When I joined AIR Worldwide on an H1B visa, I was given a verbal guarantee that my green card processing would start within 1 year of joining. Accepting their "guarantee" at face-value, I worked hard during this one year doing well in my job and close to my one year completion, I spoke to my Manager about starting the Green Card Process.
The response from the Manager was literally shocking. He mentioned several "riders" which I will list below before my Green Card process could be started by the company. He said I have to demonstrate the following and ONLY after this the company would start my GC processing:
1. Demonstrate I am the "topmost" performer in my group. My group has over 20 employees, so I had to demonstrate that I was the #1 performing employee.
2. Had to demonstrate that my position was "valuable" to the company.
3. It was not mentioned but was implied that I would have to work a minimum of 80+ hours every week (including 20 hours on the weekends) to "prove myself" before they would consider starting my greencard process.
I was literally shocked at this unscrupulous behavior and reached out to colleagues who were in the same position as me regarding the start of their greencard process. I came to know by speaking with colleagues across all groups in the company - Software Development, Product Management and Consulting that this was the process for greencard processing being followed in all Teams and all middle managers had conveyed to their employees across all Groups that you had to be the "topmost" performer in order for the greencard process to start. All my colleagues were very hard-working employees who were doing very well in their jobs and this was a source of immense frustration for all of us.
So over the next 1.5 years I worked even longer hours - as much as 100+ hours per week and proved without a shadow of doubt that I was the "topmost" performing employee. However even after proving this, my groups middle management was unwilling to start my greencard process. At this point since I was losing my H1B years (had already spent 2.5 years at this company), I started looking for another job and found it in about 3 months. I quit AIR worldwide as soon as my offer letter was available. The company I joined was a large company and as per their promise to me during my interview, has started my greencard process exactly 1 year after joining. My greencard processing at this company has been hassle free, I'm recognized as a good employee at my new company and work the regular 40-45 hours as compared to any other employee (i.e. no exploitation for being on the H1B).
AIR Worldwide exploits almost 100% of H1B's with the "riders" I mentioned above under points 1 to 3. Because of this completely unethical behavior, I lost and wasted several years of my H1B. Instead of my greencard process starting after 1 year - it took another company and 3 years and 8 months for the process to start. I know so many people who faced this situation at AIR and quit after 2-3 years due to their greencard process not being started.
I shudder to think if I had continued with AIR Worldwide, they probably would have made me work 120+ hours weekly just to keep my greencard process going. As I mentioned before, this kind of exploitation was going on in ALL the Teams at AIR Worldwide.
AIR Worldwide operates like a small fly-by night consulting company with unethical behavior which is pretty much a part of the company. If you don't want to be exploited while on H1B, join a good company where you don't have to face such a nightmare for greencard processing.
