For various reasons, I don't want to name the employer, but yes it does happen. I guess it depends on your interpretation of "long term"...
Those that are hired to be permanently based in the UK have an RSU-based system.
Those that are hired with the intention of relocating to the US instead get a smaller lump-sum signing bonus, a small lump-sum annual bonus while in the UK and the RSU incentives only start after moving to the US, and starting a fresh employment contract.
In theory, employees should only be in the UK for just over a year maximum, since if the H-1B visa petition isn't successful, you can apply for an L-1 visa instead after 12 months of employment. In my case, moving to the US got indefinitely postponed due to COVID, so I stayed in the UK for 23 months before I quit.
Obviously, beyond 2 years is moot as I'd already quit, but if I'd worked another month and had RSUs from the start, I would have been about $100k better off after those first 2 years. The next 4 years would have been worse off too, as the RSU allocation for the starting bonus would have been for significantly fewer shares due to the rise in share price over those first 2 years but the dollar value of the bonus would have stayed the same.
ralferoo|1 year ago
Those that are hired to be permanently based in the UK have an RSU-based system.
Those that are hired with the intention of relocating to the US instead get a smaller lump-sum signing bonus, a small lump-sum annual bonus while in the UK and the RSU incentives only start after moving to the US, and starting a fresh employment contract.
In theory, employees should only be in the UK for just over a year maximum, since if the H-1B visa petition isn't successful, you can apply for an L-1 visa instead after 12 months of employment. In my case, moving to the US got indefinitely postponed due to COVID, so I stayed in the UK for 23 months before I quit.
Obviously, beyond 2 years is moot as I'd already quit, but if I'd worked another month and had RSUs from the start, I would have been about $100k better off after those first 2 years. The next 4 years would have been worse off too, as the RSU allocation for the starting bonus would have been for significantly fewer shares due to the rise in share price over those first 2 years but the dollar value of the bonus would have stayed the same.