Boivin, Patrice J wrote:
>Why would the H1-B cost the employer money?
>
>Usually if you want to travel and get a visa you can pay a small fee at the
>local embassy or consultate and that's it. Work visas may be different, I
>don't know
>
>Do U.S. employers pay H1-B visa employees' health benefits?
>
>Just curious, I have never worked in the U.S..
>
>I am enjoying the 32 degree Celcius (96 degree Farenheit) weather here in
>Canada (was 32 degrees a couple of weeks ago anyway).
>
>: )
>
>I do see news items sometimes talking about H1-B VISA staff vs. American
>staff competing for jobs. Usually when there is a recession. During boom
>times employers lobby the Feds to increase the H1-B VISA quotas.
>
>Patrice.
>
>
>
This is my take on it from experience I've had. There is a visa fee
that the sponsor pays - for us, as a non-profit, it is $130 if we don't
mind waiting for up to four months or $1130 with expedited processing -
the fees are higher for profit-making enterprises. That's really
insignificant for the most part. But, there is the process itself which
involves a fair amount of time and paperwork - you need to be prepared
for that and if you have no experience it will take significantly more
of your time or you'll end up hiring an attorney to take care of the
application. All this and the visa is not guaranteed to be issued; if
it isn't, you'll likely end up paying more attorney fees if you want to
appeal the decision. There is also a cap on the number of visa's that
are issued annually, but I don't really know if that is ever reached.
If all goes well, and the visa comes through, you also then need to keep
work logs (not sure if you need to file them) and, from what I
understand, if there are changes in employment status during the term of
the visa - like assigning the person to another job, you have to get
approval from the government.
Received on Wed Jul 16 2003 - 11:40:43 CDT
