If you are chosen in the H-1B cap lottery, your employer must file an I-129 petition to complete the process; and it is a best practice (in my opinion) to stick with that employer through October.
This is a question of risk assessment. If a person is laid off and no longer has a job, then the new employer and new employer's lawyer will "make do" with whatever exists and try to keep the H-1B transfer alive. But that is for a person who is laid off and cannot control the facts.
In a situation where a person is employed and they just want to quit, then I feel strongly that the person should NOT create bad facts. Bad facts create extra risk. If you have a job that is perfectly fine but you want a better job - that makes sense but don't create bad facts and risk.
I am not saying that a lack of two pay stubs in October will mean you cannot get an H-1B transfer. Maybe it works 98 out of 100 times. But if you are one of the 02 out of 100 where it does not work - then you will feel very dumb to have rushed something that did not need to be rushed.
A lot of immigration law risk analysis works like this - don't create bad facts for yourself. The system is too fragile.
Now - if things happen and you cannot control them (like getting laid off) - that is a totally different story; then you make the best arguments with whatever facts you have. But getting an H-1B approved in the lottery is clearly increasingly difficult and you don't want to do anything that would allow a future adjudicator to argue that you were not really in H-1B status and eligible for an H-1B transfer - in this Administration or a second Trump Administration or whatever. If you clearly work for an H-1B cap employer in October and have pay stubs to document it, then you leave, there is really no way people can challenge that. It is a 'bullet proof' situation.
Many H-1B cap workers are young and ambitious and definitely ambition can be a powerful element to professional development but going to work some place a month earlier and blowing up your H-1B status (even if the risk is 2%) - it just makes no sense to me.
Is it mandatory to wait 2 paytubs under the current employer on H1B to move jobs?
This is a question of risk assessment. If a person is laid off and no longer has a job, then the new employer and new employer's lawyer will "make do" with whatever exists and try to keep the H-1B transfer alive. But that is for a person who is laid off and cannot control the facts.
In a situation where a person is employed and they just want to quit, then I feel strongly that the person should NOT create bad facts. Bad facts create extra risk. If you have a job that is perfectly fine but you want a better job - that makes sense but don't create bad facts and risk.
I am not saying that a lack of two pay stubs in October will mean you cannot get an H-1B transfer. Maybe it works 98 out of 100 times. But if you are one of the 02 out of 100 where it does not work - then you will feel very dumb to have rushed something that did not need to be rushed.
A lot of immigration law risk analysis works like this - don't create bad facts for yourself. The system is too fragile.
Now - if things happen and you cannot control them (like getting laid off) - that is a totally different story; then you make the best arguments with whatever facts you have. But getting an H-1B approved in the lottery is clearly increasingly difficult and you don't want to do anything that would allow a future adjudicator to argue that you were not really in H-1B status and eligible for an H-1B transfer - in this Administration or a second Trump Administration or whatever. If you clearly work for an H-1B cap employer in October and have pay stubs to document it, then you leave, there is really no way people can challenge that. It is a 'bullet proof' situation.
Many H-1B cap workers are young and ambitious and definitely ambition can be a powerful element to professional development but going to work some place a month earlier and blowing up your H-1B status (even if the risk is 2%) - it just makes no sense to me.
Thanks so much Robert! I really appreciate it.