Hello,
I am a over 21, i-130 approved person (who's priority date is about to be current) that enters the US in a regular basis. Since I currently have a B1/B2 visa, that has allowed me to enter the US in a business visa, have customers (I'm a software developer) and get paid via paypal while being outside the US.
Lately, I've been having a customer that has been terrible. We agreed on me developing a solution for him and never signed a contract, just shook hands and accepted the deal through emails (I have worked like this with most of my customers). This customer was supposed to provide a programmer for a specific part of the project and all he did was, hire incompetent people that made me do the work that they were supposed to do.
The problems started because of two things, one: the other programmer's job is in an area where I am not proficient therefore, my work wasn't as good as it would be and two: I made the mistake of working on it (to please the customer) instead of demanding a good programmer and not being clear on what were the reasons that kept me from finishing.
I told him in at least a 100 emails that I wasn't that kind of programmer and that my results couldn't be good because of the learning curve and all that, he just demanded everything to be finished and I kept working because he warned me of getting sued.
Because of all this, the project has taken me much much more than expected and to this date, it's not finished yet (we are about 50%). I can't have another job or work for someone else because of this and the stress is killing. He is always saying that he will persue legal actions if I don't finish the project. I don't even have money to go back to the US to hire an attorney because of this terrible experience. I even had a nervous attack and spent two days in the hospital!
We had an agreement at first for the whole project and I told him that once the other programmer wasn't provided, the deal was off. After a lot of fights, I told him that I would need a weekly payment if he wanted me to work (I had no money, what he had paid me was not enough for me to survive) and after arguing for days, he accepted. I literally wrote him an email saying: "Even if I am the worst programmer, if you want me to work for you, I will need to get paid every week to cover my personal expenses" and he responded that email saying "OK, let's do that"... I have copies of all that.
After one week, I billed him and he refused to pay me because everything wasn't finished and the fights begun again. Last time I got paid was January and that payment was a third of what I billed him, since then I haven't gotten paid (over two months now). I stopped working and he started warning me all the time that I need to finish everything to get paid (I have that email stating that I would get paid weekly) and I don't know what to do now.
He is blaming me of all the terrible decisions he did as a project manager and he is taking advantage of my situation. I even brought two friends to work for him (that were pretty good on the other area) and they literally ran away from him because he is always demanding in a way that can't be handled by normal people.
I tried to get off the project by making any kind of excuse or just by not answering any emails but just he kept calling and writting me. He even found my mother's address (she lives in the US) and calls her and visits her when I don't answer his emails to the point of harassment asking her for me or where I am by hundreds of times and this is way beyond anything acceptable. Even if I am the worst person in the world, I don't think harassing my mother is even cosidered legal.
He knows that I have a pending immigration status and he takes advantage of this by demanding and demanding. I am desperate to cut this. I even offered help whoever comes to replace me (i have proof that I have helped a lot of people he has hired) and that is not enough.
now, I have this questions:
- can he sue me while I am out of the country? how could I defend myself? who can I contact?
- would getting sued affect my immigration status? my priority date is about to be current and I have been waiting 5 long years for this it would be awful to be affected now!
- what if I just ignore him and tell my mother to call the police if he calls her or visits her?
Thanks a lot for your help
vj
I am a over 21, i-130 approved person (who's priority date is about to be current) that enters the US in a regular basis. Since I currently have a B1/B2 visa, that has allowed me to enter the US in a business visa, have customers (I'm a software developer) and get paid via paypal while being outside the US.
Lately, I've been having a customer that has been terrible. We agreed on me developing a solution for him and never signed a contract, just shook hands and accepted the deal through emails (I have worked like this with most of my customers). This customer was supposed to provide a programmer for a specific part of the project and all he did was, hire incompetent people that made me do the work that they were supposed to do.
The problems started because of two things, one: the other programmer's job is in an area where I am not proficient therefore, my work wasn't as good as it would be and two: I made the mistake of working on it (to please the customer) instead of demanding a good programmer and not being clear on what were the reasons that kept me from finishing.
I told him in at least a 100 emails that I wasn't that kind of programmer and that my results couldn't be good because of the learning curve and all that, he just demanded everything to be finished and I kept working because he warned me of getting sued.
Because of all this, the project has taken me much much more than expected and to this date, it's not finished yet (we are about 50%). I can't have another job or work for someone else because of this and the stress is killing. He is always saying that he will persue legal actions if I don't finish the project. I don't even have money to go back to the US to hire an attorney because of this terrible experience. I even had a nervous attack and spent two days in the hospital!
We had an agreement at first for the whole project and I told him that once the other programmer wasn't provided, the deal was off. After a lot of fights, I told him that I would need a weekly payment if he wanted me to work (I had no money, what he had paid me was not enough for me to survive) and after arguing for days, he accepted. I literally wrote him an email saying: "Even if I am the worst programmer, if you want me to work for you, I will need to get paid every week to cover my personal expenses" and he responded that email saying "OK, let's do that"... I have copies of all that.
After one week, I billed him and he refused to pay me because everything wasn't finished and the fights begun again. Last time I got paid was January and that payment was a third of what I billed him, since then I haven't gotten paid (over two months now). I stopped working and he started warning me all the time that I need to finish everything to get paid (I have that email stating that I would get paid weekly) and I don't know what to do now.
He is blaming me of all the terrible decisions he did as a project manager and he is taking advantage of my situation. I even brought two friends to work for him (that were pretty good on the other area) and they literally ran away from him because he is always demanding in a way that can't be handled by normal people.
I tried to get off the project by making any kind of excuse or just by not answering any emails but just he kept calling and writting me. He even found my mother's address (she lives in the US) and calls her and visits her when I don't answer his emails to the point of harassment asking her for me or where I am by hundreds of times and this is way beyond anything acceptable. Even if I am the worst person in the world, I don't think harassing my mother is even cosidered legal.
He knows that I have a pending immigration status and he takes advantage of this by demanding and demanding. I am desperate to cut this. I even offered help whoever comes to replace me (i have proof that I have helped a lot of people he has hired) and that is not enough.
now, I have this questions:
- can he sue me while I am out of the country? how could I defend myself? who can I contact?
- would getting sued affect my immigration status? my priority date is about to be current and I have been waiting 5 long years for this it would be awful to be affected now!
- what if I just ignore him and tell my mother to call the police if he calls her or visits her?
Thanks a lot for your help
vj