Change Employers - H-1b Portability
Portability for an H-1B visa holder was created by the American Competitiveness in the Twenty-First Century Act (AC21). Portability's main purpose is to help reduce the long delays created when an H-1B holder wishes to transfer to a new employer. Prior to AC21, an H-1B employee could not begin work for a new employer until a new petition had been approved by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS), which could take up to 3 months to process. Now, under certain circumstances, an H-1B holder can start work for a new employer in H-1B status when the petition has merely been filed, which has been defined by the USCIS as when the petition is received at the appropriate office. Our Michigan immigration lawyers would be happy to discuss H-1b portability with you if you are seeking to change employers, and can assist you with that change.
Portability Portability only applies to aliens who have been lawfully admitted to the U.S., have properly filed a non-frivolous petition before the expiration of the current H-1B, and have not been employed without authorization before the petition was filed. Furthermore, the petition must be accompanied by evidence of a filing of the Labor Condition Application (LCA). The LCA mandates that an employer meet prevailing wage requirements and maintain a file regarding the particulars of the LCA.
H-1B Visas for Professional Workers
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The Law Firm of Antone, Casagrande & Adwers, P.C. helps individuals and businesses worldwide with all of their US immigration needs including employment visas, obtaining green cards for business and corporate employees and family members, visas for doctors, nurses, therapists, and other health care workers, together with waivers for physicians under J visa training program, labor certifications (PERM), national interest waivers, marriage-based adjustments and green cards, fiancee visas, family immigration preferences, students, naturalization and citizenship, including medical waivers, asylum, deportation, hardship waivers, voluntary departure and removal. We serve clients in southeast Michigan including the Detroit Metro area, Ann Arbor, and Lansing. With offices in Farmington Hills, MI, we are close to Southfield, Troy, West Bloomfield, Birmingham, Novi, Rochester and Auburn Hills in Oakland County; Canton, Plymouth, Dearborn, and Detroit in Wayne County; Warren, Sterling Heights, and Mount Clemens in Macomb County; Brighton and Howell in Livingston County; Lansing in Ingham County; City of Monroe in Monroe County, Ann Arbor in Washtenaw County; Grand Rapids in Kent County; Battle Creek in Calhoun County; Kalamazoo in Kalamazoo County; Benton Harbor in Berrien County; Holland in Ottawa County; Flint in Genesee County; Ludington in Mason County; Muskegon in Muskegon County; and Traverse City in Grand Traverse County, Michigan. Although many of our clients are located in the tri-county area of Wayne, Oakland and Macomb, we also serve clients in many cities and states in the U.S. including Cleveland, Toledo and Cincinnati, Ohio; Chicago, Illinois; Milwaukee and Green Bay, Wisconsin; Indianapolis, Indiana; Buffalo, New York; Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Diego, California; Phoenix and Tucson, Arizona; Dallas, Houston, El Paso and Galveston, Texas; Miami, Florida; Washington D.C.; Virginia, Minnesota, Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and many others. In addition to the United States, we also serve Canadian nationals from numerous provinces in Canada, including Toronto and Windsor in Ontario; Montreal in Quebec; Halifax in Nova Scotia; and Vancouver, British Columbia. We also serve cities and countries such as London, England; Scotland and other countries of the United Kingdom (U.K.); Mexico, Paris, France; Frankfurt and Berlin, Germany; Tokyo, Japan; India; Brazil; Rome, Italy; Shanghai and Beijing, China; Belgium; the Philippines, and many other countries in Europe, Asia and South America. |
