h1b visa

[andreean1987 0]

if a hospital petitions for you an h1b visa and then you plan to transfer to another hospital is it an easy process? Do companies make this more readily than initial sponsorship? I am afraid that it is hard to transfer h1b visas....are companies seeing this as a hard process and they will say no or this only happens to the initial sponsorship?

thanks

[canadian_wife 1,823]

http://www.***removed***/visas/h1b/h1visa-layoff-jobloss-faq.html

You can only work for the company that sponsored your visa petition. If you wish to change jobs or companies, you must have a new petition sent on your behalf by the new company

Good luck

[justashooter 430]

these companies are only sponsoring foreigners because they are cheaper than USA people to hire and can be held onto more easily. H1-B people are at a distinct disadvantage in the US job market. if you are a nurse, forget about general practice nursing under H1-B. this is only available for certain specialty practice nurses.H1-C is no more.

[andreean1987 0]

i am a clinical laboratory scientist aka medical technologist which seems to be in demand

[littleadv 1]

if a hospital petitions for you an h1b visa and then you plan to transfer to another hospital is it an easy process? Do companies make this more readily than initial sponsorship? I am afraid that it is hard to transfer h1b visas....are companies seeing this as a hard process and they will say no or this only happens to the initial sponsorship?

thanks

There's a big difference between "hospital" and "company". There's no transfer. A new employer must file all the paperwork and request a new H1B for you. Why is it called "transfer"? Because what's transferred is your quota spot. H1B's are issued in a limited amount every year, and once the quota is filled - no more are issued for that year. But, if you already have an H1B, a new one can be issued for you based on the quota of the original one you have, and so you can get a H1B for a new employer even if the quota for that year was filled.

However, many hospitals are non-profits, and as such may not need the quota. Certain non-profit organization can get H1B any time, regardless of the quota. In this case, if you move to an employer who's subject to quota - the newly filed H1B request will be subject to quota, and the fact that you had H1B previously (which was not subject to quota) won't help.

Summary: If you have a cap H1B (from the quota) - you can "transfer" it anywhere. If you have a non-cap H1B (for non profits, not from quota), you can "transfer" it to another non-quota or request a new quota H1B.

The request of the quota H1B is troublesome, requires a long wait for the employer, expensive, and sometimes depends on lottery between many applicants (although not in recent years, but it was so in 2006-2008). That's why companies don't like it.