I've just been offered a tenure-track faculty position at a university in California. I have a PhD and believe I'll be on an H1-B visa. However, I'm concerned and confused about my husband's visa status. As I understand, he'll be on an H-4 dependent visa which wouldn't allow him to work in the US. My husband has a three-year degree in computer science from a Canadian university and has 7 years of computer programming work experience. Our intent is to move to the US permanently or at least until we obtain Green Cards (depending on how things go and assuming I obtain tenure). My question is: could he switch his visa status to a TN-1 visa once he obtains a job offer in the US? Would this compromise his ability to get a Green Card as my dependent? Or could he get a H1-B visa on his own as a software developer in California? Does the high-tech industry have higher access to H1-B visas in the lottery system? This is a really big issue for us because we don't think we'll be able to to survive in California on my university salary alone. If anyone has any insight into this issue, I would be most, most grateful.
Thank you!




