Urgent- Employer gone underground!

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Rina2006

New Member
I am employed by a small company mainly consisting of H1B employees. The day after the July bulletin was published, my employer became untraceable. Neither he nor his office staff answer emails nor return telephone messages. I think that he wants to delay filing the 485 so that once the numbers become unavailable, he can continue benefiting from the H1B employees stuck with him. Please advice! Any help is appreciated. Is there anything legal I can do?(EB3, Jan 2004). Since most of the consultants work offsite, I am not familiar with other employees who may have the same issue.
Thanks,
Rina
 
Rina2006 said:
I am employed by a small company mainly consisting of H1B employees. The day after the July bulletin was published, my employer became untraceable. Neither he nor his office staff answer emails nor return telephone messages. I think that he wants to delay filing the 485 so that once the numbers become unavailable, he can continue benefiting from the H1B employees stuck with him. Please advice! Any help is appreciated. Is there anything legal I can do?(EB3, Jan 2004). Since most of the consultants work offsite, I am not familiar with other employees who may have the same issue.
Thanks,
Rina
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do you have I-140 filing reciept or I-140 approval notice copy?? where is that employer NJ? PM me
 
LOL.

Rina2006 said:
I am employed by a small company mainly consisting of H1B employees. The day after the July bulletin was published, my employer became untraceable. Neither he nor his office staff answer emails nor return telephone messages. I think that he wants to delay filing the 485 so that once the numbers become unavailable, he can continue benefiting from the H1B employees stuck with him. Please advice! Any help is appreciated. Is there anything legal I can do?(EB3, Jan 2004). Since most of the consultants work offsite, I am not familiar with other employees who may have the same issue.
Thanks,
Rina
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I do not think it is funny!!
I know many folks are in the same boat. One of my good friends is being forced to sign some kind agreement or legal obligation etc with his employer that he is supposed to stick with the company for at least two years. He doesn't seem to have a choice now as time is very limited.

Every one knows that desi run consulting companies run primarily on H1B employees and how they exploit employees on non-immigrant visas. Also it is not a secret that any citizen or GC holder with right mind doesn't prefer to work for such a company. The fact that almost every H1B holder who has at least PERM/labor approved can potentially file for GC, get a work permit and easily leave the company using AC-21 in as soon as 6 months - it may be an end to their business unless they can replace with new H1Bs. Even H1Bs are tricky due lotter system, difficulty in finding people from here or India, finding projects for them etc.

I hope not every one is as cruel as Rina2006 is reporting. I am not sure you can go for any legal action as employment based GC immigration petition is filed by the employer. You can try to get your friend to visit the company office and see if they are simply ignoring the calls even being present at office.



mogambo2495 said:
LOL.
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If it makes anyone feel any better, I work for a large US corporation, and they pay all (I mean, ALL) of my H1b and GC fees and lawyer charges.

In my last move, my HR asked me to sign off on a statement that said I will stick with the company 2 years after getting GC in my hands. If I chose to leave before hand, I will pay for my processing. With the big NY law-firm working on all immigration cases for my employer, charges could be >20k$.

Don't know if a single piece of paper holds good in court or not, but I plan to stick to my company for more than 2 years. They have been very fair with all employees so far, and I do not believe they have misused immigration status in any manner. Hell .. it's been 7 years I have worked for them in different positions, a few more years can not hurt :)

Take care.
(I did not think it was funny as well)
 
I didn't mean every company.. but what you are saying seems to be fair.. when company pays for all expenses expect to have 'mutual' benefit.. i.e., stay or repay the expenses. This is kind of typical. I heard some companies ask the employee to pay for his/her H1B expenses initially, but return if the employee stays with the company for at least an year.

The case I was referring to is different, he is paying every single penny for his GC processing and still forced to sign the agreement to stick for 2 years.

My company (not consulting) pays for part of H1B expenses, but we have to pay all GC expenses as according to our company/CFO GC is not to their benefit and additional expense is not justifiable. And, we have no obligation to stick with the company. I think this is more common scenario..

Ooz said:
If it makes anyone feel any better, I work for a large US corporation, and they pay all (I mean, ALL) of my H1b and GC fees and lawyer charges.

In my last move, my HR asked me to sign off on a statement that said I will stick with the company 2 years after getting GC in my hands. If I chose to leave before hand, I will pay for my processing. With the big NY law-firm working on all immigration cases for my employer, charges could be >20k$.

Don't know if a single piece of paper holds good in court or not, but I plan to stick to my company for more than 2 years. They have been very fair with all employees so far, and I do not believe they have misused immigration status in any manner. Hell .. it's been 7 years I have worked for them in different positions, a few more years can not hurt :)

Take care.
(I did not think it was funny as well)
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Thank you all for the responses. I do not have the copy of I-140 unfortunately.
I have paid out of pocket for the entire GC process. My employer is located in Illinois. If I file for labor asap through another company, do you think I stand a chance to file I-140 and 485 concurrently before the dates become unavailable? Thanks,
Rina
 
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I feel very sorry about your situation. If you know the law firm which is working on your case, please call them and ask them to send the copy of I-140 without providing any details on why you need.

FYI.....I have every thing collected from law office. This includes copies of my labor certifications, Original of I-140 and all related documents.

Another thing, is you may call some reputed firms like Rajiv Khanna and take some advise. Generally they give the initial advise at free of cost.

I was having some issues with my first employer when I came to US. He did not send even my W2s. I called IRS and reported the issue and sent an email to him stating the same. As usual the W2s came on priority mail.

I know, lot of desi companies exploit the situations.

Hope your problems will be resolved very shortly.

Good luck.

SRK
 
Hi everone!! I am a new in this forum but I just found out that the lawyer that represents me is also representing my ex-employer. He told me that there is a problem in my W2 form from my ex employer that I was not paid according the prevailing wage and he wants me to get a new lawyer but I have paid him to file I-485. Should I get a new lawyer now or let him file the I-485 and get the new lawyer when the issue comes up? Thank for the advice.
 
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duncanidaho said:
Rina2006,
If your 140 is approved, you can file the 485 yourself. You don't need your employers help.
--one needs the I-140 filing reciept or I-140 approval copy. how the USCIS will know if the I-140 is approved? you need also employer job offer letter to attach with I-485
As long as your employer doesn't do anything to sabotage the 140, you are good to go.
Yes, you will need to shell out some money, but maybe this is a worthwhile investment?
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one need to have I-140 filing reciept copy or I-140 approval notice OR I-140 Reciept # so that you check the online status and take the printout and attach with I-485(it may work if lawyer is good and write on cover letter)
 
Look into your H1b extentions

Rina2006 said:
Thank you all for the responses. I do not have the copy of I-140 unfortunately.
I have paid out of pocket for the entire GC process. My employer is located in Illinois. If I file for labor asap through another company, do you think I stand a chance to file I-140 and 485 concurrently before the dates become unavailable? Thanks,
Rina
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if you recently filed for 7th year H1b extns based on an approved I-140, it will be in H-1B approval package.. I got all the reciepts excpet labor when my company forwarded me the H1B package after approval.
 
I am also in the same situation, I can't get intouch with my employer, he is also based in illnois, anyways I have the i140 approval notice so I am wondering if I can file without the employer letter, will it be rejected?
 
Rina I am in the same situation as you are in. My desi consulting company does not want to apply for 485. Guys, I might have an approval copy of I-140 but for 485 we do need an employer offer letter, correct? How do we get that now????????
 
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