Getting fired on 6th year of H1B

venkatdabri

Registered Users (C)
Hello Friends,
A lawyer told me that if you are on the 6th year of H1B and the company fires you then there is no way that you can have an extension on your visa even if your I-140 has been approved. This is because the company would fire you and withdraw your I-140 and cancel your H1B. So even if you found a new company who is willing to file for your H1B you will still not be able to extend it since you have no approved I-140. My question is that this gives a company way too much power over you since they can literally throw you out of the country. Is there anyway for a person in such a situation to stay on by extending for one more year using the labor certification? Also how will we know if the I-140 has been revoked or not?
 
You are right, but if you fear that you might be fired soon or think there's some kind of risk, and you're in your 6th year of H1B, what you can do is find another company, and have them file an H1B transfer + extension for 3 years. When it gets approved, you can continue to stay with your current employer, but still have a backdoor option to join the new company if the current employer fires you and revokes your I-140. Just because the I-140 gets revoked, it doesn't stop you from joining the other company if they've already filed and gotten the H1B extension approved. Of course, you need to find a backup company willing to back you up like that.
 
You should probably consult with an attorney, you're asking lots of questions and only a licensed attorney is truly best-suited to give you the proper legal advice. Second, I am not going to address everything here since I am short on time, however, as for question #1, if you lose your job, you may need to have the new employer file a separate I-129 for you. Good luck, I hope you just keep the job you have (and also keep in mind, if you haven't stayed past the due date on your H1-B and you entered lawfully, you can accept a new job if you're laid off so long as your new employer files a new I-129 on your behalf).
 
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