I am a British Citizen and have just started working for a Canadian company and have a Canadian Work Permit.

One of the companies conditions of my employment is that I would have to pay any fees in excess of what they would normally have to pay for a Canadian.

At some point, probably early next year, they will be installing equipment in Seattle and I would then be going as part of the commissioning team.

They have told me that the additional fees for a permit for me could be anything between $2000 to $7000!!!!

Can this really be true?

They have also hinted that although not obliged they may help with these costs after all, I'm thinking it depends how much they value me after the first job.

Can someone give me some feedback on this, is this level of cost really true?

How long would you need to be in the US.

Which Visa are they saying you need.

Which Visa are your colleagues going to use.

The commissioning could be up to 6 months, I believe they are probably talking about the H-1B I will know for certain later.

I'm unsure about the Canadian engineers, probably know later, just can't believe that a companies from the UK selling equipment in the USA would have to pay that sort of sum for their engineers to commission it.

Do not see how it could be a H, or a L for that matter.

I sort of assumed that it fell within the B or VWP catagory usually. May not be comparable but a company I had contacts with in the UK went this way when installing equipment for US Customers in the US.

A few years back.

H2 maybe, but I think they have all gone this year, and anyway not a practical choice for most companies.

On Apr 1, 4:51 am, PeterF <[email protected]> wrote:
> I am a British Citizen and have just started working for a Canadian
> company and have a Canadian Work Permit.
>
> One of the companies conditions of my employment is that I would have
> to pay any fees in excess of what they would normally have to pay for
> a Canadian.
>
> At some point, probably early next year, they will be installing
> equipment in Seattle and I would then be going as part of the
> commissioning team.
>
> They have told me that the additional fees for a permit for me could be
> anything between $2000 to $7000!!!!
>
> Can this really be true?
>
> They have also hinted that although not obliged they may help with these
> costs after all, I'm thinking it depends how much they value me after
> the first job.
>
> Can someone give me some feedback on this, is this level of cost
> really true?

It depends entirely on what type of visa they're talking about. You
need to get that clarified. It's not immediately obvoius to me which
visa would allow a trip of this sort, though B-1 might be the closest
if the trip is longer than 90 days. That shouldn't need lawyers, I'd
expect costs to be in the small hundreds of dollars.

Thanks for the feedbacks.

I'm only starting my first day today and this matter won't really be rising for another 8 months or so anyway, so no panic yet. I'll probably return to this when I get more info.

I will say though, looking at the USA official website, it is totally confusing with the mass of different types of Visa's.

From the UK Consulate web site, should be the same for Canada:

Service Engineer

If the engineer(s) will install, service or repair commercial or industrial equipment or machinery sold by a company in the United Kingdom to a buyer in the United States, and the purchase contract requires that the UK company provide such services, then the B-1 visa or visa free travel under the Visa Waiver Program, (VWP) is appropriate. However, in such cases, the engineer(s) must possess the specialized knowledge essential to perform the services, receive no remuneration from a U.S. source, and the company must not receive any payment for these services in addition to that specified in the original contract of sale. If the proposed activities are not exactly as described, temporary work (H-2) visas will be required. Please note that the B-1 visa or travel under the VWP does not cover building or construction work, even if the purchase contract requires that the company provide such services. In such cases, the employees must always qualify for H-2 visas.

The B-1 visa or travel under the VWP is also appropriate for engineers traveling to the United States to train U.S. personnel in the installation, service or repair of commercial or industrial equipment or machinery as specified above. The individuals concerned must continue to be paid by the U.K. company and the contract of sale must specifically require the seller to provide such services.