For each and every newly-minted H1 holder the most burning question is whether to go for a GC or money and interesting projects. In my experience, this is pretty much always a binary choice because even a very good bodyshop not only cuts off a sizable chunk of your pie but also works with more or less outsourcing-style projects (nobody in his right mind outsources his core competence and the core product). I am hardly alone in my preference for real engineering which in our line of business leads to such exciting fields as multi-threading or networking as opposed to boring and tedious web applications, Hibernate mappings and such. The latter are predominant in the bodyshop world.
Scarcely anybody comes here without a bodyshop (e.g. I was told just two people were hired by Ask this year directly from the country I am originally from). As a result, each and every of us starts from a salary which is at best 30% (personally I know more people who started from 50%) lower than the average for their qualification is. Not to mention the lack of choice in respect of projects and even geographical area. The typical reasoning behind such arrangements is "You buckle down and sit tight - we provide you with a GC" (subject to unpredictable mood swings in the USCIS). They could be honest - I know a company that completed GC processing even for people who had to leave the country during the dotcom bust.
The alternative is a visa transfer (google for AC-21 if you need details) to a direct employer after two or three months here in the US. The good news is that if you are a seasoned professional you are virtually guaranteed 120K (from what I hear on both coasts by the way) and quite interesting job in a company looking good on your CV. The obvious downside is that such an employer will care much less about your GC perspectives up to the point of a mass layoff a day before your application approval. They might have pretty rigid and formal processes or too many H1 folks to pay personalized attention. They could be more susceptible to economical downturns.
To a certain extent this dilemma is artificial - there are nice direct employers and nasty bodyshops under the Sun. I would hesitate to provide meaningful generic guidelines on judging them. Playing games (e.g. more than 3 months before your LC is filed or NOT filing I-140 and I-485 concurrently) immediately disqualifies a bodyshop but I doubt normal people get there in the first place. Evaluating a direct employer in our age of M&A and increasingly unpredictable economy challenges even professional business people.
I am inclined to think that the key is your stress tolerance. I know a guy who left my present company abandoning his GC process although he could expect the card in a year. We are talking about exciting startups, stocks and certainly more than 120K but he will be in the queue behind this summer's stampede caused by all the EBGC categories being current (and startups are not really known for their long lives so I admire his audacity bordering recklessness). My strategy has always been "GC uber alles" but occasionally I am green with envy. If my name check goes awry I can be stranded for years in a less than optimally paid position working on mediocre projects.
The conclusion - make sure you know your priorities and follow your dreams. Remember that although a transfer is psychologically easier to do before you get your LC it is not a big deal to abandon your LC. Otherwise, scrutinize your bodyshop and its management once you are here. Your GC (read years and tens of thousands) will depend mostly on their trustworthiness so "caveat emptor". And one more thing - not all bodyshops are born equal so even a transfer to another consulting company could make sense if your initial choice turns out to be a mistake.
Scarcely anybody comes here without a bodyshop (e.g. I was told just two people were hired by Ask this year directly from the country I am originally from). As a result, each and every of us starts from a salary which is at best 30% (personally I know more people who started from 50%) lower than the average for their qualification is. Not to mention the lack of choice in respect of projects and even geographical area. The typical reasoning behind such arrangements is "You buckle down and sit tight - we provide you with a GC" (subject to unpredictable mood swings in the USCIS). They could be honest - I know a company that completed GC processing even for people who had to leave the country during the dotcom bust.
The alternative is a visa transfer (google for AC-21 if you need details) to a direct employer after two or three months here in the US. The good news is that if you are a seasoned professional you are virtually guaranteed 120K (from what I hear on both coasts by the way) and quite interesting job in a company looking good on your CV. The obvious downside is that such an employer will care much less about your GC perspectives up to the point of a mass layoff a day before your application approval. They might have pretty rigid and formal processes or too many H1 folks to pay personalized attention. They could be more susceptible to economical downturns.
To a certain extent this dilemma is artificial - there are nice direct employers and nasty bodyshops under the Sun. I would hesitate to provide meaningful generic guidelines on judging them. Playing games (e.g. more than 3 months before your LC is filed or NOT filing I-140 and I-485 concurrently) immediately disqualifies a bodyshop but I doubt normal people get there in the first place. Evaluating a direct employer in our age of M&A and increasingly unpredictable economy challenges even professional business people.
I am inclined to think that the key is your stress tolerance. I know a guy who left my present company abandoning his GC process although he could expect the card in a year. We are talking about exciting startups, stocks and certainly more than 120K but he will be in the queue behind this summer's stampede caused by all the EBGC categories being current (and startups are not really known for their long lives so I admire his audacity bordering recklessness). My strategy has always been "GC uber alles" but occasionally I am green with envy. If my name check goes awry I can be stranded for years in a less than optimally paid position working on mediocre projects.
The conclusion - make sure you know your priorities and follow your dreams. Remember that although a transfer is psychologically easier to do before you get your LC it is not a big deal to abandon your LC. Otherwise, scrutinize your bodyshop and its management once you are here. Your GC (read years and tens of thousands) will depend mostly on their trustworthiness so "caveat emptor". And one more thing - not all bodyshops are born equal so even a transfer to another consulting company could make sense if your initial choice turns out to be a mistake.
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