My friend came to US on L1 visa, for a short term duration of 2.5 months. He is getting monthly salary in India, and gets a daily allowance in US. His employer told that they do not need to provide the monthly salary in US because he is on short term (less than 3 months). Is this correct ?
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Originally posted by cabinoy View PostMy friend came to US on L1 visa, for a short term duration of 2.5 months. He is getting monthly salary in India, and gets a daily allowance in US. His employer told that they do not need to provide the monthly salary in US because he is on short term (less than 3 months). Is this correct ?
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Originally posted by shervin143 View PostL1 is intra company transfer. Meaning, you get transferred to the U.S entity of the same company. You should be getting paid in U.S salary and pay taxes in U.S.
"There is no prevailing wage requirement for the L-1 category. There is no law for a minimum salary for L1s."
"There is no immigration law which requires that an L-1B alien be paid any specific wage."
Even Immihelp website says something similar under L1 FAQs at https://www.immihelp.com/usa-visas/l1/faq.html that "employer is strictly not required to abide by prevailing wage rate" for L1s.
This is my opinion.
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Per Diem
L1 is for Intra company transfer. An employee deputed to work in US office of the same company. Typically the offshore employer should remove the candidate from their payroll and convert the employee to their U.S payroll to work in W2 wages. By the end of the year, the employer should generate a W2 and if the Candidate is in U.S for over 180 days, then he/she should pay the taxes in U.S. This is why SSA issues a SSN to people who are in L1 unlike B1. L1 cannot work in U.S until employee is in the US payroll.
Even though there is no strict LCA requirements for L1 holder like H1B, there is a minimum wage that will be mentioned while filing the L1 petition with USCIS. If the employer mentions that they will pay the salary in home country and just pay only the per diem, then I doubt if the L1 petition/visa would even can get approved. The employer is supposed to pay that minimum wage and per diems can be paid in addition. Per diems are usually paid to people who visit U.S in business (B1) visa (very short duration) where there is no obligation to pay any taxes in U.S and the employee gets paid in their home country. Per diems are usually paid to take care of employee’s day to day U.S expenses and so there is no tax on per diems. If L1 holders can get paid only per diems in U.S and get their actual salary paid in their home country, there is no U.S tax that gets deducted for them and there is no point in USCIS even approving L1s where there is absolutely no benefit for the U.S government. W2 are verified when the L1 holder appears for visa renewal. It is mainly because of practices like these by the so called desi companies, USCIS has turned very strict on all L1 holders and even people who are following all the L1 regulations are getting affected. My 2 cents, L1 with just the per diems is never the right way to go and it can certainly have impact on the individual’s future visa stamping or on the GC process.Not a legal advice. Use of this information is strictly at your own risk.
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