Quick H1B Question

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Your employer must file an I-140 for you, they can file one for you even if you have no status in the US and sponsor you from Canada. The H-1B and how long you've been on it is irrelevant, other than the fact the I-140 petition may not be approved until after your status expires. If the holdup is purely the lack of a visa number though you can carry on renewing H-1B even though you've reached the six-year limit, but you need to get to that point in the I-140 process first.

This was the first hit I got on the web, appears to have some relevant info: http://www.visaus.us/pages/visawork-h.htm

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Only "aliens of extraordinary ability" applying in the EB-1 category can file an application for a green card without a job offer or labor certification. If you do a Google search on it you'll find the criteria for applying in this category.

Yeah, the only options are EB-1 (although you'd be surprised who they let in on EB-1) or EB-5, which is immigrant investor which requires you to invest $1 million usually although there are ways of doing it with only $500,000. Anything else (and even EB-1 usually) requires the employer to file the petition, unless you qualify in a family-based category, e.g. you marry a US citizen.

how much does it cost an employer to process and H1B visa? all the legal and application fees included? thanks!

Legal fees would depend on the lawyer, if they hire one at all. Petition fee is $475.

All told, processing timelines, you're looking at a few years wait though.

H-1B doesn't take years, takes months.

What happens the company that applies for your H1B, you stop working there after a month or two? Does that void the H1B, or can you look for work elsewhere?

If you are laid off or quit, the employer must notify USCIS within a certain period of time and your status is invalid at that point and you must leave the US "immediately" which is generally interpreted as ten days.

You can switch employers by having the new employer file an I-129 for you to change status to them, the trick is to not have a gap. It doesn't alter the maximum validity of the H-1B, it's six years assuming you qualify for renewal after three, changing employers doesn't matter.