TN/H1 to Green Card

V

Viren Patel

New Member
I hear CuriousGeorge is the man with the golden hand (and all the answers) around here.

Hello All,

I know this sort of discussion has been posted many times over, however, I felt my case was a bit unique, which is why I'm creating a new thread. Some details:

Intent: Green Card
Current Status: TN Permit holder (with various companies since 2004) AND H1-B holder [EXPLANATION BELOW]
Born: Indian
Citizenship: Canadian (naturalized in 1993)

So here's the deal:
I've been working with various companies who I attained TN's through since 2004. One of these companies (a contracting company) call them ABC placed me at a Fortune 100 company (call them XYZ.) The Fortune 100 company wanted to hire me fulltime and through their attornies applied for a H1B for me, which was approved. However, company XYZ (Fortune 100) had some budget cuts and never hired me fulltime, however I I have my H1B I-94 card in my hand. Mind you, I still have the TN 1-94 card as well. I still work through a recruiting company (who holds my TN) to work at the Fortune 100 company.

To summarize the above, I've got a TN1 and a H1B in hand. I would like to get fulltime employment through the Fortune 100 company. What is the quickest way to get a green card, is it through the TN or the H1B? And does anyone know approximately how long it takes? I still have 2 years left on my current TN.

I understand the process is:
1. Apply for I-140, I-485, EAD and Advance Parole ALL at the same time.
2. Once EAD is approved, tell your employer to change from TN to EAD.
3. Do not travel until Advanced Parole is approved and after that present your EAD and never mention TN.
4. Renew EAD every year, making sure it does not expire
5. NEVER apply for TN AGAIN!
6. Pray to God that your I-485 gets approved. If it gets rejected, you're screwed, and you leave the country.

Anyone got info/suggestions?
Thanks,
viren55
 
Actually curiousgeorge hasn't posted here for years. His posts however stand the test of time, as do mine.

First off, you do not have an H1-B at this point. You were approved for H1, which means you can re-apply for a valid H1 anytime a sponsor will want to, without being subject to quota, but you do NOT have an H1-B at this time. You are in US on TN status only. Do not ever indicate on any form that you are in H1 status, unless and until a sponsor re-submits an I-129 for H1 and it is approved.

There is no differnce in the time it take to get Green card whether you are on TN or H1-B. What increases the time for GC is when a compony refuses to begin the GC process until you get H1.
The length of time depends on whether your are an EB2 or EB3 category applicant,and your birth nation. Unfortunately for you, your nationality for GC purposes is Indian, and the wait times are longer than for other nationals. EB3 will take 10 years, EB2 will take 7 years at current rates. for non-Indians it will take 1-2 years maximum.
the only way to improve your lot is to
(a) qualify for EB1 (you have a nobel prize, correct),
(b) marry or be married to a national who is not Indian, and therefore get to use their nationality in your GC process
(c) better yet, marry a US citizen and get marriage-based GC

Correction to your #3. EAD has nothing to do with travel, When you enter the country you show AP, not EAD.

But you are a decade away from worrying about these details. So I would advise against getting H1 any time soon, since it has 6-year clock, while TN as no limit. save it for later.

Since your questions from here on don't have much to do with TN, I suggest skipping on over to the I-485 forum to commiserate with your fellow indians about interminable GC process.
 
nelsona said:
Actually curiousgeorge hasn't posted here for years. His posts however stand the test of time, as do mine.

First off, you do not have an H1-B at this point. You were approved for H1, which means you can re-apply for a valid H1 anytime a sponsor will want to, without being subject to quota, but you do NOT have an H1-B at this time. You are in US on TN status only. Do not ever indicate on any form that you are in H1 status, unless and until a sponsor re-submits an I-129 for H1 and it is approved.

