Whatever you dwell upon grows

So far my journey has been fairly typical – years of preparation, sifting through bodyshops, missing H1 quota one year, an accepted offer from an ostensibly benevolent bodyshop next year, working for them locally, a visa stamp in my passport. October wasted 10 thousand miles from the US. November spent in the same way. December initially cast in the same mould. From roughly that time my story is becoming more circuitous and uncertain but evidently more exciting and arguably more promising. The usual risk/reward dichotomy at its best.

As I wrote before, I was lucky to miss the opportunity to go to the US with the worst bodyshops on the market – those without permanent customers and paying laughable money even in the most expensive metro areas. Still my work agreement contained the most heinous (and likely unenforceable, if not illegal) clause, namely a monetary penalty for leaving the company before three years have passed. Not to mention the blatant disrespect for Employment At Will in the country where slavery was abolished centuries ago.

Some might suggest that this is common among companies which actually move people and is in a sense fair that those companies insure themselves in such a fashion from losing money on doing the dirty work. Many participants simply state that similar threats failed to stop numerous people from visa transfers after a few pay stubs. I definitely see the logic behind all those propositions. Moreover, I used to believe that having failed to find a direct employer I had to show some modesty and cease pretending to be in demand regardless of my visa status. Frankly, I was slightly disturbed with the idea of slavery in a dull project but Paris vaut bien une messe .. I mean a green card is priceless.

So my initial mindset was straightforward – I stick to my guns and stay with the company on its harsh conditions in exchange for an expeditious green card process. In the meantime the company promised to let me work locally on the project I was to continue working on in the US. Almost a win-win situation despite a more than average compensation package. In hindsight, I traded my goodwill for months of entry-level work and severely compromised my negotiating power. Honestly, I am not sure if ten months of mediocre experience with a few new technologies were worth of it. And I made a huge mistake believing I would be relocated in early October.

In October I was hopeful. I expected my relocation every day. In November I grew weary of the aimless existence and highly suspicious of the company and its intentions. I found a few job ads published by then and when I decided to check why we were not offered the position advertised we were advised to keep our mouths shut and wait until the company blesses us with whatever they think is pertinent. I was particularly amazed with their belief that people on H1 and without American experience cannot find a job in the US after thousands of low-skilled Indians tarnished the image of H1 holders.

As a result of my inquiries I had an exemplary conference call with a couple of fellows running the American office of my current bodyshop. Had I been a 20-year old poor girl from the countryside I would have been likely smashed by their self-righteous approach. They wanted to show me how dependent on them I was and how nice they were to me. Tough luck. Amazingly enough, I could see almost all their maneuvers because of my cursory knowledge of classic negotiating techniques and this made them destined for a failure.

To begin with, they played a little nice game of good cop (the sales guy) - bad cop (the manager of the American office). The former pretended to be concerned with my interests, the latter was pushing hard to show how little they trusted me. I admit they were quite natural - I mentally applauded to acting capabilities of the bad cop during his hysterical response to one of my suggestions. The other guy was performing equally good calming down the bad guy with friendly intonations.

I had two concerns to discuss – when they were going to relocate me and how fast they were going to be with the green card process. They skillfully changed the subject to long-term perspectives and my place in the company in five years (Oh come on, they are a bodyshop for Christ’s sake, who is going to stay with them any longer than it takes to get a GC?!). Their key concern was if I was going to abandon them in the US. No, it is not like the offered me better conditions or more interesting work to do – they just wanted everything and right now and for free. They also told me that the guy who went with them last year and left them after a couple of month would be punished. Verbally – ‘We are going to make his life as miserable as we can’.

When I noticed that they were not going to mitigate my anxiety on their own I asked them if they were willing to file my LC simultaneously with the papers of the colleagues who had been in the US since October (according to the contract, they had to do it after my employment in the US for two or three months). In my opinion it could properly compensate for the extra months out of the US, relieve my anxiety and extinguish the hostile feelings in me without additional work on their side. At that moment the bad cop went ballistic.

This whole brainwashing was so humiliating that it inflamed all the vitality in me. Now it was personal. I knew there was the only way to prove them wrong on all the accounts – to find another employer. Unfortunately, I also had that less than positive experience with looking for corp-2-corp positions on Dice in September. I almost did not hope to find any alternatives. Well, I was wrong.

I believe this is a very important lesson – never give up. Never, never give up (courtesy of Brian Tracy whose courses have been tremendous support to me). If you believe you deserve it – follow your dreams and go get it. In short, I found a company willing to hire me in California (50 miles from Silicon Valley). Employment at will, better compensation. They are not perfect but they definitely feel different. I am into it whole-heartedly.

Now for official details which could be useful for posterity. As many people know, H1 visa transfer is not an official concept, rather an umbrella term for H1-B visa portability introduced in AC-21. Technically, the transfer procedure is not different from a brand-new H1-B application (the same LCA/I129/.. package). The difference is that the person in H1 status can start working for a new employer immediately upon getting a receipt from the USCIS. A valid H1 visa originally issued for another employer can be re-used with the new I-797 notice of approval.

My situation is more subtle. Although I have a valid visa, I do not reside in the US and I am not in H1 status. Thus, I will have to apply for a new visa as soon as I have my new petition approved. The good news is that I am already in the H1 visa quota for this financial year. This situation seems to be pretty unique because people usually transfer after a few months of work in the US for the initial employer but I am quite confident in the happy end. Well, it remains to be seen how amused the American Embassy will be with this story.