Tag Archives: l-1

H1B Visa Fraud – What Immigrants Should Look Out For

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Because of the current economic situation, legal immigrants have now become the target for a lot of anger from politicians to the average citizen nad are being targeted in many ways.

The Seattle Times and many other news organization have being reporting on the H1B visa fraud that has been rife whereby companies mainly in the IT sector have been illegally employing immigrants under the terms of the H1B visa.

Without going into to many details, simply put, the rules of this visa state you must be;
– gainfully employed by your approved employer
– working only on approved job sites for extended periods
– paid the prevailing wage for your profession and location
– be a full employee and some sort of contractor or consultant paid for specific projects
– be treated as any other employee under all relevant labor laws

Essentially these firms that have been engaging in this visa fraud for years, have been violating many and sometimes all of the  above requirements.

One of the most common is “benching” employees and treating them as contractors and only paying them when they are on a specific project. Then often taking a portion of the salary as some sort of agency fee and threatening deportation and bad conditions to employees who dare to complain.

A trick they often engage in is to force employees to sign documents to say they have ill for long periods and unable to work to legally get around the fact they have to continue to pay them the salary stated in the initial visa petition.

Now in some cases also, applicants and immigrant employees have also being engaging in fraud by forging credentials, degrees, etc. but usually that is in full cooperation with a company who is well aware this is the case as ultimately a company should always know whom they are employing and what their background is.

Like with Ellis Island 100-150 years ago and following World War 1 and World War 2, waves of immigrants do want to begin a new life in the US and give the best to their families. However today it is much of corporate America that is screwing these International workers and at the same time their American counterparts by becoming involved in this conduct.

US workers are angry that they are losing jobs to immigrant workers and are angry that they are being laid off while immigrants are retaining their jobs. You can understand this type of anger and definitely sympathize with it.

However when elements of the media and especially members of all levels of government engage in spreading falsehoods and a “blame the immigrant” mentality to cover up their own crappy performance and policies, that is when you get mad!

This sort of public spin has of course gone on for hundreds of years towards the Irish, the Greeks and Italians, the Hispanics and now the educated Asians but in the end it is all these groups of people and numerous other groups that make the USA what it is.

A company like Google would not exist if it wasn’t for this same immigrant story and think how many Americans it employs all across the country let alone the immigrants which intern has create a whole industry which further employs people and so the cycle continues.

I came across a site called Immigrant Voice which is another site along with this one trying to help people on H-1B visas and all the others like E-3, L-1, F-1, J-1, etc. fight their battles in an already tough environment.

So please share you story here so we can all learn..

CJ

Health Insurance 101 while working on a US Visa

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So most people have probably heard scary stories about the US Health system and/or seen Michael Moore’s documentary Sicko and have a lot pre conceived notions about the US Health System.
Look Michael Moore did focus on the absolute worst types of cases to get his message across but the genesis core of his message is true.

The US Health System is first and foremost a business and secondary a process for caring for people!

So while there a few exceptions, most processes follow that rule and also is why the corporate players in this industry make a lot of money  (i.e. owners of clinics, pharmaceutical executives, owners of pharmacies, etc.).

As foreigners (or non=immigrants as we are classified) on a working visa like H-1B, L-1, E-3, etc. or other types of visa like J-1 we also have an additional set of things we need to be wary of when living in the US. Some states like Massachussets make health insurance mandatory either via the employer or paying yourself.

For the true working visas; H-1B, L-1, E-3, etc. there is no specific requirement that you have health insurance. In most cases you will be with employer who either mostly or fully pay your monthly premiums on your behalf for medical, prescription, dental and vision insurance. At the corporate negotiated rates this probably amounts to hundreds of dollars a month (probably minimum $350-$400/month for all three).

There is no public health system in the US…Repeat….There is no public health system in the US

So If your employer does not provide you with private health insurance and you don’t take it out yourself, you are not covered for anything in any situation. Should you choose to visit a doctor for a general check up at the casual rate, your bill can run into the hundreds of dollars!

While I will give you further tips in another post, even if you have health insurance, the insurers are looking to deny you coverage at any possible opportunity so don’t assume automatically they will pay for your visit. Like I said it is a business firstly!

So stay tuned in the future as I will tell you how to frame doctor visits and write letters to insurance companies to appeal their ridiculous judgments.

For the J-1 visa holders, your health insurance is mandatory in most cases and either via your sponsor organization or an approved insurer you will need to pay for a travel type insurance policy. (occasionally some interns will have nice employers that provide them full insurance but this is rare).

This travel policy generally is designed to cover only the basics when you are truly sick or hurt performing general activities. It is not for general check ups, issues with sexuality/pregnancy, usually only emergency minimal dental, no optical coverage, no alternative care or chiropractic, etc.

Depending on your policy for all visa holders , you will also have to pay what is known as a co-pay (co-payment) for your doctor visits and this ranges mostly between $0-50 depending on your plan. So often even with full coverage insurance that applies to your visit you will still have to pay money! This increases even more if you are talking about hospital visits and surgeries.

I know this post sounds like all doom and gloom…well it is for a large proportion of US citizens as well but I will do my best in my posts to help you navigate through the mess! 🙂

CJ