Need Help: Employer file H-1B, what is it required??? ---------------------------

[bigbulus5000]

Hello:

I work for a small company in CA in charge in human resource department. The company has been established since 1989 and only has 4 employees. We would like to hire an H-1B.

Questions:
1. Is the employer "required" to submit Income Tax Return and other financial resource documents? Do we submit this along when we filed the application or later when requested?

2. Is it possible to get the petition approved without submitting Income Tax Return?

3. we would like to know what BCIS/INS is specifically looking for "from our company/petitioner?" and how do we overcome those questions?

We are not trying to do a visa fraud here, but to be honest, the company I am working for is generating revenue, but you know it's a small business/company. They do take care the tax, etc., but the filing is messed up. My boss didn't keep complete records. If it is really required, we will have to do some more works to get those documents in complete. But again, if it is possible to file an H-1B petition and get approved without having submitting those documents, we won't need to do more works here.

 

[Jim Mills]

USCIS requires a "bona fide job offer" for an H-1B. USCIS interprets this to mean that they can ask for proof of the company's ability to pay the offered wage (it's difficult to have a bona fide job offer when the company does not have the ability to pay the employee) and the true existence and viability of the corporation. For new or small corporations USCIS normally asks for things like tax returns, bank statements, contracts, insurance policies, mortgages or leases, photos of the company office, payroll records, financial statements, articles of incorporation, and a certificate of good standing. I certainly would not submit all of the above unless the documents are readily available and you don't mid sending them. I'd send a document to prove that the company has the ability to pay the worker (the contract that the worker will be working on, a tax return, a financial statement, or something similar) and a copy of a certificate of good standing to show corporate existence, at the MOST. The problem that you may encounter however is what you will do if USCIS issues an RFE (Request for Addtional Evidence or Information) since some of these RFE's are very extensive and time consuming to respond to. It sounds as if you are attempting to proceed without an attorney and this can be a very big mistake in your situation. You could make a mistake and get a complex RFE or a denial, or, more likely, you could draw a complex RFE just due to the relatively small size of the corporation. If you go to an attorney with a complex RFE in hand, the attorney will need to calculate a fee based on the time required to respond to the RFE. The most complex RFEs that I have ever seen have taken me about 30 hours to respond to. You'd be looking at a very high bill. It may be cheaper for the company to start off with an attorney at a flat fee than to risk having to incur a $5000+ bill if things go wrong.

 

[mroncesvalles]

I am on an H1B with a small company but an old one (20 years). We are also only 4 employees. The H1B went smoothly without RFE and we did not submit any documentation regarding the company's finances and other things. However, for new and small company I think its necessary to provide these financial documents to show proof that the company is sound. It cost me $1500 as lawyer's fee.

 

[bigbulus5000]

Hello:

Thanks for your reply. Which BCIS office did you apply your petition? We are in CA.

You're so lucky. How did you do that? Our company is small company, but we are 17yrs old company and currently is in business.

Can you share some information like:
** what BCIS is really looking for?
I heard from few lawyers that it's hard to get an H-1B for small company. They advised to submit company's finances now than later when requested to avoid RFE, which is making sense.

However, some others said H-1B is easy. The one that is hard is getting a greencard petition. So, if the company has been in business more than 5yrs, it is not necessary to submit unless requested. The basic application requirement to apply for H-1B doesn't state that the company must submit financial docs.

If we submit:
To be honest, our company is roughly making gross sales around $550k/yr w/ $220k net profit, not mentioning the total liquid funds and assets that we have. Many lawyers agreed that this number should be enough and eligible to file a petittion.

However, I myself is somehow a bit skeptical. Well, not skeptical, but I just want to anticipate for the worst. I don't know if the number above is good enough with BCIS. I hope we could file this new employee w/o additional info and he still could be as lucky as you.

I also heard few cases that went smoothly as yours and again I hope we can also go that way.

This guy, the new employee is really great and fit into our company. We see that his experience might help the company's growth a lot. That's why I myself as part of the company would like to see the petition approved flawlessly.

So, what do you think
1. the pros and cons. of submitting the financial info.? and what's best for this guy?
2. can you give me reference which lawyer handled your case?

i think BCIS should be able to talk with IRS, don't they? if they want to check our credibility?

Thanks a lot, I really appreciate your time.