davisonuk

Thanks Rene
You are absolutely right thanks for the reassurance.
Yes they mentioned they have made some enquiries but no outcome yet

Pulaski

Well he seems to have latched on to "executive", and ignored "essential employee" which seems elastic enough to cover almost anybody!

Michael

This is my opinion.

You didn't indicate your salary but LA is expensive similar to London. Although the E-2 visa doesn't have a salary requirement, if your salary is in the $50K range, the CONOFF may have assumed that you skill set was embellished and the salary doesn't match what someone would be paid in LA with the same skill set.

Usually for E-2, L-1, and H-1B visas, salaries are in the 6 figure range and when a salary is not, that can create doubt with the CONOFF.

Although labor certification is not required for an E-2 visa, someone being transferred must have essential skills to the company and if income is too low, the CONOFF may have doubts.

scrubbedexpat099

I probably have not seen a fair representation but I would have thought most E2s and certainly H1bs are well under 100k. L maybe not.

Pulaski

Outside of California, DC, Boston and New York, I agree that most E-2's, and fair proportion (though perhaps a minority) of H1bs could be under $100k.

scrubbedexpat099

I was working on the basis that most H1b's for to Indian outsourcing companies and doubt they pay anything like that.

If you were paying good money you would not need to go through that route.

Pulaski

I happen to know, personally, an Indian in NC on an H1 doing IT work who is on substantially more than $100k, and he's not a manager or an executive.

scrubbedexpat099

There are no doubt exceptions, I was thinking of the norm body shop operations.

Sally Redux

Such a shame that the young people lose touch with the language.

Michael

Indian outsourcing companies are not necessarily known to be the most reputable. They may possibly create LCAs that indicate that the employee's salary will be above $100K (the prevailing wage for someone with that degree and experience which is required to get approval) and then outsource them for $150K+ but may possibly not pay them the salary indicated in the LCA.

In theory in the Silicon Valley, it would be near impossible to be approved for a H1-B visa without a LCA indicating at least $100K since typically the person would require a minimum of a Bachelor's degree but most often has a Master's degree and several years experience and with those qualifications, the prevailing wage would likely be above $100K.

The following link refers to intern salaries that are often near $9K per month so it seems that the prevailing wage for someone with a degree and experience should be above that.

http://britishexpats.com/forum/trail...laries-847732/

scrubbedexpat099

Foreign workers fill hundreds of Sacramento-area IT jobs

I thought this was quite funny bearing in mind the project

Ray

You can only obtain an E-2 visa if you are an investor, director, manager or key employee of a foreign company that has made significant investments in the USA.

Allfourfeet

My partner and I went through our embassy interviews together and he was on a E2, I agree it may look suspicious the company have embellished your skills if you were on a low salary and going to an expensive city, although if the company have done it many times before (presuming most consultants are on the same base salary) it was never an issue before so that leads me to believe he just wasn't comvinced on your skills. At the end of the day it's the person who interviews you who's opinion counts as to whether he believes you have the skills regardless of what your supporting letters say.

When we went, I was asked no questions at all for my visa and my partner was asked 3-4 all relating to his skills, what he's previously achieved and what he's being brought over to do. The legal team who did everything for us advised us they could asked these questions and he was told to basically sell him self to them.

I hope you get it sorted

Canveydave

As mentioned in a previous post I am on an E2 treaty, I had never worked for the company I now work for before, I work in recruitment AND I earn over $100k.

My experience was, and this is all my own opinion, that the visa decision was basically made on the paperwork that my company submitted. My actual interview consisted of two questions about golf and one about how long I intended to stay in the US for.

My company bring UK people of all levels over all the time. We have ridiculously stringent and meticulous people in charge of preparing the visa paperwork. I actually sat 3 mock interviews before going to the embassy, each one tougher than the actual interview.

I am a key employee though and my company had prepared an amazing pack selling me and my achievements, so much so that I kept it and should I ever move it will be my new CV.

One thing that concerns me about your situation is that if the company have too many E2's declined they lose their E2 status. Are you willing let me know the company? Just so I avoid them if I look in the future, because it seems like they were very relaxed about your prospects.

One thing I've learned is that past performance on getting visas is no indicator of future success.

Good Luck