Non-IT consulting - Questions/concerns about H1B visa interview

[Laconic]

Thank you for reading this rather long post.

I work for a medium-sized (200-250 employees) company that provides engineering services to Oil and Gas companies. I joined this company in 2005 on OPT and have been with them on H1B since 2006. In mid-2007, my company was approached by a leading O&G company to help identify and solve problems with equipment (and suppliers) that were causing significant downtime/cost during operations. I was one of the two engineers assigned to this project. We moved to the client’s office (in the same town) and have been here ever since. We stopped receiving any direct day-to-day supervision from the employer once we moved to the client’s office. While there was significant and frequent communication between my employer and me at the start of the project (2007-08), this communication has now petered out as the client and my company have gained confidence in my ability to do this work. My supervisor at my company continues to review/approve my time sheets, vacation requests, etc. and conducts my annual performance appraisals. However, he neither assigns me work nor reviews the deliverables. I also have a supervisor from the client’s side but I receive the same type/level of supervision from him as I do from my company’s supervisor. My employer retains the ability to reassign me to different project(s) and terminate my employment, and provides customary benefits such as 401K, medical/dental and life insurance, etc.

I received H1B visas in early 2007 (before the project) and in August 2009 without any issues. My wife received a H4 visa in November 2009. The petition for my H1B extension based on an approved I-140 was recently approved for three years. I am planning to appear for my H1B visa interview at Mumbai consulate in December 2012 or January 2013 and have concerns about employer-employee relationship.

1. I am planning to carry my time sheets, invoices from my employer to my client for my work, and a copy of the contract between my employer and the client for my work. Will these suffice?
   
2. Should I obtain a letter from the client to document my roles/responsibilities, the start and end dates of the contract for my work, and (if appropriate) the possibility of extension of this contract?
   
3. Do I need to obtain this letter from the client’s HR or should an email from my supervisor at client side suffice?
   
4. Should I try to establish more formal interaction points between me and my supervisor/employer to demonstrate/solidify this employer-employee relationship? Such as daily before and after-work emails containing lists of planned and completed activities for each work day.
   
5. Any other suggestions?
   

I have sent an email (of similar length) to my company's immigration attorney and HR manager, but wanted to get

Thanks again

[Laconic]

- any feedback from the forum..

[catx]

I am in a quite similar position, as a consultant providing engineering related services to a major oil & gas company client for the past 7 years (on H1-B for 5 years, PERM labor certification and I-140 approved, EB-3). Most of the things you mentioned apply to my situation as well (work at the client's office, client provides day-to-day tasks, directly submit deliverables to the client, regular salary and customary benefits are directly from my employer, re-assignment by my employer, etc.) and I have not had a problem demonstrating employer-employee relationship (albeit my home country and citizenship is not India).

Two possible differences I may have are (i) weekly status conference call with my employer department (including my manager) where there is a review of upcoming projects / clients and all the consultants take a few minutes to review their work (past week, upcoming week look ahead), and (ii) an employer provided computer on their network for e-mail, internal web meetings, etc. as well as a client provided computer on their network for day-to-day work. (P.S. I hate traveling through airports with 2 computers.)

Your employer's immigration attorney and HR manager are the correct people to consult.

[pontevecchio]

I suspect your situation is different. You should have no trouble with any of the stupid questions other visa applicants are being asked. It is the companies problem and they will take care of whatever is needed.

[Laconic]

Catx and Pontevecchio – Thank you for your replies.

Catx – Did you demonstrate employer-employee relationship (in H1B petition or visa interview) or were you never required to do so?

I also have a laptop issued by my employer and sometimes use it to run simulations/calculations.

The attorney clearly mentioned in my latest H1B petition (form I-129) that I will be working off-site, but did not provide any evidence to establish employer-employee relationship. The petition was approved without any RFE.

I will update the forum once I hear back from the attorney.

Thanks again.

[catx]

Catx and Pontevecchio – Thank you for your replies.

Catx – Did you demonstrate employer-employee relationship (in H1B petition or visa interview) or were you never required to do so?

I have not had to specifically demonstrate the employer-employee relationship (not that it would be hard to do).

My H-1B petitions (original and extension, which was in 2010), along with my PERM labor certification application and I-140 petition, have been 100% handled by my employer's internal immigration administrator (paralegal) and (external) immigration attorney. I have only needed to provide information and documentation as requested, such as completing an initial questionnaire from the attorney, university and college transcripts, letters from previous employers certifying employment period and job responsibilities, copies of passports, copies of USCIS documents (e.g. I-797s and I-94s), and my signature as required (e.g. on the PERM labor certification application). In other words, the basic required information and documentation. (A couple notes: My family’s H-4 visas are included 100%. My employer’s immigration administrator and attorney mainly handle foreign work visas for employees going abroad for short-term periods (2-4 weeks typically) to work on-site on projects.)

Regarding visa interviews, I do not need to do these at an U.S. consulate or embassy. (Note: My country of birth / citizenship (which is not India) does not require a visa interview other than a document inspection at a port of entry.) I have only needed to travel in and out of the U.S. (typically overnight) to get a visa stamp in my passport and an associated attached I-94 card at a PoE (i.e. fly out of the U.S., rent a car, drive back to the PoE, get my passport stamped and associated I-94 card, drive back to the airport leaving the U.S., fly back to the U.S. going back through a PoE with my updated passport and I-94.) These trips in and out of the U.S. for passport visa stamping have been 100% paid for by my employer as well.

[pontevecchio]

Basically Canadian Citizens do not need visas to enter the USA. They get their I94 at the border. Usually this is the scenario.