[raitom]

Because sponsoring an employment based GC takes considerably more time than filling for an H1B. We're talking at best less than a year for an H1B (filling in April and you receive it in October of the same year) vs 18 months minimum for an European (10+ years for an Indian).

I actually got my H1B at my 2nd try. I did not get pick at my 1st try and had to wait until next year but it went quite smoothly. However for my GC, it took 4 years between the initial conversation with my employer and getting it in my hands. The actual process itself, from the moment the lawyers received all the documents, took 2 years.

[dudul]

I'm not an immigration lawyer but you don't need to have the GC in hands to start working for your employer. You usually get a work permit quickly after the petition is filed.

I used to work with someone whose visa was about to expire so the company just filed a GC to keep her.

That being said, I feel like these things change all the time. When people describe the current H1B process it always seems completely different from the one I went through.

[Ao7bei3s]

The work permit (I-765) does not allow you to enter the US, only to work when already legally in the country (for example, via an H-1B). And neither does the re-entry permit / advance parole (I-131) let you enter, unless you obtain it while in the US.

And those documents can anyway only be applied if already in the country, and once your I-485 is current and I-140 is approved, which for Indians/Chinese/Filipinos means a >10 year wait, and for everyone else means a >1 year wait while PWD, PERM and I-140 process. Large companies can shorten the PWD/PERM wait a bit, but that does little for the backlogged countries and those not already inside the US.

There is no _realistic_ employment based path to a greencard that does not go through a non-immigrant visa.

Also, the work permit processing times have been extremely backlogged over the past year. It is getting better, but I have personally seen a greencard arrive after about a year recently, and the corresponding work permit arrive a week _later_ (useless, by then).

And if you look at large scale statistics available in immigrant communities, you can see approvals are all over the place, with no rhyme or reasons - some people get it in months, for some it takes years. There is no predictability.