British Expats - Moving to new employer after green card

On 20 Feb 2002 10:03:06 -0800, [email protected] (mayo) wrote:

    >On an employment based application for green card. And regardless of any financial
    >agreemnts made with the employer as to the costs associated with processing (i.e.
    >work 2 years or pay it back).
    >
    >Is there any restriction on moving to a new employer after the green card is
    >granted?

As a general rule, you have to show the intent to actually work for that employer.
Many people have said that six months to a year is typically safe, some say as much
as two years. However, it depends very much on your individual circumstances, and
some people quit after just four weeks or less without problems - in particular if
they already worked for that employer as an H-1B for years.

The situation is even more complicated after AC21; that now says that you can change
jobs even before the I-485 is approved, as long as it takes at least six months to
adjudicate the I-485.

    >What if I move in the same industry and position?

If you take advantage of the AC21 provision, you must move within the same industry
and position. Otherwise, it will help establish your intent.

    >What if I move to a ompletely different job?

Once you have your GC, that should not be a problem. However, if you do this quickly
after getting the GC, it might again raise the question of intent.

    >Can I lose the GC?

In practical terms, this wouldn't come up until naturalization, if at all.

Ingo

I am not a lawyer and this is not legal advice. For reliable advice, please consult
with a professional immigration attorney.

For further information, check the following frequently-requested links.

For many questions, you may find answers at
http://travel.state.gov/visa_services.html (Department of State)

or http://ins.usdoj.gov (INS).

For consular policies and visa reciprocity fees, find your consulate in
http://travel.state.gov/links.html

For DOL Faxback status information: http://workforcesecurity.doleta.gov/

For information on affidavit of support for marriage to US citizens (I-864), go to
http://travel.state.gov/i864gen.html and http://travel.state.gov/checklist.html

For information on entering the US as a K-1: http://www.k1poelist.com/

For poverty levels, see http://aspe.os.dhhs.gov/poverty/00poverty.htm

For information on H/L/O/P visa extensions at Dept. of State in St. Louis, MO, see
http://travel.state.gov/revals.html

For non-official information, check:

(When using these sites, and any Web sites, please watch out for privacy, as I do not
know all site operators.)

http://www.visalaw.com http://www.shusterman.com http://www.immigration.com
http://members.aol.com/MDUdall http://www.murthy.com/ http://www.richw.org/dualcit/
(dual citizenship FAQ) http://www.ilw.com/pederson/visa.htm (dual citizenship info)
http://www.srs-usvisa.com http://www.getusavisa.com
http://greencard-lottery.virtualave.net/ http://www.jcvisa.com (H-1B)
http://www.h1bresources.com (marriage and fiancee) http://www.kamya.com/misc/
(marriage and fiancee) http://www2.apex.net/users/thehydes http://www.formshome.com
http://www.workpermit.com

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and typically don't even know them.

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