Total Period of Stay on H-1B Work Visa and Return Transportation Cost

 

As an H-1B nonimmigrant, you may be admitted for a period of up to three years. Your time period may be extended, but generally cannot go beyond a total of six years, though some exceptions do apply under sections 104(c) and 106(a) of the American Competitiveness in the Twenty-First Century Act (AC21).

Your employer will be liable for the reasonable costs of your return transportation if your employer terminates you before the end of your period of authorized stay.  Your employer is not responsible for the costs of your return transportation if you voluntarily resign your position. You must contact the Service Center that approved your petition in writing if you believe that your employer has not complied with this requirement.

[Source: USCIS]

Proposed Immigration Reforms by Gang of Eight and its Impact on H-1B Category

 

The Border Security, Economic Opportunity and Immigration Modernisation Act (SB 744) was passed by the Senate Judiciary Committee on a vote of 13 to five, and is likely to come to the floor of the Senate to be voted on in June 2013. The House of Representatives has drafted its own bill for immigration reform. However, there are reports of disagreements among lawmakers in the House of Representatives over provisions in the house's bill. Both pieces of proposed legislation represent a concerted effort among lawmakers to reform the immigration laws. The next few months will be pivotal with respect to whether immigration reform legislation is passed in the United States during 2013.

Introduction

The Border Security, Economic Opportunity and Immigration Modernisation Act (SB 744) was introduced into the Senate on April 16 2013 by Senators Schumer, Durbin, Bennet, Menendez, McCain, Rubio, Flake and Graham (referred to as the 'gang of eight'). This comprehensive piece of immigration legislation addresses border security issues and has provisions to reform the H-1B and L-1 non-immigrant visa categories. It creates a path towards citizenship for those who are undocumented, creates a merit-based visa and reallocates the distribution of visas. The bill appears to have a decent amount of support among a large bipartisan group of US senators. As a result, there is a good chance that this bill may pass the Senate and eventually become law. Naturally, the bill is receiving widespread attention among various media outlets, and is being monitored closely by US employers and the public.

Several key provisions of the bill may have an impact on US employers sponsoring foreign nationals for the H-1B and L-1 categories.

H-1B

The new bill proposes the following general changes to the H-1B category:

• It creates a floor of 110,000 and ceiling of 180,000 for the H-1B cap.
• It increases the master's cap from 20,000 to 25,000.
• It creates a new wage level system.
• It prohibits H-1B-dependent employers from using the Level 1 wage rate.
• it requires H-1B employers to advertise for the H-1B position on the Department of Labour website for a 30-day period.

In relation to dependent employers, the bill proposes as follows:

• It will prohibit outplacement, outsourcing or placement of H-1B workers by H-1B dependent employers.(1)
• It will allow outplacement, outsourcing or placement for non-dependent H-1B employers, but impose an additional filing fee of $500.
• Employers (other than educational or research employers) that employ 50 or more workers in the United States are banned from sponsoring H-1B workers if more than 75% of their workforce is in H-1B status (in 2015), changing to 65% in 2016 and 50% in 2017.
• The May 3 2013 amendment to bill defines an 'intending immigrant' for the purposes of calculating H-1B dependency as a H-1B worker who has a pending or approved labour application, rather than requiring a labour application pending for one year or more.

In relation to reporting, the bill requires all H-1B-dependent employers to submit an annual report to the Department of Homeland Security, including W-2s for all H-1B workers employed during the previous fiscal year.

In regard to the Department of Labour and labour condition applications, the bill:

• changes the standard of review of labour condition applications by the Department of Labour from reviewing for completeness to reviewing for completeness and evidence of fraud;
• changes the timeframe for processing labour condition applications from seven to 14 days;
• allows employers to file the Form I-129 with an uncertified labour condition application;
• removes the reasonable cause requirement for conducting a Department of Labour investigation and replaces it with the provision that the departement may initiate an investigation;
• requires the Department of Labour to conduct annual compliance audits of each employer with more than 100 employees, if more than 15% of the employees are in H-1B status, and requires these audits to be available for public inspection;
• increases Labour Condition Application fines from $1,000 to $2,000 for misrepresentation, and from $5,000 to $10,000 for wilful misrepresentation; and
• allows Department of Labour employees to file complaints regarding labour condition applications and eliminates the requirement that the Department of Labour know the tipster complaining of the labour condition application violation.

