Fellow visa holders, I am trying to hire engineers for my team and just got off the phone with attorney and want to share what she told me. She said I should discourage candidates from joining before approval comes through. Rejection rates as well as the processing time might increase in the near future as uscis is becoming more strict. Without approval your status become illegal if you had already left the previous job 6 months back. Hence H1 visa is almost like a L visa now because no employer wants to wait for 6 months to hire. Please avoid joining on receipt. It could backfire.
Good advice
I have onsite interviews in next couple of weeks with MS & Amazon and recruiters know I am on H1B. I was thinking of joining on receipt as they are big companies. Do recruiters know about all the immigration issues? Or it would be just waste of time?
Recruiters’ mission is to fill the req ASAP so they don’t think of your best interest. You have to look out for yourself in this regard
For the love of god don’t join on receipt ! Big companies would wait it out if you are good. Don’t be desperate! Big companies doesn’t guarantee H1-approval !
If you are currently in a very bad company and get an offer from a really good company, you should join on receipt. The worst case scenario would be relocated to the oversea office, which is not bad at all.
Rejections have been more frequent recently. I see people in my ethnic community getting rejected for transfer even if it’s same type of job.
Just say Indian!
Im not Indian or Chinese. Thanks.
Great advice - it’s not clear anywhere- candidates want to join on receipt - I am against that , but as hiring manager I am being restricted to speak out and influence the candidates because it will feel like discrimination. To me it’s clear - nobody on h1 should even interview (unless you have been fired from current job). And even if companies allow you to start on reciept , remember you will be illegal , don’t expect companies to do “magic” to make you legal again. Another point , waiting for 6 months doesn’t make sense , I would rather not apply and get through premium when it starts , why would I spend money for h1 transfer , all to see the candidate leave for better TC , in 6 months I can get 6 jobs .
Would things change next year when premium processing is reinstated?
*if it's reinstated?
OP you can join now on receipt and promote to PP when it opens in Feb. I think if one is desperate and moving to a well known company - this might be fine
**might**
From my experience one should not join big companies on receipt. No one give fuck if your are approved. I had to chase my manager to reply to RFE and since it is big company.. they do not care if one employee is lost
I joined Apple on receipt and things worked out just fine. Just got my approval few days ago. It's a risk that you would take. Only you can decide whether it's worth it or not. By NOT joining on receipt, you could risk losing the offer if the company were to freeze hiring and lose out on high salary for few months. By joining on receipt you could run into risk of getting rejection which could complicate your status. In my case my company assured me that they'll do everything to make sure I'm on good status if I join on receipt. So it gave me confidence to make my decision.
I mean why would anybody join on receipt unless there are unavoidable circumstances.
Because company can’t wait?
Sure if you are dumb !