Immigration Agreement - Employee demanding money after quitting

[sundar1979]

Hi,

I had signed a Immigration expenses agreement with my previous employer that if i resign before 12 months of employment, then the employer can claim 50% of the Immigration expenses for my H1B transfer.

Is it legal for an employer to do that based on the agreement?

If so, what kind of fees needs to be reimbursed?

Any help would be grately appreciated.

Thanks,
RG.

[novice2007]

legality????

Hi friend,

First of all, have you signed the agreement? If you have signed the agreement, is it fair and legal on your part to pull away from a company before 12 months?

Secondly, I am surprised that you are not even aware of the expenses that are incurred for a visa processing.

Each one has to do his or her homework, I believe.

[orion]

Everyone is aware of the cost of visa processing, and everyone is also aware of the USCIS law that the cost of visa processing has to be borne by the employer. So if the employer is asking you to refund visa processing fees, then he is not supposed to do that.

sundar1979, if you received a law notice to refund visa processing fees, you just reply back to them saying you need time to look for a good lawyer and buy a lot of time by saying smthng like u r going to indian for 2 months and u'll start working on this on returning. atleast this has worked for 2 friends who faced the same.

I am sure you employer would not have called it visa/H1 fees, as he would incriminate himself by doing that. But if he is asking for compensation because u left before the agreed term of minimum service then thats an individual case. In all companies, if u just leave out of the blue, you got to pay them 1 pay-cycle equivalent pay. Thats nothing to do with the immigration process.

[sundar1979]

Thanks Guys

I am not in their payroll as i got my last paycheck and came out. Can they ask for the money in any other way, if i am not in their payroll?

[orion]

Yes, they can. This is the US of America. Here anyone can sue any one and send a legal notice asking for any amount of money... may be in millions of dollars! all legal!

Quoting text from my previous reply "if you received a law notice to refund visa processing fees, you just reply back to them saying you need time to look for a good lawyer and buy a lot of time by saying smthng like u r going to indian for 2 months and u'll start working on this on returning. atleast this has worked for 2 friends who faced the same."

I forgot to write why this worked. The employers who were asking for money as reimbursement for immigration process were scared that if the employee brings a lawyer and case goes to court, they will be exposed that they asking money from the employer for H1 processing which is illegal.