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Comment by alwaysanoob | Hacker News Reader

Hi Peter, Thanks for doing this. I am a Canadian citizen born in India and ~ 6 months ago moved to work for a FAANG company on a TN visa from Canada.

The company applied for H1B visa lottery this year and awaiting the results for that.

My question is if I get through the H1B lottery

- How does it impact my options to switch employers in the future? Would I be able to work on H1B for future employers?

- My partner (Canadian citizen) is currently on a TD visa (which does not allow work) but actively searching for positions eligible under the TN categories. If my status changes to H1B, would she be ineligible for a TN visa?

Are there any obvious advantages of H1B other than eligibility for applying for a green card (which is a loooooong wait for people of Indian origin)

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In order of your questions:

1. The H-1B is easily transferrable to another company (as long as the position meets the H-1B requirements). 2. Yes, she still would eligible for the TN if you changed to H-1B. 3. That's the main reason; it's really impossible for Canadian citizens born in India (or China) to pursue a green card while in TN status (without jeopardizing that status). Also, under the current law, an H-4 spouse can apply for a work card if his or her spouse is in the green card process (specifically, has an approved I-140) and is from a backlogged category or country like India.

> Are there any obvious advantages of H1B other than eligibility for applying for a green card (which is a loooooong wait for people of Indian origin)

Was your partner also born in India? If not and you get married you can use their country of birth for the green card, even if the green card is being sponsored by your employer. Maybe you're aware of this but just to say if you're not.

ask company to bring you on a L visa. H visas are not a good option for transfers, only new hires.

Depends on how you look at this. L visas are not subject to lottery, but then that brings much more scrutiny from USCIS. Also, you are tied to your employer, you cannot change jobs easily. H visa, once you get it by lucky draw, gives you much more flexibility. And it's perfectly fine to use H-1B for intra-company transfer.

You’ve got it reverse. You can transfer H1b to another company (without going through lottery again) but you cant transfer L1 visa to another company. L1 visa is used to transfer an employee from a foreign branch to the US branch of the same company, once in US if they want to change the company the new company has to sponsor their H1

i got his comment wrong then. looked like he just going to the USA office of a place he's already working at overseas

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