How to identify Prime Vendors vs 3rd Party consultants

[nchhabria]

I am on L1 status and almost finalized to file for H1B with a new employer next week. This is a consultancy firm and they claim to be the prime vendors and / or have direct clients to work with.

I have heard bad stories that when people go to India for any reason, they face problems with stamping, where cases either go on hold or even rejected in cases where there is no direct client relationship or a 3rd party works for a prime vendor who has a contract with client.

So my question is how should we verify if the consultancy firm has a direct relationship with the client or is a prime vendor so that we dont face issues during visa stamping. Are there any docs that we should ask for or any contracts that we should see before filing the visa ?

Thanks in advance.

[JoeF]

It is best to avoid consulting companies altogether. You can't verify if they are a primary vendor.

Find an employer who has their own products.

[justcheck.2006]

Well if you can, do as @JoeF suggested and look for a product company. My best wishes for that!

However, from what I've seen in enterprise application development they mostly hire consultants or contractors. At 3 places that I've worked they have hiring freeze for IT employees with the basic reason that they save on training, tech upgrade cost etc. etc. But I also know of at least one company that takes people in as consultant and then based on their 2 year performance decides to include them in their workforce.

As about finding what kind of company it is, go visit their offices and ask your recruiter if you can talk to somebody already placed at a client location. Also you should weigh on the benefits that the company provides like do they reimburse you for costs incurred during an interview; if you have to drive to a place a day before for the client interview does the company provide for your stay; do they give you relocation assistance etc. These should give you a better idea about the company.

For what's its worth, it's not like all consulting employees' visa stamping is refused. I know people in my consulting company, went to India last year and got the visa stamped. Although, I agree the merits can be argued to death.

[wiweq]

As employee is not supposed to tell lie on résumé, similarly, an employer shouldn't tell lie too about work location and layers. Ask them in writing, send them email. Start like, just wanted to make sure.....