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This can be done, but it's not a long-term solution and honestly I wouldn't recommend it. H1B visas are granted for three years, and you can renew once. That
by abstractbill 16y ago
This can be done, but it's not a long-term solution and honestly I wouldn't recommend it.
H1B visas are granted for three years, and you can renew once. That gives you a total of six years after which you have to go home - no matter how well your startup is doing at that point. I've never heard of anyone doing the above and managing to keep their Green Card application going. I'm not sure it's actually possible.
In contrast a Green Card can be renewed indefinitely, so it's a rather valuable thing to wait for. Totally worth it in my opinion.
- georgecmu 16y ago> H1B visas are granted for three years, and you can renew once. Not exactly. They can be renewed past the second term indefinitely, as long as an immigration application (I-140/I-485) has been filed with USCIS and is under review -- can be a long process.
- abstractbill 16y agoRight, yes that's true, but if you submit an immigration application while you're at a large company, and then do your own startup and transfer the H1B, I'm pretty sure you will have to give up on the immigration application. I've heard of people starting companies and transferring H1Bs, but never of anyone who has done that and managed to keep an immigration application going.
- georgecmu 16y agoI think that most people file I-140/I-485 concurrently and apply for employment authorization at the same time. At that point they are not tied to their company exclusively, and theoretically they could even leave, if they are confident that the company would not maliciously retract their application. The risk there, of course, is that as soon as EAD is used to justify employment, H-1B is no longer valid, and if the initial application is denied, the applicant is automatically out of status.