10 yrs exp, $60K salary offered for H1, petition approved, stamping concerns?

[akthecurious]

Hello,

I work for a small yet growing company, we started in 2013 and I was the first employee to start India technology arm. The H1 petition filed last year got approved a month back and we have received I-797. What concerns me is the fact that the salary put on the form I 129S was $60k (it was never discussed with me while filing, and the company being small, this much they could afford). And the work location is going to santa clara which is super expensive. My question is that will it be of too much concern during the stamping process?

My employer is saying that they would certainly pay me higher in actual, since we did well in 2015. It would be around $75k, and he could provide an offer letter with that amount. But is it convincing enough to have different salaries on I129S vs the offer letter?

Thanks in advance!

[raghvi]

Hello,

I work for a small yet growing company, we started in 2013 and I was the first employee to start India technology arm. The H1 petition filed last year got approved a month back and we have received I-797. What concerns me is the fact that the salary put on the form I 129S was $60k (it was never discussed with me while filing, and the company being small, this much they could afford). And the work location is going to santa clara which is super expensive. My question is that will it be of too much concern during the stamping process?

My employer is saying that they would certainly pay me higher in actual, since we did well in 2015. It would be around $75k, and he could provide an offer letter with that amount. But is it convincing enough to have different salaries on I129S vs the offer letter?

Thanks in advance!

60K may be the minimum salary as per designation/job role at that location. As long as they have a valid LCA it should be fine from an interview perspective. As for cost of living and your ability to survive on that salary, you would have to do more research about the same for the specific location. My opinion, 60K does seem very low for that location.

This is my opinion not legal advice.

[akthecurious]

60K may be the minimum salary as per designation/job role at that location. As long as they have a valid LCA it should be fine from an interview perspective. As for cost of living and your ability to survive on that salary, you would have to do more research about the same for the specific location. My opinion, 60K does seem very low for that location.

This is my opinion not legal advice.

Thank you Raghavi. My only concern is that the consular officer might correlate my work experience to the salary offered. And if the LCA was filed for entry level position, I will have to justify that at 10 yrs of exp an going for an entry level position. As I understand the filing says "Computer Programmer".

On top of this, I will be going to the interview with my family - wife and kid. More to add to worries.

So the question - If the offer letter provided to me does say $75k, would that carry any importance? That seems to be good enough salary to survive in the bay area.