Any job you take you need your new employer to be able to undertake the effort for H1B renewals and the inevitable green card application. There’s big companies that do it and smaller ones that will absolutely refuse to.
Either way an H1B prefers to stick around until the green card is done. They will not willingly prior to that unless they see a much better offer.
What the hell else supposed to happen to your temp worker visa when you’re no longer a worker? Are you supposed to just get an immigration hall pass indefinitely?
Same point as in sibling thread - if you cant get a new job lined up while still employed or within 60 days of being laid off, you clearly dont possess "distinguished merit and ability" which is the entire purpose of this visa
> if you cant get a new job lined up while still employed or within 60 days of being laid off
Lining up a job while you are still employed is something you control. Being unexpectedly thrust into the job market due to layoffs for instance is something you don't, and the state of the job market you enter is equally something you don't control. Additionally I am not sure you understand what 60 calendar days from termination to being out of status means. You don't have 60 days to "line up a job". You have 60 days to be employed again, which for this purpose means that your new employer has properly filed a petition on your behalf.
Again, does it really need explaining that this puts pressure on H-visa holders specifically that other workers don't have, especially when the companies that do sponsor visas often have interview processes that can take over a month? Does it need explaining that risking their residence and not just a paycheck means that they are less able to both:
- leave a toxic, failing or otherwise dysfunctional employer (since you practically need to secure something else first versus being truly able to resign at will)
- reject substandard employment offers (under the pressure of literally not having the time to do any more interviews)
How is it not incredibly obvious that as I said, this tilts the balance of power even more in the employer's direction? Why does someone pointing this out raise your hackles?
Also, why do you assume that the US is the only country on earth that has non-immigrant skilled workers? For instance the EU's Blue Card programme (which despite the deliberate naming is not actually a permanent residence permit like the US' green card) is far more sensible and less exploitable by employers.
Any imbalance of power is a vector for sexual harassment, assault, or discrimination in general.
It's not grasping at straws by the way. Perhaps no one has confided in you. I, personally, was sexually harassed and discriminated against while on an H-1B visa. I've heard many stories of women and non-binary people on work visas being harassed and powerless about it. Any power imbalance is a vector for this stuff (the formal term for this concept is "intersectionality"). As a society we ought to move towards less imbalance, not more.
> but people who designed these policies aren't complete morons.
Perhaps so, but that isn't enough to establish that the policies aren't bad.
Say you lose your job. Boom, the clock starts ticking and now you're in a rush to find an acceptable job that meets the criteria of H1B.
Say your manager mistreats you; denies you promotion, raises, etc. and you want to leave. You can't just quit and start looking. You have to line up something that will come through in 60 days and only then you can be free to quit.
None of these situations apply to citizen or PRs. It tilts the balance definitely to the employer's advantage.
So? You’re not entitled to always get your favorite thing. Shocking, i know. Get a transfer, then turn in the notice. How hard can that be?
Id argue if you cant just get another job you’re probably not entitled to this visa designed for workers in high demand.
> So you basically become an indentured servant, always afraid Da Bossman will fire you [...]
So it’s kind of hard to get a job before getting fired if the firing is a perpetual threat.
> this visa designed for workers in high demand
No, it’s designed for people with “theoretical and practical application of a body of highly specialized knowledge”. Nothing about demand. If there was one person in the world who could frombulate widgets and only one employer in the US who needed to frombulate widgets, that person would be suitable for an H1B (subject to all it’s other restrictions).
That person would not be able to find another job quickly.