Currently I work at GM through a contract house. I was offered to do the same job, same role, same work location but now as a direct employee of GM. The company applied for H1B Transfer and I got my receipt number yesterday. My start date at GM is on Monday, Feb 3rd 2020. Should I start on receipt number or wait for approval notice ? I know other people on my team who have started on receipt number. They say it should not be a problem for me as I am doing a " straight transfer" moving to client company. But can my contract company do anything rash if I don't give them notice period?(I don't have to) Like now that the visa in the transfer process like can they (the contract house )cancel it or something? I checked the status now at 8:24AM EST on Jan 31st and the status is still "received case. Receipt number emailed" I have applied for premium processing. I need make a decision today. Please advice.
You can work on a receipt technically but wouldn’t recommend it.
The risk is if you get rejected, you are done from both companies. If you are not risk averse, join the client on receipt notice and keep your fingers crossed.
Well, you should speak to immigration attorney at GM to clear doubts. Not sure what you mean by saying “I need to make decision today”. The boat has already sailed. Is this because you have to decide when to join GM. I rather wait for approval and not existing employer know about it. Usually, joining the same client as full time is not a major cause of concern. Even if it gets rejected, you old visa may still be valid. But again, every case is different. I did it almost 8 years ago and it worked well for me. Additionally, if you previous firm has filed your GC, then it’s totally different discussion. You life will not change if you don’t take risk; things can go either way. I hope you joined GM after getting clarity on when they will file your GC. And yes, you can join while petition is pending. But I rather wait and stay on current company’s payroll until I get approval.
Do not join on receipt. Uscis is issuing RFE left and right these days. How about delay the start date and confirm to work as a contracter until your know the status of your visa.
If he is on H1B, he can either be with Company A or Contracting Company B or New Company C. He would need H1-B to work for each of these. So contracting is out of the option. I'd wait and get approval and then jump ship. Untill that point, long silence. Let your new employer know that you'll be jeopardizing your status in US if you jump ships on a receipt notice.
Thank you all. By saying "I need to make a decision" I mean if I want to start on receipt notice or not. Currently, my contract house (my current employer) has no idea I am about to jump ship. So the GM HR wanted to know from me if I want to start on Feb3rd using receipt notice. But personally I was not sure. But now based everyones comments here I think I will start with approval notice. If I start with approval notice then my start date will be Feb 17th. But the new question is, imagine I get my approval notice on Feb 10th, then what happens ? What do I do till Feb 17th?
There is no such thing as h1b transfer. It's a new petition. After the GM h1b petition is approved you could work for any of the two companies. Just wait for final approval.
Well if it is a new petition then when you do a transfer why doesn't your application go through a lottery ? Just curious
You can continue to work with your current employer even after getting approval with new employer. The new h1b comes into effect after you start at the new employer.
Update : I got approval notice today at around 3PM
Congratulations!!
How long its been since transfer was applied??
2 days. I got receipt number yesterday. I have applied for premium processing