Geen card through employer?

[faithful12 27]

Hello, 

 

I wasnt sure under which topic to post this query. 

 

I have a GC with my employer, which automatically provides GC to my spouse and kids. 

However I am not happy with my employer. 

Is there any possibility my spouse can apply for a GC through his present employer? Will him already having a GC affect his GC application? What are the options of applying a GC for him through his company? 

 

Any information highly appreciated. 

 

Thanks!

[aleful 1,905]

hi

 

if you are a LPR, then you are a resident, period, you won't loose your residency status if you leave the company. it is not a work visa that can be revoked, it is a GC. you can leave your employer and work wherever you like. You aren't tied to your employer for the rest of your life

 

you don't need to apply for another GC, a GC is a GC

 

 

 

 

[faithful12 27]

From what I've heard is if we dont work.for the employer that filed our GC it could lead to.problems while applying for citizenship. Also they say if reported the UScis could revoke your GC

[aleful 1,905]

not true

 

you will apply for citizenship after 5 years of being a GC holder

 

nobody can take your GC away, unless you commit a crime, but not your employer

 

 

Edited June 9, 2018 by aleful

[SusieQQQ 11,584]

1 hour ago, faithful12 said:

From what I've heard is if we dont work.for the employer that filed our GC it could lead to.problems while applying for citizenship. Also they say if reported the UScis could revoke your GC

Sounds like nonsense from your company trying to keep you there...? 

As others have said, a GC is a GC. Once you have one, you are in no way tied to your employer. Your employer may sponsor you for one but after that they have no hold on you. The GC has no link back to them and nothing they do can affect it.   And your husband can work for anyone he wants to with his GC.

Edited June 9, 2018 by SusieQQQ

[CEE53147 559]

Leaving employer immediately after obtaining ir via that employer can be viewed negatively.  Of you have remained at least 6 months after receiving your GC, you are most likely OK.

 

From your question it appears that you are not properly informed about the GC and citizenship process.  You need to sign up for classes so you are prepared for the naturalization test and are prepared for what lies ahead.

[mtempelaar 190]

"Your employer may sponsor you for one but after that they have no hold on you."

 

This is only true from a government perspective.  This should be called out though for anyone playing around with greencards and employment:  the greencard isn't tied to the employer from the view of the government (agreeing with people above), but there may be a legal contract between the employer and the employee so that changing jobs later may have a penalty within a certain length of time. 

 

I am going through this right now actually.  The fulltime employee offer letter to my existing contractor, in which I take over his H1B sponsorship and then start his greencard process, specifically states that if I sponsor him, and he leaves before 2 years, he will need to reimburse my company a certain amount and I will also cease all support of the greencard process if it hasn't been completed at the time of departure.    This has been the case for every Fortune 100 company I have worked at.

 

It sounds to me like there is some confusion in this thread about implications of transitioning an H1B visa versus a Greencard.   Sponsorship of a H1B visa does require some paperwork to transition to a different employer that will sponsor.  Greencard doesn't, but that legal contract I mention above, if it exists, could have a financial penalty or lose of greencard in process (not yet obtained).

 

 

Edited June 19, 2018 by mtempelaar

[SusieQQQ 11,584]

3 minutes ago, mtempelaar said:

"Your employer may sponsor you for one but after that they have no hold on you."

 

This is only true from a government perspective.  This should be called out though for anyone playing around with greencards and employment:  the greencard isn't tied to the employer from the view of the government (agreeing with people above), but there may be a legal contract between the employer and the employee so that changing jobs later may have a penalty within a certain length of time. 

 

I am going through this right now actually.  The fulltime employee offer letter to my existing contractor, in which I take over his H1B sponsorship and then start his greencard process, specifically states that if I sponsor him, and he leaves before 2 years, he will need to reimburse my company a certain amount and I will also cease all support of the greencard process if it hasn't been completed at the time of departure.    This has been the case for every Fortune 100 company I have worked at.

 

This isn't directly tied to the OP's post but I wanted to call out this in response to the quote above so no incorrect info out there.

 

 

Context is a fine thing. My answer was in response to “From what I've heard is if we dont work.for the employer that filed our GC it could lead to.problems while applying for citizenship. Also they say if reported the UScis could revoke your GC”. I’m sure if I tried hard enough I could pull something you said above out of context and caution someone else on what you said too ...

 

I would assume the OP would know if they had signed a contract (though, maybe not in which case your clarification would be useful to her). And perhaps you have worked for careful companies but there seem to be many people who dump their employers when they get their green cards judging by numerous posts in this and other forums. Kind of surprised more companies aren’t as careful as yours tbh, but there you have it. Btw, you also don’t state precisely what hold other than $$ the company has over you once the GC process is complete, just that they can withdraw support for it before then. 

[mtempelaar 190]

34 minutes ago, SusieQQQ said:

Context is a fine thing. My answer was in response to “From what I've heard is if we dont work.for the employer that filed our GC it could lead to.problems while applying for citizenship. Also they say if reported the UScis could revoke your GC”. I’m sure if I tried hard enough I could pull something you said above out of context and caution someone else on what you said too ...

 

I would assume the OP would know if they had signed a contract (though, maybe not in which case your clarification would be useful to her). And perhaps you have worked for careful companies but there seem to be many people who dump their employers when they get their green cards judging by numerous posts in this and other forums. Kind of surprised more companies aren’t as careful as yours tbh, but there you have it. Btw, you also don’t state precisely what hold other than $$ the company has over you once the GC process is complete, just that they can withdraw support for it before then. 

