COS from L1B to H1B quitting job

[sreesand]

Dear All, this could be repeated question but please don't neglect.. I am in a dilemma and need to take a decision as soon as possible. Currently I am working with company-A with L1-B visa. They signed an agreement with me in India for notice period and job contract etc. Now I am planning to apply for H1-B and to join company-B.

1. I heard that with COS from L1 to H1, once my H1B is approved, immediately I have to quit company-A. Is it true?

2. In that case, if I ask company-A to give experience letter and other formal relieving documents, will they give or are they supposed to give even if I am not giving any notice period?(If I don't have time to wait as COS asks me to quit my job as soon as possible)

Kindly someone help me with answers as soon as possible..

[rinfloydz2014]

L1B to H1B

Yes.

I believe if your new H1B becomes active you have to join your new company. I dont know the repercussions of not joining. The usual practice is to give a notice period of one month.
Your old company might also ask you to pay a amount since you are quitting in the US. The amount may vary and may depend on what legal documents you signed when coming to the US. It could be around USD 10,000

[sreesand]

Yes.

I believe if your new H1B becomes active you have to join your new company. I dont know the repercussions of not joining. The usual practice is to give a notice period of one month.
Your old company might also ask you to pay a amount since you are quitting in the US. The amount may vary and may depend on what legal documents you signed when coming to the US. It could be around USD 10,000

Hi, Thanks for the response. But anyway I heard that I will be No longer able to work in L1-B from the day-1 of my H1-B petition approval. I'd like someone to confirm if this is true please.

Also is there any idea that my current company can legally charge me in USA with a legal bond signed in India? Also are they really responsible to give me experience letter if I asked for the same?

Thanks in advance.

[raghvi]

If you apply H1 as a COS (Change of Status) from L1 then indirectly you and your H1 employer are telling USCIS that you would be on H1 status from the H1 start date. Which means you have to work for and get paid only by the H1 employer. Also, H1 employer in turn may ask you to sign legal papers which might have some penalty clauses in case you dont join them, after all, they would be spending a substantial amount for the whole process. If you sign those while in US, yes, you would be bound by the conditions there in.

As for employment contract with L1 employer, it doesn't matter if you signed them outside US they can still be legally enforced (most have a separate contract signed for US deputation). Based on the contract they can also possibly recover the costs from your final settlement, and aren't bound on giving you the relieving letter if you exited without fulfilling your part of the contract.

As for experience letters for future purposes, I do believe signed documents from your colleagues.co-workers works during GC processing. The same may not work if at all you seek employment back in your home country. So I would advise doing proper due diligence before jumping into it.

This is my opinion not legal advice.

[sreesand]

If you apply H1 as a COS (Change of Status) from L1 then indirectly you and your H1 employer are telling USCIS that you would be on H1 status from the H1 start date. Which means you have to work for and get paid only by the H1 employer. Also, H1 employer in turn may ask you to sign legal papers which might have some penalty clauses in case you dont join them, after all, they would be spending a substantial amount for the whole process. If you sign those while in US, yes, you would be bound by the conditions there in.

As for employment contract with L1 employer, it doesn't matter if you signed them outside US they can still be legally enforced (most have a separate contract signed for US deputation). Based on the contract they can also possibly recover the costs from your final settlement, and aren't bound on giving you the relieving letter if you exited without fulfilling your part of the contract.

As for experience letters for future purposes, I do believe signed documents from your colleagues.co-workers works during GC processing. The same may not work if at all you seek employment back in your home country. So I would advise doing proper due diligence before jumping into it.

This is my opinion not legal advice.

Thanks a lot for the clarification. So as I understood, there can be L1-H1 with COS for which I have to work on H1 from the start date itself and L1-H1 without COS by which I may get more time to join H1 employer? Am I right? Thanks in advance.

[raghvi]

Thanks a lot for the clarification. So as I understood, there can be L1-H1 with COS for which I have to work on H1 from the start date itself and L1-H1 without COS by which I may get more time to join H1 employer? Am I right? Thanks in advance.

Yes, but in the second case (when you dont process H1 as a COS) you would have to file another COS later on to move to H1. Generally companies dont agree to process a non COS application as that indirectly means that you wouldn't be joining them anytime soon.

This is my opinion not legal advice.