Getting L2 first for my wife-to-be then...

[cestmoi]

Ok, I'm just running this by you guys on this as I'm just a greenhorn and a naive one at best. <I typed a long one earlier but this stupid time out feature of Immihelp made me lose the original so I'm re-gurgitating; forgive me if it is posted already as I can't see my post>

Background:
I'm a Canadian, who will be getting married to my sweetie in Dec 2008 in Asia. I am here in the States on a L1a visa (3yr term). I need to be getting my wife-to-be over here soon from Asia so this is how I'm going to be going about doing this so please let me know if I'm taking a long detour or that I'm bang on in the process...

1) Apply for L2 abroad where she is living at right now. I understand this is a relatively fast process (within a couple of days at most). Shall we apply for an EAD at the same time or must we apply after she gets over here (States) as she wants to work?

2) Submit i-485 aka AOS (even though my L1a does not expire until Oct of 2009?) concurrent to i-140 or aka green card (but must first get my employer to submit DOL). What if waiting for our green cards go past my L1a expiration (what is the avg wait time? 4 yrs? 5yrs?)? Must I get my company to renew my L1a first or is the AOS good enough that will allow me to lawfully stay here while awaiting our green cards?

3) after getting our employment based green card, we can't leave the country for more than 6 months. must my wife reapply for EAD in order to lawfully work or is the green card good enough?

3) I didn't know I have to stick with my company and can't even get promoted (ie. change job description or even my title) after getting my green card! I can't even change jobs immediately after! Even if my employer agrees! Let's repeat that. Even if my employer agrees to let me go to another company! What the?

After reading that, me thinks it's not worth all this hassle

[txh1b]

You are asking for the entire immigration life-cycle in 1 post.

1. There is no L2 pre-application process. Just apply for L2 visa after marriage. EAD is to be applied after entry into US on L2 status.
2. Follow the I1485 and L1 visalinks on immihelp for detailed explanation on this. You can remain in US if your AOS is pending.
3. GC is valid for employment. No EAD business after GC.
4. Only for 6 months. After that you are free. You can change immediately if you have no intention to become a citizen. It has got to do with the basic definition of employment based GC. The employer is posoring your permanent residence and if you leave without working USCIS may consider that the employment based GC is fraudulent.

[cestmoi]

You are asking for the entire immigration life-cycle in 1 post.

1. There is no L2 pre-application process. Just apply for L2 visa after marriage. EAD is to be applied after entry into US on L2 status.
2. Follow the I1485 and L1 visalinks on immihelp for detailed explanation on this. You can remain in US if your AOS is pending.
3. GC is valid for employment. No EAD business after GC.
4. Only for 6 months. After that you are free. You can change immediately if you have no intention to become a citizen. It has got to do with the basic definition of employment based GC. The employer is posoring your permanent residence and if you leave without working USCIS may consider that the employment based GC is fraudulent.

Thanks TX.. as usual, you've been very helpful.

What do you mean by "you can change immediately if you have no intention to become citizen?"...

So if I have intention of becoming a citizen, I cannot leave unless my company had a change (ie. went bankrupt), downsized and cut me on their own accord?

[txh1b]

So if I have intention of becoming a citizen, I cannot leave unless my company had a change (ie. went bankrupt), downsized and cut me on their own accord?

Only until 6 months after getting the greencard. After 6 months, you are free to do whatever.

During citizenship, they tend to look at how the GC was obtained and if there was any violation.