The new bill proposes to amend filing fees as follows:

• It requires H-1B-dependent employers with 50 or more employees to pay an extra filing fee of $5,000 for each H-1B petition filed each fiscal year, beginning in FY 2015 (October 1 2014 to September 30 2015), if 30% to 50% of the H-1B employer's employees are in H-1B or L-1 status. The amended bill imposes the same filing fee on employers that file L-1 petitions, if 30% to 50% of the L-1 employer's employees are in H-1B or L-1 status, but imposes the fee in FY 2014 (October 1 2013 to September 30 2014), rather than 2015.
• It requires H-1B-dependent employers with 50 or more employees to pay an additional fee of $10,000 for each H-1B petition filed each fiscal year, beginning in FY 2015 (October 1 2014 to September 30 2015), and continuing through the 2017 fiscal year, if 50% to 75% of the H-1B employer's employees are in H-1B or L status. The amended bill imposes the same filing fee on employers who file L-1 petitions, if 50% to 75% of the L-1 employer's employees are in H-1B or L-1 status, but imposes the fee in FY 2014 (October 1 2013 to September 30 2014), rather than 2015.
• It imposes an additional fee of $1,250 for each H-1B or L-1 petition which has at least 25 full-time employees.
• It imposes an additional filing fee of $2,500 per H-1B or L-1 petition for an employer that employs more than 25 employees.

The above additional fees are on top of the other filing fees already imposed on employers filing H-1B and L-1 petitions.

Further, the bill imposes a $500 fee for filing an application for permanent employment certification (Form 9089).

L-1

In relation to L-1 visas, the new bill will:

• prohibit the outplacement or outsourcing of L-1 workers, if not controlled or supervised principally by the sponsoring employer; and
• impose a requirement that if an L-1 worker is placed at a third-party location, the third party attests that the worker has not displaced and will not displace a US worker for 90 days before or after the date of the filing the L-1 petition.

In regard to filing fees, the bill:

• requires L-1 employers with 50 or more employees to pay an additional $5,000 filing fee if 30% to 50% of its workforce is in H-1B or L-1 status;
• requires L-1 employers with 50 or more employees to pay an additional $10,000 if 50% to 75% of its workforce is in H-1B or L-1 status;
• imposes an additional fee of $1,250 for each L-1 petition for employers that employ 25 or fewer full-time employees; and
• Imposes an additional filing fee of $2,500 per L-1 petition for an employer that employs 26 or more employees.

Endnotes

(1) An employer is considered to be an H-1B dependent employer if it has:

• 25 or fewer full-time equivalent employees and at least eight are in H-1B status;
• 26 to 50 full-time equivalent employees and at least 13 H-1B non-immigrant workers; or
• 51 or more full-time equivalent employees, of whom 15% or more are H-1B non-immigrant workers).

[Source – International Law Office – Copyrights]

Job Hunting in USA on H-1B–Preferred Vendor, Direct Client and Sub Contracting

 

One of the important thing to understand is how recruitment process works in USA? Not all companies hire resources directly, in fact they outsource that work to recruitment companies who specializes in Human Resource Staffing. For example Company A, sign a contract with a recruitment Company R to channel quality Human Resources to Company A. So Company R will now become a Vendor for Company A. Company A, might also sign contract with other Recruitment Companies and based on their understanding Company A can nominate (based on the contract) which of them are Preferred Vendors.

Whether a recruitment company is a Preferred Vendor or not, it can channel human resources directly to the Company or it might delegate that work (keeping its percentage) to other recruitment companies, and that second level (up to nth level) of delegation is called Sub Contracting.

For you, an employee on H-1B Visa, it is important that you know whether:

• The recruiter you are engaged with is a Preferred Vendor or not? you should prefer those job opportunities whose recruiting company is a Preferred Vendor of the Client.
  
• Whether the Client mentioned in the job description is a Direct Client of the recruiter or is recruiter a Sub Contractor (more recruiting companies in between)? you should prefer working with those recruiters who are directly dealing with the Client, because the more the Sub Contractors involved the less the share you’ll get. Every recruitment company keeps a slice of its share from the original compensation offered by the Client against the job opportunity.

Preference Order:

1. Preferred Vendor
2. Direct Client
3. Sub Contractor

Job Hunting in USA on H-1B–Employment Types and Tax Terms

 

In USA, there are following Employment Types and/or Tax Terms:

Corp-to-Corp – Indicates that the employer would prefer to deal directly with another corporation. The main reason for this preference is to avoid some of the potential liability that might exist in dealing with an independent contractor on a 1099 basis. This would include corporations dealing directly with other corporations or corporations dealing with individuals who have incorporated.

