work contract for h1b visa

[andreean 0]

hello

i am a student who is looking for us visa sponsorship. My question is just so that i am informed and no employer will trick me. when a company agrees to sponsor you, do they make you sign a work contract in which you have to stay with them a certain amount of time? like 1 or 2 years? if you find a second employer where you want to transfer and you have this contract signed what happens?

thanks

Andreea

[nickbits 43]

if you break your contract they can sue you.

[andreean 0]

do all the h1b sponsorships have a specific amount of time you have to commit too? with no exception. they tell you upfront for how logn you have to stay with them?

[juliava 80]

If they sponsor you for a Green Card it is recommended to stay with them until you finish the whole process.

[Harsh_77 716]

If they sponsor you for a Green Card it is recommended to stay with them until you finish the whole process.

It is not recommended, you have to stay with the same employeer or you will have to start the process all over again. (There are stages in applying for GC based on employment and certainly it will be based on what state your application is in)

do all the h1b sponsorships have a specific amount of time you have to commit too? with no exception. they tell you upfront for how logn you have to stay with them?

Now days H1b costs a lot to employeer, so to make sure when they bring someone from other countries they would get full return on their investment they can ask you to sign such a contract.

How legal is this contract that depends on how good lawyer you can hire when you break the contract.

[juliava 80]

It is not recommended, you have to stay with the same employeer or you will have to start the process all over again. (There are stages in applying for GC based on employment and certainly it will be based on what state your application is in)

I already explained all that to the OP on another thread.

You mentioned above that OP "has to" stay with the same employer while applying for a GC. Other than wasting time and abandoning the GC application- what other repercussions do you think breaking a contract could generate?If breaking a contract generates only time wasting as you indicated I don't think you can force anybody to maintain a work contract with an employer and just say "you have to stay". If the employee doesn't want a Green Card anymore can you really push someone to work for you?I doubt it. That's why I stick with the term "recommended".

[Harsh_77 716]

I already explained all that to the OP on another thread.

You mentioned above that OP "has to" stay with the same employer while applying for a GC. Other than wasting time and abandoning the GC application- what other repercussions do you think breaking a contract could generate?If breaking a contract generates only time wasting as you indicated I don't think you can force anybody to maintain a work contract with an employer and just say "you have to stay". If the employee doesn't want a Green Card anymore can you really push someone to work for you?I doubt it. That's why I stick with the term "recommended".

They are 2 different scenario -

1. I am guessing his employeer who is going to file H1 for him is asking him to sign a contract. (which has nothing to do with GC application this is even before he would go to consulate for interview)

As I mentioned some of employeers specially contractors have started doing this, as now days it costs a lot to file for H1 and specially this guys would offer a medicore salary to guys coming from out of country. Guys will accept it coz its still big sum when the convert it from dollar to local currency, once they come here they figure out if they want to raise their salary they will have to switch H1 to some other contracting company who would give few thousand more compared to existing one. When they switch the company existing company who filed for h1 is not able to recover their cost of h1 and they lose money, so they put this clause if applicant switches company before agreed time then they can sue him for recvery of the visa cost and other related cost.

2. when a company files for a GC there is no contract, but as per USCIS regulation that person has to stay with his company or for USCIS it is an abandoned application and he has to start all over again.

[mjaskiew 8]

As I mentioned some of employeers specially contractors have started doing this, as now days it costs a lot to file for H1 and specially this guys would offer a medicore salary to guys coming from out of country. Guys will accept it coz its still big sum when the convert it from dollar to local currency, once they come here they figure out if they want to raise their salary they will have to switch H1 to some other contracting company who would give few thousand more compared to existing one. When they switch the company existing company who filed for h1 is not able to recover their cost of h1 and they lose money, so they put this clause if applicant switches company before agreed time then they can sue him for recvery of the visa cost and other related cost.

They cannot offer mediocre salary for H1B visa - it's all regulated. The company needs to be able to pay prevailing wage in order to sponsor someone's visa. Department of Labor and USCIS are making sure that the H1B visa holder is not taking jobs away from American citizens.

[Harsh_77 716]

They cannot offer mediocre salary for H1B visa - it's all regulated. The company needs to be able to pay prevailing wage in order to sponsor someone's visa. Department of Labor and USCIS are making sure that the H1B visa holder is not taking jobs away from American citizens.

I guess you are not aware how lot of the small contractors work, they will put on the paper some xyz salary - does not mean applicant is going to get that salary.

1. Times applicant is aware of it, but applicant is desperate to get H1 and would initially agree and then switch to some other company who might give a littler better option.

2. Times this small companies do not pay salary to their employee when they are not on project, they would only pay them when they are on project. So many times if company is not able to place applicant on project, applicant gets frustrated and joins another company who promises to put him/her on project.

These are they reason these employeers ask to sign a contract with employee as they would not go over to another employeer before the contract period is up.

[mjaskiew 8]

I guess you are not aware how lot of the small contractors work, they will put on the paper some xyz salary - does not mean applicant is going to get that salary.

1. Times applicant is aware of it, but applicant is desperate to get H1 and would initially agree and then switch to some other company who might give a littler better option.

2. Times this small companies do not pay salary to their employee when they are not on project, they would only pay them when they are on project. So many times if company is not able to place applicant on project, applicant gets frustrated and joins another company who promises to put him/her on project.

These are they reason these employeers ask to sign a contract with employee as they would not go over to another employeer before the contract period is up.

Wow! No, I was not aware of that! Isn't fraud then?

And yes, it makes sense, why they would make them sign that contract.

So to OP - maybe it's one of those companies that Harsh77 is talking about? I would check the contract very thoroughly and maybe even have a lawyer take a look at it.

Good luck!

[Harsh_77 716]

Wow! No, I was not aware of that! Isn't fraud then?

And yes, it makes sense, why they would make them sign that contract.

So to OP - maybe it's one of those companies that Harsh77 is talking about? I would check the contract very thoroughly and maybe even have a lawyer take a look at it.

Good luck!

Its illegal 100% but applicants are desperate to work in US and stay in US. If you look at it if applicant complains about it chances are company will get fined and company will go on with it, but at same time applicant would be terminated and sent back home as his H1 is already voided out by either one of the practice.

So in most cases applicant don't say anything they just work with the arrangement.