Superdarts

Hi All,

I am currently in Houston finalising an perminant employment offer to relocate from the UK. I do not currently work for this company so this can't be treated as a transfer. I have 2 children aged 5 and 6 and would have liked to get everybody over in time for the new school year staring mid August. This is a VP position and I have a degree +15 years management experience.

I met with HR this morning and was informed that the best visa option was as follows:

Employ me from the UK for 2 - 3 months
Apply for B1 visa
Apply for full green card in parallel - they will try and get this through within 6 months.
Family can visit but can't start school until after I obtain the green card

Obviously this is far from ideal for the kids and also I'm a bit reluctant to dive straight into a full green card. My strong preference would be to go onto a form of employers sponsored Visa which allows the kids to go to school but the visa would expire if the employment ended.

Any comments / ideas / advice would be hugely appreciated.

Best Regards.

Noorah101

Is this for an education institution or non - profit organization? If not, you won't be able to get an H-1B visa until next year.

Are they suggesting using a B-1 in lieu of H-1B in the meantime?

Or are they thinking of doing a work -related immigrant visa?

So you don't want to live permanently in the USA? Just work for a few years and then go back to the UK?

You didn't mention a spouse. The children's father will need to give his permission for you to take them to the USA.

There might not be a visa that works for your scenario.

Rene

Twinkle0927

Doesn't sound like HR know what they are talking about. They need expert legal advice on this - I assume they have made contact with a lawyer?

You cannot adjust status to a permanent resident (aka green card holder) from a B-1 through an employer. A B-1 is for visiting or for business trips to the USA to sign contracts, attend meetings or conferences. It's not for living and working here. There is a B-1 in lieu of H-1B visa but that doesn't seem to apply here either. B visas are non-immigrant visas. You can't become a resident from one (well, there is an exception to that but it is family-based, not employment-based). They need to deal with this professionally.

I don't know why you are reluctant to go with anything that offers you permanent residency (not that it will happen on the route they have proposed). Surely that's the safest option - especially as you are bringing your family. Don't you want them to have the right to stay here even if the company collapses or you lose your job? If you're only here on a work visa then your presence here is limited to that job. Note that permanent residency isn't a life sentence. Any permanent resident has the right to abandon that status and return to their home country if they so wish. It doesn't mean you're trapped here for life.

In short, the visa is the company's responsibility. It doesn't look like they have done the research on this or obtained legal advice. And if they want you badly enough that they are going to go through all the paperwork and expense for you, the least they could do is sponsor a visa that allows you to bring your family as derivatives. At the moment, what they are proposing gives you no option to be together. Also note that the visa costs must be borne by the employer.

Superdarts

Thanks for the responses!

My apologies, they are proposing the B1 in lieu of the H1 B and this advice has come from an external legal consultant. I should have clarified that I am the father of the children and my wife will also relocate. The intention would be for this to be long term, 3 years minimum but the whole market is very uncertain so you never know.

My concern with regards to the green card application is related to the lifetime global tax implications, however I must have missunderstood this if I can simply elect to abandon the status in the future - without any serious future implications around returning to the U.S for employment further down the road?

From everything else I am reading it doesn't seem possible for me to obtain full permanent residency (including family) within 6 months? And certainly not prior to the August school term commencing?

What would you suggest as the most appropriate road forward to allow perminant residency for the family as soon as possible?

scrubbedexpat099

I 407 is the form you fill in to abandon PR status.

6 months for a GC? Sounds quick, very quick. Have they done this recently for somebody in a comparable position.

Superdarts

No, that's what worrys me. They have only issued internal transfer L1s and the temp B visas before me. I'm reading about the Eb2 premium processing but they haven't done the PERM process so that doesn't help.

scrubbedexpat099

6 months from scratch sounds super quick, not saying it can not be done. I they have people on L's then presumably they have moved some to GC so will have an idea.

If you go for it then I would not assume any specified date, keep your fingers crossed.

Pulaski

What nationality are you, and what nationality is the prospective employer i.e. where is the head office?

How well known are you in your field? Do you write papers for publication and/or speak at conferences?

Superdarts

Thanks guys, I'm Scottish and the employer head office is in Houston however it is Australian owned.

No papers publications or conference headlines unfortunatly.

Pulaski

You're not Scottish, you're British, Scottish is not a recognized nationality for immigration purposes - and your passport says the same as mine "United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. But in any case, as your nationality doesn't match that of the company, an E-2 is off the table. If the company is "American" (I am not certain exactly how the rules work), an E-2 wouldn't work no matter what your nationality is.
So an O-1 is also off the table.

tom169

And in short, you probably won't be approved for a B1 if you're otherwise eligible for the VWP.

Superdarts

Thanks again Pulaski.
So the only option I have is B1 in lieu of the H1 B and hope I get an H1 B with would be middle of next year at the earliest?

There is no other obvious solution for my situation?

scrubbedexpat099

Different sort of B1, not that I would like to assume he would get one.

I would speak directly to the Lawyers and get them to talk you through.

Pulaski

October next year, but you'd know much earlier, around May I think. Personally I wouldn't pin my hopes on a 25% chance, which is what it has been for the past couple of years. But Donald Trump has promised to really shake things up, with rumours that allocation of visas is going to be more high salary based. So if that happens I would guess $200k would be a fairly safe bet, and $100k probably wouldn't cut it. I also think it is compared to local salaries, so $150 might be a fairly safe bet in Houston, but probably not in SF.
None that I can think of.

Superdarts

Last question, can you clarify the below?

"as your nationality doesn't match that of the company, an E-2 is off the table. If the company is "American" (I am not certain exactly how the rules work), an E-2 wouldn't work no matter what your nationality is"

The majority of applications must involve applications with nationalities differing from that where the company has its head office and if we can class the company as American then all applicants would have a different nationality.