I got an offer from a fairly large gaming company(they make games similar to DoTA, Overwatch) to work as a data scientist, but there's a small issue. Currently I am on my STEM OPT, and have applied for my extension, but this company cannot support people on OPT directly, as they are not enrolled in eVerify. They told me that they can employ me as a contractor until the time comes to apply for my H1B visa, which they will sponsor, and that will make me a full time employee directly with the company. I'm not sure what the implications are of being a contractor when on OPT, so I was wondering to get some opinion on whether or not this is shady, or if it is not a problem. The hiring manager has assured me that this is not a problem at all and that they have done this before for other employees but I just wanted to be doubly sure that this wouldn't cause any issues. The offer they've made me is very competitive, but I'm a little weary of impact on my pending STEM OPT extension application. Has anyone here been in a similar situation before? Is this a red flag of sorts?
Why didn't they apply for your H1B this April?
So, I was on my opt, and my previous company did apply for h1, but it didn't end up getting picked... And after that there was a layoff unfortunately(after I applied for opt extension and got the receipt for the application and the automatic 180 day extension), and I started looking for a new job. This was one of the new offers I've gotten now...