4 ms·

Technically you can, but if you have a Green Card application you have to restart the 12-year process over again.

by dccoolgai 9y ago

0xcafecafe 9y ago
Not true. You have to restart the process but can retain the same priority date. Your place in the queue is never lost.
- dccoolgai 9y ago
  That would come as a pleasant surprise to my friends, who seem to be under the impression (and they are fairly knowledgeable about the process, since it is a sword of Damocles that constantly dangles over them and their families). Also, this seems to indicate otherwise: https://www.murthy.com/2017/11/30/changes-in-employer-employment-and-green-card-processing-2/ https://www.murthy.com/2017/11/30/changes-in-employer-employ... see: "If Employer A is unwilling to go through with the employment offer, the case ends. In that event, the I-485 case cannot proceed, as there is no intent to employ the sponsored worker. The same would be true if the sponsored worker is unwilling or unable to work for the sponsoring employer and wants to stay with the new employer, in this example, Employer B."
  - 0xcafecafe 9y ago
    It talks about "if current employer is not the GC sponsoring employer". I am saying that job changes are easy IF the new company is willing to sponsor the GC in which case the process restarts (taking about 2 years) but the priority date is retained.
    - dccoolgai 9y ago
      (2 years) My friends from India have been waiting 8 years, paid hundreds of thousands in US taxes and are still years away from getting their GC. So I can say with complete certainty that this figure is incorrect. I wish it weren't. But we have an obligation to understand the law and the situation as it exists rather than as we wish it did. These are real people with families, houses, etc. who are afraid every day that by the whim of their employer they'd have to pack up their whole lives and leave at the drop of a hat. No one deserves that.
      - jogjayr 9y ago
        0xcafecafe is right. I think the confusion you're having is "place in line" vs "length of green card process". Your Indian friends have been waiting 8 years because their turn in line hasn't come yet. The place in line refers to the date of the most recent application that was granted a green card - the date your GC application was filed is known as a "priority date". For Indian and Chinese nationals with Master's degrees, applications with a priority date of around 2009 are only now receiving green cards. This is the "8 year wait" that your friends are referring to.* If someone with a priority date circa 2012 were to change their job right now you are correct that they would need to "restart the green card process" at their new job. A new green card application takes between 1 and 2 years. But it doesn't matter because their priority date is at least 3 years away anyway. And the new green card application at their new job can re-use the same 2012 priority date from the old GC application by the previous employer - so they'll receive their green card at the same time as they would by staying at their old employer. *The only reason this line exists for Indians and Chinese is because green cards are apportioned by the applicants' country of birth, without regard to the population of that country. Since India and China are by far the largest countries in the world, they simply have more applicants than anyone else. Put another way, a Master's degree holder from the Seychelles could get a green card in the same amount of time as a Canadian or an Eritrean or Italian or Brazilian - between 1 and 2 years. I think this whole country of origin business is silly, and not just because it affects me personally. There is a rule change proposed in Congress to address this issue: https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/392 https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/392

Technically you can, but if you have a Green Card application you have to restart the 12-year process over again.

0xcafecafe 9y ago

Not true. You have to restart the process but can retain the same priority date. Your place in the queue is never lost.

dccoolgai 9y ago
That would come as a pleasant surprise to my friends, who seem to be under the impression (and they are fairly knowledgeable about the process, since it is a sword of Damocles that constantly dangles over them and their families). Also, this seems to indicate otherwise: https://www.murthy.com/2017/11/30/changes-in-employer-employment-and-green-card-processing-2/ https://www.murthy.com/2017/11/30/changes-in-employer-employ... see: "If Employer A is unwilling to go through with the employment offer, the case ends. In that event, the I-485 case cannot proceed, as there is no intent to employ the sponsored worker. The same would be true if the sponsored worker is unwilling or unable to work for the sponsoring employer and wants to stay with the new employer, in this example, Employer B."
- 0xcafecafe 9y ago
  It talks about "if current employer is not the GC sponsoring employer". I am saying that job changes are easy IF the new company is willing to sponsor the GC in which case the process restarts (taking about 2 years) but the priority date is retained.
  - dccoolgai 9y ago
    (2 years) My friends from India have been waiting 8 years, paid hundreds of thousands in US taxes and are still years away from getting their GC. So I can say with complete certainty that this figure is incorrect. I wish it weren't. But we have an obligation to understand the law and the situation as it exists rather than as we wish it did. These are real people with families, houses, etc. who are afraid every day that by the whim of their employer they'd have to pack up their whole lives and leave at the drop of a hat. No one deserves that.
    - jogjayr 9y ago
      0xcafecafe is right. I think the confusion you're having is "place in line" vs "length of green card process". Your Indian friends have been waiting 8 years because their turn in line hasn't come yet. The place in line refers to the date of the most recent application that was granted a green card - the date your GC application was filed is known as a "priority date". For Indian and Chinese nationals with Master's degrees, applications with a priority date of around 2009 are only now receiving green cards. This is the "8 year wait" that your friends are referring to.* If someone with a priority date circa 2012 were to change their job right now you are correct that they would need to "restart the green card process" at their new job. A new green card application takes between 1 and 2 years. But it doesn't matter because their priority date is at least 3 years away anyway. And the new green card application at their new job can re-use the same 2012 priority date from the old GC application by the previous employer - so they'll receive their green card at the same time as they would by staying at their old employer. *The only reason this line exists for Indians and Chinese is because green cards are apportioned by the applicants' country of birth, without regard to the population of that country. Since India and China are by far the largest countries in the world, they simply have more applicants than anyone else. Put another way, a Master's degree holder from the Seychelles could get a green card in the same amount of time as a Canadian or an Eritrean or Italian or Brazilian - between 1 and 2 years. I think this whole country of origin business is silly, and not just because it affects me personally. There is a rule change proposed in Congress to address this issue: https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/392 https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/392