There is no differnce in the time it take to get Green card whether you are on TN or H1-B. What increases the time for GC is when a compony refuses to begin the GC process until you get H1.
The length of time depends on whether your are an EB2 or EB3 category applicant,and your birth nation. Unfortunately for you, your nationality for GC purposes is Indian, and the wait times are longer than for other nationals. EB3 will take 10 years, EB2 will take 7 years at current rates. for non-Indians it will take 1-2 years maximum.
the only way to improve your lot is to
(a) qualify for EB1 (you have a nobel prize, correct),
(b) marry or be married to a national who is not Indian, and therefore get to use their nationality in your GC process
(c) better yet, marry a US citizen and get marriage-based GC

Correction to your #3. EAD has nothing to do with travel, When you enter the country you show AP, not EAD.

But you are a decade away from worrying about these details. So I would advise against getting H1 any time soon, since it has 6-year clock, while TN as no limit. save it for later.

Since your questions from here on don't have much to do with TN, I suggest skipping on over to the I-485 forum to commiserate with your fellow indians about interminable GC process.
Click to expand...

Nelson - thanks for the response. A few questions:
nelsona said:
First off, you do not have an H1-B at this point. You were approved for H1, which means you can re-apply for a valid H1 anytime a sponsor will want to, without being subject to quota, but you do NOT have an H1-B at this time. You are in US on TN status only. Do not ever indicate on any form that you are in H1 status, unless and until a sponsor re-submits an I-129 for H1 and it is approved.
Click to expand...

I'm a little confused by the above comment
  1. How can the H1 not be valid, it doesn't expire till 2017? I mean it was approved.
  2. Lets say the H1 was approved by HP, can I apply for a position within HP and still use the H1 or do I need a new I-129?
  3. Let's say that the H1 which was approved by HP, and I get a job offer from Amazon or Microsoft; Can I transfer the H1 I got from HP or do I have to file for a new one all together?
  4. If I transfer, what documentation do I need to fill out?
  5. Generally how long does it take to get an EAD?
I'm not really concerned about getting a green card... My biggest problem/annoyance with the TN is, I can't freely get a job without having to let them know that I'm a Canadian, I need a TN sponsorship...or when I apply to jobs it asks "will you now or ever need sponsorship?" And to most companies that seems like you're in/from India and you're going to end up being a burden. I just want to be easily be able to look for other jobs without having to go through all this hassell.

nelsona said:
There is no differnce in the time it take to get Green card whether you are on TN or H1-B. What increases the time for GC is when a compony refuses to begin the GC process until you get H1.
The length of time depends on whether your are an EB2 or EB3 category applicant,and your birth nation. Unfortunately for you, your nationality for GC purposes is Indian, and the wait times are longer than for other nationals. EB3 will take 10 years, EB2 will take 7 years at current rates. for non-Indians it will take 1-2 years maximum.
the only way to improve your lot is to
(a) qualify for EB1 (you have a nobel prize, correct),
(b) marry or be married to a national who is not Indian, and therefore get to use their nationality in your GC process
(c) better yet, marry a US citizen and get marriage-based GC
Click to expand...

Neither of the 3 options will apply to me: I've got a Bachelors and I'm not exceptional (contrary to what my Mom may believe.) lol. I'm married to an Indian who came here when she was 12 and currently has an EAD through the DACA law - which I can't benefit from. Ahhh the frustrations.

Let me try rephrasing the question - Can a TN1 Permit holder get an EAD? If so, how long does it generally take? Approximate?

Thanks,
viren55
 
Last edited:
Please ask further H1-B questions on the H1-B topic forum, and EAD questions on the EAD forum.

But to clear up any confusion, merely having an I-94 in any status with a future expiry date does not mean you are currently in That status. Neither you nor the sponsor are fulfilling the terms of your H1-B status. It is as if you quit or they fired you. They should have already notified USCIS that they did not hire you -- failure to notify does not matter in terms of validity. Besides, you are in a different valid status now, TN, and you cannot simultaneously be in two statuses in US. All you have is the ability to be immediately ELIGIBLE for H1 if you reapply, but are not right now. There are ways for a past sponsor (you said HP) to resurrect a dead H1, but other firms will need to make a fresh application.

Until you get a Green card, which will not be beforer 2020, you will ALWAYS have to have an employer sponsor, be it for TN or H1-B. That is the burden for the privilege of working in US as a foreigner, especially an Indian one, becasue of the HUGE backlog of countrymen who have come before you and are still waiting (I'm sure you knew this).

