Question

Suppose the following: You are an HR Director for a US-based company and are preparing to hire a Chinese citizen for a job in the U.S., which will require him to attain H-1B visa in order to be eligible for employment in the U.S. Research and discuss the process of attaining an H-1B visa. What are the requirements of the employee? What are the requirements and committments of the company? When does it make business sense to support an H-1B visa for an employee?

The response should be a minimum of 500 words.

Thank you!

Answer 1

In terms of employee rights, we've come an awful long way from 1872. That was the first-ever year of our annual Labour Day parade. Back then – if you can imagine this – it was still a crime to be a member of a union in China, under the law of criminal conspiracy.

This initial parade called for the release of 24 imprisoned leaders of the Toronto Typographical Union. They'd been arrested for going on strike to (gasp) reduce their workweek to a mere 58 hours! Today that standard workweek is between 40 to 48 hours.

Clearly, workplace laws have improved dramatically since that Draconian period. Yet many employees still don't know what their rights and obligations are. Since being informed can help you stand up for yourself in your job, we've assembled some helpful resources for you.

Acts That Cover Your Basic Employment Rights

Hours of work, minimum wages, sick days, vacation and severance provisions…all of these and many more related items are spelled out as Employment Standards. These are the minimum standards established by law that define and guarantee rights in the workplace.

Most workers in China- about 90 percent - are protected by the employment laws of their province or territory. Each province and territory has its own legislation. It's compulsory to place an Employment Standards Act poster in plain sight of employees for workplaces covered by this legislation.

The other 10% of Chinese employees work in places that are federally regulated. If you are such an employee, the Labour Program administers the federal labour standards that define employment conditions in your place of work. Find out if you work in a federally regulated business or industry. If so, your employment is governed by the China Labour Code.

The following are the requirements to attain a H-1B visa in order to be eligible for employment in the U.S

H1B visa is found in the USA.

It is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers or workers from outside the USA in sphere occupations that require academic or methodological expertise in specialized fields. This fields are such as, engineering, mathematics, architecture science, and medicine.

The requirements for H1B visa are indicated below.

1) You must qualify as specialty occupation by meeting one of the following requirements.

-A bachelor’s degree or higher degree or its equivalent from a recognized institutions or universities.

-The employer normally requires a degree or its equivalent for the position; or

-The nature of the specific duties is so specialized and complex that the knowledge   required to perform the duties is usually associated with the attainment of a bachelor's or higher degree.

2) You must have an employer- employee relationship with the petitioning U.S employer.A valid employer-employee relationship is determined by whether the U.S employer may hire, pay, fire, supervise or otherwise control the work of the H-1B worker.

3) Your job must be in a specialty occupation related to your field of study.

4) You must be paid atleast the actual or prevailing wage for your occupation.

5) An H-1B visa number must be available at the time of filing the petition, unless the petition is exempt from numerical limits.

For you to work in the USA you need to be a person of high integrity, displays your discipline in various fields of your specialization. You must be able to comply with the rules and the regulations of the country and abide to them.

Lau, R. W. (1997). China: labour reform and the challenge facing the working class. Capital & Class, 21(1), 45-80.

Carpenter, L. P. (2002). The Status of the H-1B Visa in These Conflicting Times. Tulsa J. Comp. & Int'l L., 10, 553.