great guru said:
If your employer wants you continue to work under H1, they have to make all the arrangements to get your H1 extended. (Includes paying necessary fees to INS & Attorney). If it comes to money, not many employers bother whether it is legal? but it is not legal asking money from employee to pay attorney.
I know they have to pay for your ticket home if they fire you lets say on the H-1B, I would never work for a company who would not pay for an H-1B. But where does it say they have to pay for everything if they don't want too??
I found
Before filing the H1B Petition with the USCIS, the following conditions must be met:
1. The employer must first file a "labor condition application" with the U.S. Department of Labor in the region where the alien will work. The employer must attest to certain wage and working conditions.
2. The employer must give notice of the proposed action to the relevant collective bargaining unit or post a notice in a conspicuous location so other employees can see it.
3. The employer must pay the return transportation costs if the employee is dismissed.
4. The employer must keep certain records.
There is a complaint process in which the employer's proposed wages or working conditions for the alien can be contested resulting in various employer liabilities.
It is illegal to require an H1B employee to pay a penalty for leaving the employer. However, it is permissible to require an employee to reimburse the employer for actual expenditures.
The law also imposes an additional fee for each H1B petition, which became effective December 1, 1998, to be used to fund scholarship and training programs for U.S. workers as well as the U.S. Department of Labor expenditures. Colleges, universities, and non-profit research organizations are not required to pay this fee. The fee applies to new petitions, first petition for extension, and petitions for new or concurrent employment. It is not required for amendments that do not request extensions. It is illegal to require the employee to reimburse the employer for this fee. The law also states that the employer will be subject to a penalty if the H1B beneficiary pays the fee.
The employer must attest that it will pay "no less than the greater of the following:”
1. The actual wage level paid to all other individuals at the worksite with similar experience and qualifications for the position in question; OR
2. The prevailing wage for the occupational classification in the area of intended employment.
In any of these wage determination situations, the employer will need to keep on file for inspection the documentation upon which the company relied to determine the wage to be paid. The LCA can be filed no earlier than six months before the beginning date of the period of employment, as indicated on the LCA.
The LCA is valid for a maximum period of three years. This means that the validity period of an LCA may not exceed the validity period of an H1B petition, which is also three years.
