Newbie1001

A year into my L1A and loving life in the US, now working in New York and want to feel settled, I don't want to change job, I just want to be able to know that if my parent company dies or if I get fired, I don't have to leave the US in a couple of days.

I can't think of any reasons why my company would want to sponsor me ( at least not for 3 years) , and I can think of many serious ones why they would not.

I can think of ways to reduce the consequence and likelihood of the reasons they would not want to sponsor me, but trying to find out any positive reasons they may want to.

I mean, other than me being happier and more settled, are there any indirect or direct benefits to them?

Keen to hear any tips and advice
Thanks

Noorah101

A lot of people request a specific date the company will apply for a green card, in writing, as part of the relocation package. I take it you did not get that.

I can't really think of any good reason the company would especially want you to have a green card, no. It's of no benefit to them if you do, and it actually releases you from having to work for them, so a huge negative for them if you get one.

Rene

Newbie1001

That's interesting and thanks for that.

I did try!

I was offered 4 roles in the US across the various companies within the holding company, which was lucky since with 3 of the companies when I tried to ask about Green cards being part of the package, even after several years service and with some kind of process to recoup fee's if I left, they were so strongly offended that it changed the nature of the conversation considerably.

I think a lot depends on whether it is you seeking the move to the US or them seeking to attract you to the US. It was totally me wanting to move here. Given they knew 4 people wanted to employ me, I was surprised at the response.

S Folinsky

Many years back I had a client where the employer told me that they did not mind the fact that the employees would move on to any available greener pastures -- he felt that the green card was a reward for work well done.

By definition, OP has already given his employer two years of sterling service.

OP may want to talk to an attorney about division of attorney and filing fees.

JAJ

Why would they not want to sponsor you? Good employers don't need to rely on their employees being legally chained to them. If pay and benefits are in line with the market, and there is a good working environment, they do not have to worry about employees leaving.

There are two very good reasons to sponsor you:

1. They get to keep you. You can't stay indefinitely on a non-immigrant visa; and

2. They don't have to repatriate you. That can be a lot more expensive than getting you a green card. Did you negotiate repatriation into your transfer agreement? If yes, that's usually one of the strongest bargaining chips someone looking for a GC has.

lisa67

And to add to that...if the OP is on an expats deal ( rent paid, flights home once a year etc) then it's usual for a company to take you off that when they start the GC process which would also be a plus for the company.

Bob

Shouldn't this have been discussed and put in writing before you moved here?

That's when you hold all the cards.

The advantage for them if they do get you a greencard now, would be putting you on a US contract rather than a UK contract, so you'd have no job protection I suppose, which makes sacking you cheaper and easier.

You were naive to not pursue the greencard in negotiations harder, it's what negotiations were about, if they're prepared to transfer you, you obviously hold skills and a need they wanted.

N1cky

Not everyone is in a position to negotiate these things at the time of the move Bob. Sometimes L moves are done because the employee pursues it and its already a big favor and expense for the company to get the visa and relocate you, not everyone is in a position to demand all the bells and whistles.

Also, most L's I know are on US contracts not UK contracts so no benefit there.

Bob

Depends, if you're already in the US, you're under the thumb.

If you've got multiple departments vying for you, you've got more leeway.

Also have nothing to lose by asking for it...the cost of a greencard at that point is peanuts in the cost of relocating someone and if they aren't willing to go for it, then it would be standard to keep a UK contract because they are clearly viewing it as a temporary move, so why lose out on UK protection and pension schemes etc.

Everything else, flights home, etc are clearly not that important and add considerable cost over a period of time, but the Greencard itself, that's nothing.

Greencard and repatriation costs are probably the most important things to consider, both from cost/stability and security point of view and rolling over on those v other benefits is not a good thing.

Michael

Also in some cases, the company only wants a loyal warm body from the home country working with those egotistical foreigners to keep an eye on them and steer them in the direction that the home office desires.

When I worked for Fujitsu Microsystems USA, the Japanese sent over engineers as well as managers to integrate into our group. As far as the engineers, they were just average and the managers did not run any group but were just there to advise. Especially for the Japanese culture it was very obvious why they were there. The managers would try to drive the US organization to be most beneficial for the Japanese organization while the Americans would try to drive the US organization in the direction that was most beneficial for the US subsidiary.

When meetings were held between the Japanese organization (flown to the US) and the US organization, the US employees of the Japanese organization would pile on the Americans calling them negative if they wouldn't give into what the Japanese organization had proposed (decided).

As an example, the Japanese always pushed the US organization to sell their products even though our organization was charged such a high price for that we could never be profitable. The Japanese claimed that we could charge well above what competitors charged due to the quality of the Japanese products but that was not the market. The US organization, tried to get products from other sources to increase sales and become profitable but was usually opposed by the Japanese organization. The few times that was allowed and profits and sales increased, the products became replaced by more expensive Japanese products. You can probably guess that we were closed down after 8 years.

N1cky

Again, not everyone has got other departments vying for them, or the choice of staying in their UK job.

If the choice is rolling over on those things but having a job and a great opportunity or staying in the UK and not having a job, what would you do?

Anyhow, we digress, none of this is helpful to the OP. We too have been trying to come up with positives for the company, as oppossed to just positives for ourselves, it's tricky.

Socal Local

I think you could present a good argument on the potential costs to them if they do want this to become more of a long term arrangement. If you were to stay for the full 7 year duration of the L, there would be two renewals required with all of the associated filing fees, plus two trips outside of the US to get the new visa stamps. It could be that this would add up to a lot more than the cost of the green card application and if you were to proceed with it now (assuming you qualify for EB1C and everything went smoothly) you should be able to get a green card before even the first visa renewal is required.

I also signed a letter agreeing to reimburse the costs if I left the company within a certain period of time to try to reassure them that getting the green card was not about wanting to rush off and work for anyone else.

Thallo

Thanks OP, and everyone.

Does anyone have an idea on how the cost justification works out if you hold an L1B (as opposed to the OP's L1A)?
My employer has recently discovered that my L1B is going to cost a lot, and has mentioned getting me a green card. I think in the next 2 weeks, we'll have to prepare some kind of cost justification.
On an L1B, my job would require labor certification, which is going to inflate the cost of a green card.

JAJ

Labor certification adds to the cost, but it's still less than the cost of repatriating you back to home country. And replacing you, assuming they want to keep your services indefinitely.

You need to look at whether you can get a green card through second preference (EB-2) rather than third preference - will make a huge difference to the process. Also, before you finally rule out the L1A/EB1-C option, make sure you're not eligible for it. In a few cases, even if you do not manage a large group of people, there is the "functional manager" classification.

Thallo

Okay, thanks JAJ,

That's good news