EADs are only awarded to those in specific categories, see http://www.hooyou.com/ead/eligibility.html
TN is not one of those statuses. So the answer is approximately never.
 
nelsona said:
Please ask further H1-B questions on the H1-B topic forum, and EAD questions on the EAD forum.

But to clear up any confusion, merely having an I-94 in any status with a future expiry date does not mean you are currently in That status. Neither you nor the sponsor are fulfilling the terms of your H1-B status. It is as if you quit or they fired you. They should have already notified USCIS that they did not hire you -- failure to notify does not matter in terms of validity. Besides, you are in a different valid status now, TN, and you cannot simultaneously be in two statuses in US. All you have is the ability to be immediately ELIGIBLE for H1 if you reapply, but are not right now. There are ways for a past sponsor (you said HP) to resurrect a dead H1, but other firms will need to make a fresh application.

Until you get a Green card, which will not be beforer 2020, you will ALWAYS have to have an employer sponsor, be it for TN or H1-B. That is the burden for the privilege of working in US as a foreigner, especially an Indian one, becasue of the HUGE backlog of countrymen who have come before you and are still waiting (I'm sure you knew this).

EADs are only awarded to those in specific categories, see
TN is not one of those statuses. So the answer is approximately never.
Click to expand...

Great info! Thank you - However this is a bit contrary to what CuriousGeorge mentions in one of his posts: http://forums.immigration.com/threads/tn-to-green-card-procedure-question.112865/ "Since a TN does not allow for dual intent, this prohibits you from applying for, or extending a TN Visa while you have a I-140/I485 pending for the purposes of getting a Green card. .It does NOT prohibit you from applying for a green card while being on a TN. Note the difference."

Hmmm
 
Where did I say having a TN prevents you from applying for Green card? It is your being an Indian national that prevents you, not TN. You can certainly begin the process (PERM and I-140) anytime, but you will not be permitted to file an I-485 -- that actual adjustment to Green card status (which would be the only time you could request EAD) until about 2022 if things remain has they have for over a decade now. That's an eternity, so "never" is a good approximation.

The vast majority of Cdn TN-holders are also considered Canadian for Green card purposes (thus are not subject to the same backlog as Indian and Chinese nationals). We've faced backlogs in that past too (and curiousgearges post addresses this).

Please put your frustration aside and speak factually. After all, you have been in US for 10 years now, so should be aware of the difficulties of Indian employment-based immigration. Surely this is not the first time you've contemplated getting Green card; the information has been out there all that time.

happy browsing of theI-485, h1-B and EAD forums, but I don't see any TN issues here.
 
nelsona said:
Where did I say having a TN prevents you from applying for Green card? It is your being an Indian national that prevents you, not TN. You can certainly begin the process (PERM and I-140) anytime, but you will not be permitted to file an I-485 -- that actual adjustment to Green card status (which would be the only time you could request EAD) until about 2022 if things remain has they have for over a decade now. That's an eternity, so "never" is a good approximation.

The vast majority of Cdn TN-holders are also considered Canadian for Green card purposes (thus are not subject to the same backlog as Indian and Chinese nationals). We've faced backlogs in that past too (and curiousgearges post addresses this).

Please put your frustration aside and speak factually. After all, you have been in US for 10 years now, so should be aware of the difficulties of Indian employment-based immigration. Surely this is not the first time you've contemplated getting Green card; the information has been out there all that time.

happy browsing of theI-485, h1-B and EAD forums, but I don't see any TN issues here.
Click to expand...

Fact is - I wouldn't be here if I knew as much about this topic as you. It's not the frustration/emotion that brings me here, its the lack of knowledge. You've given some great information - and you have to understand people read AND misread, which is the whole point of communicating and attaining clarification.

I have been here for 10 years, but I never cared to become a GC holder; crossed my mind? Sure, but never cared enough to research it. Nonethe less - discussion closed will move on with my other Indian com-padres to the EAD the H1B and I-485 boards.
 
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