littda01

Many thanks in advance for advice provided :-)

Currently in US on L1A visa, have been for 6 yrs. Company is now saying (as part of drive to reduce expats worldwide by 50%) that I must return to the UK. Not overly thrilled with this, particularly when I saw the 'terms' on offer as regards relocation :-) Owning a house and many other possessions here, figuring that some serious $$$ could be lost if I'm not careful.

Company will not sponsor GC - has been an ongoing discussion for 4 yrs (we are pretty slow) and now someone finally decided "no". Visa expires Feb 2010, company is saying I must move back to UK in October. As of now, I am refusing.

Just wanted to know if I have this info correct -

1) Our only option to stay is for me to find an employer who will sponsor H1B. Obviously not great because need to convince them to do GC, and will take much longer. (BTW, I am UK citizen)

2) As of now, I am telling the company that I will just stay until my visa ends or they fire me (with redundancy $$$). I am right that they cannot compel me to leave before Feb 2010 unless they end my employment, right?

3) If they fire me and cancel my visa, how long can I remain in the US? I believe it is 2 weeks, which is pretty rough, just wanted to check?

Cheers

christmasoompa

Sorry to hear that you're in this situation. Did your original contract not cover relocation in the event of them repatriating you?

No idea about no's 2 and 3 of your questions, but with regard to the first, are you aware that applications for H1B open on 1st April (and usually all go on the first day, although I believe it's still open for this year, but probably for not much longer)? And that successful applicants can't start work until Oct of that year. So in your case, you wouldn't be able to start working for somebody else until Oct 2010.

I'm sure you were aware of that as it seems you've already looked into it, but just thought I'd check!

Best of luck sorting it all out.

JAJ

What does your contract say about relocation/termination etc?

littda01

As regards original contract - that is complicated. The US business unit provided an offer letter that covered all terms on the US side, but did not speak at all to the process of moving back. For that, there was another policy in the UK, which I luckily retained a hard copy of (because they are now trying to claim they won't pay X and Y despite that being in the policy).

The complication is that in the meantime, they have rolled out a brand new worldwide expat policy with totally new terms. I am a 'legacy' expat and thus the terms that apply to me are very open to interpretation / negotiation, because there were so many policies around at the time I started in the US.

As regards the H1B timing/limit - I knew of this concept, but didnt realize it meant Oct 2010 so thanks for that info!!

In retrospect, I have learned that it would have been much better to press them really hard initially to outline very clearly all terms/eventualities, but at the time was focused on the opportunity and sort of trusting the company not to try to screw me later on. Mistake...

Eric S

If there are still H-1B's available for this year, wouldn't that be for starting work Oct 2009 and not Oct 2010?

- Eric S.

dave2702

If you refuse to locate back to the UK and they fire you would they have to pay redundancy especially if you're in a let-go State

E3only

We have lot of expats working here in AU and they like to remain on expat contracts due to tax, allowances, equalization etc etc.

Ok, I am not expert but if the policy is new due to 50% forced reduction in expat costs - can you go on a local contract? Or does L1 not allow it..

Sorry if it's a stup suggestion. No idea of your personal situation nor any expert...

ian-mstm

If they fire you, L-1A status ends that day... regardless of when your visa expires.


They can not compel you, correct... but US immigration can once you're out of status.

Ian

Chrissywissy100

There is NO federal requirement for companies in the US to provide severance pay, unless you are in one of the few states where the law says they have to.

Let's hope it doesn't come to that though!

christmasoompa

I don't think there's any hope she'll find a new job and get all the paperwork done before this years allocation goes somehow! Even at a minimum, that's going to be two or three weeks away - and that's if she finds another job straight away (not sure how likely that is in the current economic climate) and an immigration lawyer prepares everything as a matter of urgency. By then, I'm guessing all will definitely have gone for this year.

littda01

On the severance, its an interesting question... My strong belief is that our expat policies globally all say that any terminated expat will receive the redundancy benefits of their home country policy (in my case the UK). My company is a UK-based company, not a US one, but not sure if that makes a difference. BTW, I am based in CT.

I very much doubt that they would try to fire me with no benefits, as generally our company (being a very large multinational) does take its treatment of employees fairly seriously and firing me in that way would probably be more risky to them in terms of potential internal publicity, than doing the "right thing".

But I could be wrong about that :-)

Thanks everyone for the input - just one question still looking to answer - how long can we remain in the country after our L1 visas expire or are revoked?

Cheers

henryh

Actually, from the current submission rate it looks like the cap won't be reached until at least June, possibly as late as September. Definitely worth a go.

(42000 by 5th April, 44000 by 20th, you do the maths/guessing)

Redwing

Suggest that you check with your colleagues. I went through 3 cutbacks with my company, and those who were let go received a month's pay for each year of service. Lost health benefits, but went on COBRA. Those who had at least 5 years of service, kept their pension, because they were vested. I sure hope that things work out for you OK, as you must be feeling concerned right now. All the best.

littda01

Should have added this before - have been with the company 13 years, am currently on the promotion list etc, so my belief is that politically and financially, its relatively difficult for them to get rid of me i.e. it would need approval from high up in HR. Thats not to say they won't/wouldn't, but I think leaves me in a better position to negotiate.

emailrob

Does your contract actually state you are an expat? Are you getting paid in the UK still in £? If so, likely if they do fire you you'd be eligible for at least UK notice period, statutory redundancy etc. They MAY not have factored this cost into their decision.

If the above is true, then as above can you not go local?

Many companies are reducing the number of expat assignments, but I know (my company included) in most cases this means an offer to "go local" rather than a termination.