Independent – The employer is willing to hire a temporary employee on either a 1099 or W-2 Basis.

1099 Employee – A 1099 employee is in most cases a temporary employee (technically, not even an "employee"). Because they are not permanent, they do not need to complete a W-4 or have the employer withhold taxes. They are responsible for paying their taxes directly to the IRS. The IRS requires that the employer report the earnings paid on a form 1099. The IRS would rather put the burden of tax withholding on the employer and therefore has fairly stringent rules regarding when someone can be considered a 1099 employee.

W-2 – A W-2 employee is an employee whose taxes are withheld by the employer and whose earnings are reported to the IRS at the year-end via a W-2. The W-2 employee completes a form W-4 at the beginning of their employment to instruct the employer on how to withhold taxes. This eliminates any possible issues that may arise with the IRS regarding employment status.

As an H-1B Visa holder, you should look out for job opportunities that mentions Corp to Corp (c2c).

You will notice that job posts also mentions Tax Terms. Tax Terms includes:

Full-time – Will be working as a full-time W-2 employee for the company.

Part-time – Will be working as a part-time W-2 employee for the company.

Contract - Corp-to-Corp – Will be working on contract with or through another corporation.

Contract - Independent – Will be working as a contract 1099 employee for the company.

Contract - W2 – Will be working as a contract W-2 employee for the company.

Contract to Hire - Corp-to-Corp – Will be working on contract with or through another corporation with the option to hire.

Contract to Hire - Independent – Will be working as a contract 1099 employee for the company with the option to hire.

Contract to Hire - W2 – Will be working as a contract W-2 employee for the company with the option to hire.

As an H-1B Visa holder, you should look out for job opportunities that mentions Contract – Corp-to-Corp or Contract to Hire – Corp-to-Corp.

Dice.com > Advance Search > Advance Search Options > Employment Type

Job Hunting in USA on H-1B–Dice Profile, Recruiter’s Response, Mobile Carrier, Billing and Package, Voice Mail Settings, Leaving Messages

 

Although there are a number of job portals and services available online free of charge, but as per my personal experience, Dice.com alone would suffice. There are hundreds of posting on this website on daily basis, so much that you would exhaust all your energy and won’t be able to just review all of the posting – and I’m talking about filtered posting that matches your area of expertise, say for example Java or Dot Net.

So, my recommendation for you is to create a profile on Dice.com and upload your both versions of Resume/CV – brief one and detailed one. Make sure your profile is searchable and you have mentioned valid cell/mobile number. If possible provide an alternative number as well.

After creating your profile, even if you don’t “apply” to any of the job postings on Dice.com, you’ll still receive plenty of calls from recruiters/employers. The response from recruiters/employers will be so overwhelming that you might lose the ground under your feet . So try not raise your expectations so high that would hurt in the end . Be reasonable!

Make sure you have mobile carrier that works best in your area. My personal experience with Verizon is that its coverage is good and quality of signals are great. Whether you are inside a building or on the go, it connects very well. It is important in this phase of your job hunting because you will be receiving lots of calls on daily basis.

For those of you who are from Pakistan, there’s a significant change the way mobile service providers bill in USA. In Pakistan, we only pay for the outgoing calls and not for incoming calls. In USA, you will have to pay for both incoming and outgoing calls. For example, if your incoming and outgoing calls are 20 minutes and 28 minutes. Then in Pakistan you will only pay for 28 minutes of outgoing call, while in USA you will have to pay 48 minutes of incoming and outgoing calls altogether.

I would recommend you to select Unlimited Package from your carrier’s Package offerings. You need that because, you will be receiving a huge number of calls daily. Plus, your initial screening will be done via phone by the recruiter/employer. And may be, your first interview might also be done on phone. So you will be engaged in calls of longer duration.

Make sure the Package you choose have a Voice Mail option. Although it’s very common and is almost available in all Packages.

Make sure you setup your personal Voice Mail greeting/message in your own voice. Do mention your full name and make sure you are loud enough to be heard easily over phone.

If your Voice Mail have a limit on number messages to archive, keep deleting old and unwanted Voice Mail Messages to have space for incoming messages.

Whether you are calling a recruiter/employer or returning a call and if the person is not available, record a brief message with your full name and your primary phone number. If you also mention the current time, that would also help the receiver.