Consider me as a very newbee into all the information regarding H1B and job laws in USA altogather.
Keeping this in mind ,please explain a bit in detail my following questions.
My H1B sponsor has issued me an offer letter with a salary mentioned in it ,at the time when applying for H1B,
is this any way tied up with the petition ? Do i stand a chance to bargain it? Can i do it post my stamping or pre stamping ?Which would give me a better bargaining position?
As my current salary was incremented by current employer in Singapore ,where I work .The initial salary mentioned by consultant doesn’t look appealing.Will they issue a new offer letter at the time of stamping ?
2)My H1B sponsor who is a consultant ,who has in-house and client projects as well ,how is the popular way in US, can I try to find a client of my own to work with the client still under the sponsors payroll ,prior to traveling? How about the chances of same.?
Should I look for any clause with the H1B sponsor which may restrict me from switching the employer ,soon after traveling or prior to travelling but post stamping .?
By any way can the sponsor restrict me from doing such a switch ?
Please advice with the great experience the forum contributors has in the matter.
You can negotiate with them, but it is up to them whether they bargain or not. You can present your current salary and ask them to sweeten the pot to make it attractive for you to leave your current job and join them in US. May or may not work
That is one model of work - consulting. The other way is to become a full-time employee of one of the US companies like Google, Oracle, Splunk etc. You can approach them once your H-1 petition is approved and if they want to hire you, they can file a cap-exempt petition for you. No need to go through cap/lottery again in this case.
Hi Saurabh,
Ur advice for my 3rd point was clear cut .
But still unclear on 1st and 2nd .
1st one what I want to know is the salary mentioned in the offer letter which the consultant offered before lottery any way related or mentioned in the petition.Also will they release a different offer letter prior to or post stamping which again is any way mentioned in the petition .
What I want is to know which would be the exact window to do the negotiation.
2) As u said that’s the one way consulting ,I am not aware how exactly does it work.
Wrt to cunsulting can I search for a client by my own .For example I know about some positions open with some clients who doesn’t have any relation with my client ,can I apply for those positions ,still being with the cunsultant who is sponsoring me.
With respect to your other advice ,applying directly to other employers .Which would be the best time to do so,Post stamping or a approved petition is enough.
As part of H-1 process, employer has to file LCA and mention salary in that form. By law, they are required to pay at least that salary. If they offered a higher salary during negotiation, then they can do that as well. Usually they don’t update the salary at different stages of processing, but you will have to check w/ employer to get a more concrete answer applicable to your case.
In consulting, the contract is always b/w the client and employer. Good employers have a good marketing team and steady relationship w/ clients where you can be placed as contractor. However, for not so good/stable employers, you may have to market yourself for contracting position. In such a case, employer may decide not to get into a contract if they don’t like rate offered etc. So you can find clients, but then your employer needs to do the negotiation and agree to it.
There is no best time and it varies from case to case. If you have a good employer, then go for stamping through them, travel to US and then decide whether to change employers or not. If your employer is not so credible, then your stamping may run into issues. So its better to change employers first and then appear for stamping to have better chance of successful stamping. Having said that, finding a good credible employer who can file H-1 transfer for you while you are outside US is pretty low.