Job change or Promotion during Greencard Process

USA L1, L2 Visa
1

Hello,

First of all, thank you for maintaining this wonderful website - it has been a great source of support during my stay in US.

I am currently on H-1b, and my employer has kicked off my greencard process couple of months ago thru EB2. It is still in PERM, and I am told the whole process till I get greencard will take me about a year (EB2 is current for my citizenship). I have a few questions if I may - as I would like to avoid asking them to my current lawyer who’s employed by my employer.

  1. I have heard that I may be able to change my job internally during the greencard process as long as the role is more or less the same. Is this true, and is there more detail on degree of change that’s allowed? Also, is it necessary for me to go back to my original role in after getting greencard? Please provide some details on this.

  2. I might be up for promotion in next 4 months time. Does this impact my greencard process? It is only a title promotion, i.e. I will be doing the same thing basically with my corporate title revised.

  3. If need be, I might want to consider getting job with a different employer. When is the earliest date I can do that without jeopardizing my greencard process?

Thank you.

2

Dear Hari,

Good questions

#1 and #2. You are okay with job description changes and promotions, neither impacts the GC process

#3. You can change employers after initial approval and adjustment of status. EB-2 sometimes generates questions and you need the present employer to answer the questions. Try to part amicably, there should be no hard feelings.

All the best

Dr. Sandeep Shankar, Colorado Heights University, www.chu.edu

3

Thanks for the great advice Dr Sandeep!