bugnutuk

i have been living and working in the states for a uk company for nearly two years now and have gone through various visa extensions and changes in that time all being paid for by my employer until we applied for the L1 visa . We have been told and are actually having to pay for them ourselfs even though the employer has told us that if we leave the company they are null and void. if this is the case why are we having to pay for them. is this not illegal ???. It is the company that brought us here should they not foot the bill for this. also we are being charged $1500 for the pleasure of this i recieved the I129 recipt back which stated that a fee of $185 was charged for this application and i know for a fact that the company has put a block application in for around 200 of us and the fee for a block application is $1500 dollars total i think that we are being ripped off some where could any one please give me some advice on this matter

AdobePinon

There are certain fees with H (and I think L) visas that have to be paid by the beneficiary. A few hundred bucks. Everything else is between you and your employer. It sucks, but I don't think that they are doing anything illegal.

dbj1000

I can't see that any of the various fees have to be paid by the beneficiary, legally speaking. Certainly I've never paid any of my fees (those that I paid up front I claimed back as expenses).

bugnutuk, sounds to me like your employer is screwing you, but they're certainly not doing anything illegal. I agree that, given that the L1 visa only allows you to work for that one employer, they really should be the ones to pay. Sounds to me like you're not on very good terms with your employer. There are many charges other than simply the I129 application fee, so $1500 for the process sounds about right. Perhaps they're including a proportion of their legal fees?

Can't you just discuss your questions and concerns with your employer?

Bob

Might also get more response posting in the US visa section...

AdobePinon

Maybe things have changed since I was on H1. At that time there was about $150 that had to come directly from the beneficiary. (Of course that didn't mean that you couldn't receive a $150 bonus from your boss at some point.)

Can't find any reference to that now, but the OP might be very interested in this page that I ran across:
http://www.h1base.com/page.asp?id=335

NC Penguin

Do you have a contract for your assignment in the US? If so, pore over that carefully to see if there's any mention about who pays the fee regarding visas.

If there's nothing in there, try discussing the matter with HR.

As Bob says, you might have more luck reading or posting in the US Visas forum instead.

Manc

Well do you want to live here or not?

Jesus, everything I've done regards the USCIS involves a large check signed by moi..........
c'est la vie.

BritGuyTN

my sentiments exactly

i spent a large sum out of pocket for my L1 becasue although the company really wanted me on board, they could not justify to the board of directors the addtional costs

unless your spouse is a USC the L1 visa is one of the cheapest and easist ways to get into the USA as long as you qualify

Ray

A grand of it could be for Premium processing ...

bugnutuk

the first three contracts i signed had no mention of us paying for any visa and the company excuse is that it cannot foot the bill for this new visa .if i am paying for this does it mean that the visa belongs to me??? and the company has all so stateted that if we dont pay to go home. Yes a portion of this is lawyers fees but last years we inquired through the same lawyer about extending my wife and childrens visa (they lost the paperwork three times ) left it to the last week then tried to charge us $750 for the pleasure by this time we had submitted the application ourselfs and it would have cost $95 dollars when we originally inquired but the fees were changed during this 6 week agony to $185 so thanks to the blood suckers we had nothing but stress and brickwalls

anotherlimey

Yes, there is expedited proccesing which costs extra. I was also looking through the INA yesterday and it mentioned a $1000 fee for something to do with L1 visas, not sure what it applied to though.

I didn't have to pay for my L1 visa, I guess it depends on the company you work for. But if you want to be here, you will probably come up with the cash.

-tom

Ray

Washington, D.C.– U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced today that President Bush has signed the Omnibus Appropriations Act for FY 2005, which contains the L-1 Visa Reform Act of 2004. An L-1B nonimmigrant is an alien who has been employed overseas by a firm with an affiliated entity in the U.S., who comes to the U.S. to perform services for the international entity that involve specialized knowledge. The L-1 Reform Act amends previous legislation by addressing the issue of “outsourcing.” L-1B temporary workers can no longer work primarily at a worksite other than their petitioning employer if the work will be controlled and supervised by a different employer or if the offsite arrangement is essentially to provide labor for hire, rather than service related to the specialized knowledge of the petitioning employer. This limitation will apply to all L-1B petitions filed with USCIS on or after June 6, 2005. This includes extensions and amendments involving individuals currently in L-1 status. The act also requires that all L-1 temporary workers must have worked for a period of no less than one year outside the United States for an employer with a qualifying relationship to the petitioning employer. Previously, participants in the “blanket L-1” program could participate after as little as six months of qualifying employment. This change applies to petitions for initial L-1 classification filed with USCIS on or after June 6, 2005. USCIS will be publishing guidance and regulations on these changes at a later date. In addition, the Act creates a new Fraud Prevention and Detection Fee of $500 which must be paid by petitioners seeking a beneficiary’s initial grant of H-1B or L nonimmigrant classification or those petitioners seeking to change a beneficiary’s employer within those classifications. Other than petitions to amend or extend stay filed by an existing H-1B or L employer, there are no exemptions from the $500 fee. The new $500 fee applies to petitions filed with USCIS on or after March 8, 2005. The new $500 fee is in addition to the base processing fee of $185 to file a Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker (Form I-129) and any premium processing fees, if applicable.

http://uscis.gov/graphics/publicaffa...Visa_12_9_2004 .pdf

dunroving

I'm not sure what the legal responsibility is, but I know I've spent a lot on lawyers' fees, etc. in the past. One employer flat said they wouldn't pay for it - in that situation, you have two choices: pay up or go home. Can't say I liked paying $2,000 to a lawyer who was filing the petition on behalf of my employer, but you're between a rock and hard place, really.

Where I now work, they have an immigration specialist who does everything (so no lawyer's fees). When she screwed up on submitting the H-1 renewal applications, a colleague had to pay $1,000 for premium processing - which the university wouldn't reimburse (even though they know their immigration expert is pretty incompetent). Again, he had a choice - pay up or choose not to go through premium processing.

We're between a rock and a hard place, really. Having dealt with immigration visas for 22 years, the one year I spent back in the UK (2000) was so liberating - I didn't need to ask anyone's permission to work, or pay any stinking fees just for the right to earn a living. Bottom line though is I made my choice to come here.

fatbrit

Smile and pay up -- they have you by the short and curlys. This relationship should change markedly when you have the GC in your pocket. If they've really pissed you off, go and work for their nearest competitor.

NC Penguin

Have you discussed any of this with your employer to get a breakdown of what it is you're being asked to pay for?

Sounds like you may have not discussed it with your employer yet. Wingeing here isn't going to help.

I think others have pretty much spelt out the options...




NC Penguin