2010 H1b filing rush starts April 1st 2009 - DOs and DON'Ts

[txh1b]

***DO NOT POST FOLLOW UP INDIVIDUAL QUESTIONS ON THIS THREAD*** ***FEEL FREE TO ADD MORE STUFF OR RELEVANT CONTENT TO THE THREAD***

Time is ticking and I kind of sensed that there will be a huge number of questions hitting the forum in the upcoming days about the new filing season. I will jot down a few important points for the "aspiring" H1b candidates and the bored H4s that want to work and are in touch with some consulting company in a tunnel churning out code on their "in-house" projects with no clients.

Important Points:
• Do not Pay for a H1b. It is illegal to pay for a H1b and for the employer to collect any money for the H1b. No disguise in the name of a sister company, security deposit is legal. This is the first step to ruining your career and possibly status in US and if you are outside the US, you are signing up your sorry a$$ for some slavery.

• ICE and USCIS has been cracking down on shady companies recently. If you have been a chef (H4) and that is the only experience you have, a 4 week QA training in a IT shop in Dallas or Edison is not the way to proceed.

• If a H1b is filed as a COS (Change of status) from any of your current status in US, once approved, you have to be on H1b from Oct 1st. There is no special button that you or your employer can press to “activate” the H1b. It is active and you need to be paid from day 1. Having a project or not, the employer MUST pay you. If you are pregnant, sorry, you have to work. If you have a project in west coast and our husband is in the East, you have to work. No LOA letters will re-instate your status as stated by your shady employer. Employer cannot force a LOA on you.

• Getting a SSN or applying for SSN is not a trigger to “activate” a H1b. Irrespective of it, you are on H1b the day H1b is effectively active. It applies to people fresh off the boat as well as the COS candidates already in the US.

• F1 students having a US degree can use their OPT only until the effective date of H1b approval/activation (Oct 1st) . Once H1b is effective, OPT is NO LONGER valid. It is illegal to work on OPT after the H1b effective COS date as you no longer hold F1 status.

• L1 COS candidates – It is NOT okay to continue on L1 past the COS date. It is illegal and you will get yourself deported if you work on L1 past the H1b effective date.
• http://www.immihelp.com/forum/showthread.php?t=49015

• Contracts for liquidated damages that you sign are enforceable and legal if the employer wants to. But do your research and do not sign yourself up for a disaster. Liquidated damages cannot be a fixed amount that is pre-decided by a shady employer. It has to be on a sliding scale. You are all educated people and know how to use Google. I will stop here.

• Employer has to pay at least the wages as mentioned in the LCA at all times for an H1b employee. 80-20 agreements, getting paid only when you have a project, providing a guest house with lots of benches, grocery allowance etc are all done by shady employers. You are setting yourself up for bait. Use Google and review those companies that have promised to “sponsor” H1b for you.

• Now that you have decided USA is your next stop for your career, brush up on your communication skills and learn some “professional” behavior. Written and Oral communications are an integral part of a job in US and I have run into so many of my own country(wo)men that lack the basics and exhibit zero professionalism at work. My personal rant – Please don’t get started in your native language with your fellow country(wo)men at work.

• Do your research before you embark on the H1b route. No matter what the situation is, you are the best judge for your career and future. Do not ruin it in the hands of a greedy consulting company.

• Do not hesitate to complain to DOL on a WH4 form in the employer violates any laws. The H1b laws favor the employees to a greater degree.
• http://www.immihelp.com/visas/h1b/em...procedure.html

• In-house projects in a consulting company is a joke. All VOs and USCIS knows about these companies aka body shoppers. Only genuine cases will be approved or get ready to be slapped with the 221g.

• USCIS charges H1b "processing" fees and NOT "approval" fees. No part of the fee will be returned by USCIS unless the H1b was not picked in the lottery.

• Read the H1b FAQs. Link is in the signature.

[orion]

Thanks txh1b.

Admin, you might want to make this a sticky.

I'll add one more point to the last bullet :

• USCIS charges H1b "processing" fees and NOT "approval" fees. No part of the fee will be returned by USCIS unless the H1b was not picked in the lottery.

I have heard many cases when the employers collected 'fees' (which is illegal upfront) for filing and did not return it even when the case was not picked up in the lottery. So beware.

[OMM]

thanks Orion , Txh1b this posts also repeated like:
company X H1b tranfered with company Y etcc.
even H4 to H1B..
H1B transfer affected CAP?
I reaquested to thoese members PLEASE Read in the forum first... somany members never read anything just asking same post again and again....

[hikes]

Thank you.
Txh1b, this summarizes most of the process / problems involved for getting into H1B.

Could you also mention that if an L1 visa holder wants to get into H1B and does not readily want to work, to not to provide the L1B I94 the employer who files their H1B ?

I've been seeing many many posts related to COS where the person didn't even know what COS is and continued working on L1 post H1B approval.

[VKRAMESH]

Very Good post Txh1B , this will help all H1B aspirants for the next FY

[cygwin]

Hello ....good information. This helps us a lot.

It would be really good if we could post info about no of H-1 recieved also...Here is a link to find by which dates H-1 cap was reached for the last 5 years .. http://h1b-cap.blogspot.com/

[txh1b]

Here is a break-up of potential H1b costs to the employer on a H1b filing. Posting for reference. No fee is returned by USCIS on a denied application unless there was a lottery and the application was not picked.

USCIS charges a processing fee and NOT an approval fee.

You can complain against the employer that took the H1b processing fee with proof of payment, any communications etc to USDOL on a WH4 form and they will get your money back.

The employer must pay the training fee ($750 / $1500) for the petition, You should not enter into any scheme of payments with the employer regarding this fee. You may legally pay the other filing fees like $320 for I129 filing, the fraud prevention fee of $500 and optional premium processing fee of $1000 if you want to. In addition to this, there might be education evaluation fee ($100-$300), attorney fee ($1000-$2000) based on who is chosen associated with filing for a H1b.

[h1employee]

Pls job seekers,Never EVER file your H1 through CYBERBEST Technologies in FL..I am their employee and paying the price for it.They are pure cheats.They offfer you 80-20 at the time of filing and once u land on your job they'll cheat you out of your money.I was offered 80-20 before filing and now they are giving me some 65 % without ANY BENEFITS and they cant even explain why they are taking off my money..They are pure cheats!! Pls dont spoil your career and let you cheated out of your hard earned payments..Please spread the word so that other H1B aspirers also get benefitted..This is all I could do against them..!!