Posts Tagged ‘H-1B Visa Stamping’

Riddle Me This, Riddle Me That

March 1st, 2012
posted by at 12:46 pm

We recently wrote of a situation at the Hyderabad consulate, wherein IT consultants applying for H-1B visas are being threatened with a lifetime ban of the United States.  In making these applicants sign an affidavit regarding their future employment conditions, officers are trying to ‘catch’ potential non-immigrant workers committing fraud through ignorance.

We wanted to follow up with a list of questions that have been asked of some of these applicants.   Knowing this well in advance of the visa appointment – and making sure to have correct information from the employer – will reduce the risk of inadvertently giving incorrect information.

These are some of the questions being asked by U.S. Consular Officers:

  • What does your employer do?
  • Who is the client?
  • Who assigns your day-to-day activity?
  • Which division do you work for?
  • What is the name of your supervisor? Spell it for me?
  • Do you have any documents mentioning your employment?
  • Is your manager on site?
  • How often does he/she visit?
  • How long does he/she stay at client site?
  • Who is the manager for the client?
  • When do you interact with him/her?
  • Did your employer provide any tools or devices to perform your duties?
  • Do you use that laptop at client site?
  • If any situation arises at the client site then who do you inform?
  • Who has the right to hire, fire, and pay you?
  • To whom will the client report your evaluation?
  • Do you have any benefits?
  • Who is the health insurance carrier?
  • How many employees work on this project from your company?
  • Do you have a copy of the agreement between client and employer?

Add a “riddle me this, riddle me that” in front of most of these and what you have are the questions of a villain in a Batman movie!

If you’re going to be applying for an H-1B visa at a U.S. Consulate, you should definitely consult an Immigration attorney first.

Forewarned is forearmed!

 

Applying for an H-1B Visa in Hyderabad: Be Careful or Be Banned!

February 18th, 2012
posted by at 6:56 pm

By Pam Prather


Yet another negative situation has come to light regarding temporary foreign employees working to the US.  It has the potential for professionals from India to be banned from the US for life.

The US Consulate in Hyderabad has started requiring applicants for some H-1B visas to sign an attestation about their work conditions.  This attestation, if erroneous, could expose them to a lifetime ban from the United States.

Applicants who will be working at a third-party client site in the US (usually IT specialists) have been subject to increased scrutiny regarding the employer-employee relationship in the last couple of years. In 2010, the USCIS issued a memo defining the required employer-employee relationship for H-1B visas.  It included a description of how that relationship was to be maintained if an employee was assigned to a third party, or to an off-site client location. In response, USCIS adjudicators started focusing more closely on things like who pays the employee, and who controls or supervises their work.

Now, in Hyderabad, the stakes in applying for an H-1B visa are very high.  If an applicant guesses about certain information and is wrong (or intentionally provides false information, of course), he/she could face a permanent bar from the US.

Not all applicants know and understand the full extent of their work conditions in the US.  What if they provide what they think is the right answer, or what the consular official wants to hear, and turn out to be wrong?  They could be barred forever from the United States, for misrepresentation. Any assumption by the H-1B employee could be the death knell not just for his or her visa, but for their ability to ever visit the US again.

If you have an H-1B visa interview scheduled in Hyderabad, or at any U.S. consulate for that matter, it would be wise to speak with an Immigration Attorney first.