Employer threatening litigation for H1B Fees Recoupment

[shankar_Muthu]

Hi,

I am a H1B holder for several years and I got hired by another company and they did my H1B transfer. But my existing company gave me a better offer so I decided not to go with the new company. Now the new company is asking me to return the H1B fees which is around $7000. They are threatening to file a case against me if I do not pay. From different law firm posts I have confirmed that the employee is required to pay the entire H1B fees including lawyer fees and premium processing fees as I did not ask them to do premium processing, but can anyone advise what would happen if this actually went to court?

Is there is a link from USCIS or DOL that explicitly mentions the penalties or explicitly prohibits - asking the employer to pay H1B fees?

 

[JoeF]

The easiest thing for you is to file a complaint with DOL on form WH4.

Some of the rules are in 20CFR655.731.

 

Edited April 25, 2022 by JoeF

[JoeF]

In addition, this is the cost of doing business. They can deduct these costs from their taxes. They just want to double-dip, getting money from you in addition. You dodged a bullet by not starting there. They are frauds.

File a WH4. That may result in them being blacklisted which would be a good thing to get rid of these frauds.

Edited April 26, 2022 by JoeF

[Zodiac System]

The new employer trusted you and did all the work of filing your petition with the US Govt.

You may do what ever you like, take what ever action you want .... but remember you are burning bridges ....  

Edited April 27, 2022 by Zodiac System

[shankar_Muthu]

Thank you so much for the reply. I will just forward them this information…..

[JoeF]

On 4/27/2022 at 8:33 AM, Zodiac System said:

The new employer trusted you and did all the work of filing your petition with the US Govt.

You may do what ever you like, take what ever action you want .... but remember you are burning bridges ....  

That's the cost of doing business. A decent employer will not ask for reimbursement. And they can deduct this from their taxes, anyway. Only crappy employers ask for reimbursement. The OP should be happy to have avoided a bad employer.

[shankar_Muthu]

On 4/27/2022 at 9:33 AM, Zodiac System said:

The new employer trusted you and did all the work of filing your petition with the US Govt.

You may do what ever you like, take what ever action you want .... but remember you are burning bridges ....  

I totally agree that they trusted me but when I accepted their offer I was unaware that my existing company would give me a better offer. What am I expected to do reject a better offer ? Also, if the new company can do tax write offs, why are they asking me to pay them back and even threatening to take me to court, I do not have $7000 lying around to give away…

[JoeF]

On 4/30/2022 at 4:19 AM, shankar_Muthu said:

I totally agree that they trusted me but when I accepted their offer I was unaware that my existing company would give me a better offer. What am I expected to do reject a better offer ? Also, if the new company can do tax write offs, why are they asking me to pay them back and even threatening to take me to court, I do not have $7000 lying around to give away…

They can't do anything. Tell them that you will file a WH4, and if they still bother you add that to the WH4. The DOL will take care of that.