
Ask HN: Feeling trapped by the visa. Advice appreciated - throwaway_askhn
I got moved to the US (Bay Area) under a non-transferrable visa. I knew that it wasn&#x27;t possible to change employers before I came. But I liked the company, and was ok with that.<p>Fast forward a few months and a few organizational changes and I end up at a completely messed up corner in said company. The formerly pleasant work environment now seems to have been conjured up by Dante.<p>Other than leaving company and country(and feeling like a failure, plus I feel like I&#x27;ve come home) what are my options ?<p>Options I&#x27;ve considered:<p>Internal move. May or may not happen, may take months. Working on it anyway.<p>Changing to H1B. Not guaranteed, long horizon(maybe an year, if I get lucky on my first attempt)<p>O-1. Not yet possible, but may be with a lot of work and lawyer assistance(based on another HN thread).<p>Creating my own company is not allowed by the visa. Nor is working on my own.<p>What else is there?<p>I can&#x27;t trust my brain in my current state of mind(and yes, I&#x27;m seeing a doctor, no worries) so I am enlisting the help of HN.<p>Now it would really be a good time to be able to answer that YCombinator application question (about hacking a non computer system).
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mokoreno
Depends on your nationality and current visa. If you are from India and China,
there is a long wait.

You could be "saved" if you (or your spouse) were not born in India or China.

L1 is a non-transferable visa. Is there a possibility of getting a green card
through employment? Edit: Added last statement.

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throwaway_askhn
Not from India or China.

The possibility exists. Layoffs + current management complicates things.

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mokoreno
So, work on getting your green card. If you're not from India or China you
might be able to get it in about a year, 2 years tops.

After that you are free to go wherever.

You didn't say if it was L1 visa but I assume so. You will be able to skip the
first step towards GC. So that saving about 6 months in the process.

