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Comment by tlogan | Hacker News Reader

I'm not a lawyer and I would love the hear opinion about this. Do companies use L-1 visas to workaround H1B requirements?

As far as I understand L-1 visa (which is probably used here) has no prevailing wage requirement. They can even still be on payroll of Oracle in India (or whatever Oracle's entity in India is called).

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>I'm not a lawyer and I would love the hear opinion about this. Do companies use L-1 visas to workaround H1B requirements

Yes, often they come over under the veil of a 'temporary assignment' so they remain on foreign payroll. They can stay up to three years before having to renew/reapply. I worked for an immigration law firm and I saw wages as low as $15,000/year coming from South Korea to work at Fortune 500s.

This is a strategy used by Accenture's ATS division. Teams of 100+ engineers deployed in the US, being bused to hotels and given meal vouchers at night, while earning Indian wages.

THere's a huge secondary benefit (to the employee) for L-1s, though. Spouses pretty much automatically qualify for an L-2, which allows them to work at-will in the US, too. So, even if the L-1 worker is severely underpaid (based on prevailing wages in their home country), their spouse can apply for a job paid using the US salary standards. L-1 also allows for immediate Green Card application, and is a much smoother path toward permanent residency than H-1B.

I think this is fine if it actually is temporary. As they're getting general living costs on top of their regular salary.

ie accommodation and food

And are these 100+ engineer forced to accept that term? Or more likely they think it's a good deal for them (i.e. living in India earning Indian wage)?

This is not correct. I work on H1b and have tons of friends on L1 visa. When employee is transferred from India to US, they are supposed to get salary based on US County ( that's right, its COUNTY) they will be working in. Before coming to US ( or filing visa) lawyer is supposed to file LCA ( called Labor Condition Application) which mentions prevailing wages for that particular job title. If anyone is getting paid less than what is mentioned as LCA then its blatant violation of law. You can call USCIS/ICE helpline and within 24 hrs action will be taken and most likely employer will be fined severely.

Companies use the path of least resistance. (unless they like making life difficult for themselves)

If an L-1 is easier to get they will do that, if a TN is easier they will do that, etc, etc, etc. Immigration is highly particular to an individual case.

An L-1 currently requires working continuously for 1 year, for the same company in the original country. Has that always been the case?

From what I can see, it's been (for a while) that you needed to work 3 years for the current company, of which at least 1 of those years must have been in the original country of origin.

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