My company would withdraw support for the greencard if not yet completed and the financial penalty is high.   If they do have a greencard through us and they quit at 6 months, yes we would go after them financially.   We may take the money from their last paycheck or vacation payout, and if that isn't sufficient, they would hear from our lawyers.  

 

I did have someone who we were sponsoring for a greencard and then she went on long term disability.  She had been forced to return by HR when she couldn't provide a valid medical reason for continued long term disability.  When she came back, she quit after a week.   I was angered that we held the position for her for a year when I desperately needed someone in that role, but we decided not to go after the money. We did, however, cease greencard sponsorship which she hadn't received yet.

Some companies don't so the legal contract because they haven't been burned enough times or having on staff lawyers isn't financially feasible.  A fortune 100 company is going to have an entire department of lawyers.

 

It sounds to me like the OP doesn't fully understand the process and rights, so many not understand what was paperwork signed and for what purpose.   I don't know...just wanted to throw that out there for full picture.

[SusieQQQ 11,584]

26 minutes ago, mtempelaar said:

My company would withdraw support for the greencard if not yet completed and the financial penalty is high.   If they do have a greencard through us and they quit at 6 months, yes we would go after them financially.   We may take the money from their last paycheck or vacation payout, and if that isn't sufficient, they would hear from our lawyers.  

 

I did have someone who we were sponsoring for a greencard and then she went on long term disability.  She had been forced to return by HR when she couldn't provide a valid medical reason for continued long term disability.  When she came back, she quit after a week.   I was angered that we held the position for her for a year when I desperately needed someone in that role, but we decided not to go after the money. We did, however, cease greencard sponsorship which she hadn't received yet.

Some companies don't so the legal contract because they haven't been burned enough times or having on staff lawyers isn't financially feasible.  A fortune 100 company is going to have an entire department of lawyers.

 

It sounds to me like the OP doesn't fully understand the process and rights, so many not understand what was paperwork signed and for what purpose.   I don't know...just wanted to throw that out there for full picture.

OP clearly not working for a Fortune 100 company with an army of lawyers and HR people who explain things properly but a scammy little one trying to frighten her into staying with them judging by what she’s said.  Again, she claims her and family already all have green cards.

 

Edited June 19, 2018 by SusieQQQ

[CEE53147 559]

NEVER sign a contract that you do not intend to honor.  NEVER sign a contract you do not understand. If you have questions, hire your own independent attorney to review the contract.

 

Reports of employment based visa and green card issues make me believe the employee is out to scam the employer more frequently rather than the other way around. People will sign anything just to come to the US and then wonder why they have problems when they violate the terms of the contract they signed.  While many of the contracts may have unenforceable terms, do you really have the funds or time to fight it out in court?

[randomstairs 262]

With a GC you can leave your employer whenever you feel like it. However, they will check to make sure that your GC was obtained in good faith. So if you quit the sponsoring job a week or two after getting the GC, that surly can raise a red flag during the citizenship step. So the question is not about the legality of changing jobs after getting the GC (it's 100% legal) but rather about your intentions at the time of filing the I-485/I-140.

 

 Most attorneys suggest waiting for 6 months with changing jobs, after receiving an EB GC. This period, though, is totally arbitrarily picked and is not a law. The 180-day period is probably originating from the the AC21 rule, which applies to pending I-140 cases. 

 

In short, if your desire to change jobs only arose after receiving the GC, you'll be fine. This is similar to family-based cases - you don't want to divorce the day after getting greened...   

[SusieQQQ 11,584]

17 minutes ago, CEE53147 said:

 

Reports of employment based visa and green card issues make me believe the employee is out to scam the employer more frequently rather than the other way around. People will sign anything just to come to the US and then wonder why they have problems when they violate the terms of the contract they signed.  While many of the contracts may have unenforceable terms, do you really have the funds or time to fight it out in court?

Generally I agree with you, but this case sounds different.

 

The work visa system is riddled with holes and ripe for abuse from so many angles. They need to fix it, because economically, it’s the most critical visas they issue.

[randomstairs 262]

32 minutes ago, CEE53147 said:

NEVER sign a contract that you do not intend to honor.  NEVER sign a contract you do not understand. If you have questions, hire your own independent attorney to review the contract.

 

Reports of employment based visa and green card issues make me believe the employee is out to scam the employer more frequently rather than the other way around. People will sign anything just to come to the US and then wonder why they have problems when they violate the terms of the contract they signed.  While many of the contracts may have unenforceable terms, do you really have the funds or time to fight it out in court?

Abuse happens on both ends. Just like with family-based GCs. It all comes down to good faith. Employers like keeping their "H1B slave" cheap labor (mostly from India) and employees sometimes take positions just for the GC. Again, that's not different from FB. 

Edited June 20, 2018 by randomstairs

[CEE53147 559]

The work visa issue has evolved and is in many ways controlled by earlier immigrants taking advantage of their countrymen.

 

I continue to be angered by those why refuse to consider American citizens and LPRs before going abroad for a worker.  I would advise anyone that a STEM degree in engineering and IT is only a stop  on a career path to a totally different degree.  It is cheaper to hire a foreign guest worker than to keep an older, skilled worker. And people wonder why things don't work like they used to.

 

Note: I received my first engineering degree 49 years ago. I would not do it again not because I did not love the work but because of the uncertainty of it.