salary for H1Bs. If you see the data from here:

https://www.foreignlaborcert.doleta.gov/performancedata.cfm

I have a huge circle of friends in many companies. We discuss our salaries and issues openly. Not one of them says that they are paid equal to their American colleagues. Moroever the promotions and salary raises goes to American colleagues, while the H1Bs bears it all to support the family with the income where his/her spouse is not allowed to work (H4 visa)

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I agree with your general point here.

> There is no honest company which pays a fair salary for H1Bs.

> I have a huge circle of friends in many companies. We discuss our salaries and issues openly. Not one of them says that they are paid equal to their American colleagues.

I am not your friend, just a random person on internet. But I am on H-1B, and if this offers any solace, I know that I am paid par with my American colleagues. My boss is on H-1B; both he and I have American and H-1B employees reporting to us.

and you are one of those random H1B employee in the top percentile & we were not.

The rules have been changed, if youre not aware. Lot of my friends have moved between jobs on H1B. There's no uncertainty there. Moving after approved i140 prevents the greencard process from resetting.

I work in autosector and my salary is definitely equal or higher than my coworkers.

edit: i am on H1B

I have a general understanding of all the nook & corners of the I-140 portability rules. Its very precarious & employees with a family and kids in school will not dare to do this. Its a high risk maneuver.

Suppose an employee did take the risks, think about when he will be getting a greencard for EB2 or EB3 from India/China, 10 years ? If the queue readjusts, 15 years ? What if the portability provisions are taken out by a new government ? Whats the point ? Why should an employee's future be dictated by a broken immigration system ? I believe in fail-fast, so that's why I took the Express Entry path of Canada and I didn't fail.

I have done the transfer. It is not difficult if you find a company willing to pay for lawyers to handle it for you. But yes, if you are only in the first phase of your green card application you will be set back.

And I promise you, there are companies that pay a fair amount to H1B workers. I have worked for four of them myself. I don't know what kind of companies you work for or where in the country you are, but they exist.

I am not in the country anymore. Was in US for 4 years. Left it for Canada as a permanent resident.

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