Questions regarding B1(business) Visa for US?

[lokolugo 0]

Hello, I have been remotely working (from India) for a US based company as a Software Engineer (on contract basis) for almost 2 years now, and have been receiving the monthly payments from US directly in my bank account.
Next month, I am changing jobs and going to be start working with a different company based out of US. They want me to continue working remotely, but come to SF for two-three weeks and go through the initial onboarding + training and other sync-ups required for the job.omegle xender
It's really important for me to make this happen, otherwise the contract may not last long. They really wish for me to spend some time with the team on site and get a glance of how things work.
Recently, my friend applied for a B1 visa to go to a training at his parent company - they also have an office in India, but it was rejected in the matter of 5-10 mins at the visa interview. He was told that he couldn't prove the fact that he had intentions to come back to India after the training(?).
So, I'm out here trying to figure out what can I do best from my end to make sure I secure the visa for my travel. Thanks for reading!

Edited November 17, 2020 by lokolugo

[SteveInBostonI130 3,468]

Show strong ties to India:  family (wife and children), property, other things that depends on you being in or returning to India.   Also, it helps if you have previous travel history visiting and returning from other countries that require a visitor's visa.

 

[Ontarkie 14,280]

~~Moved to Tourist Visas, from Finding Work in America~~

[databit 328]

13 hours ago, lokolugo said:

 but come to SF for two-three weeks and go through the initial onboarding + training and other sync-ups required for the job

Hope your employer knows you cannot be paid for this time, if you are on a tourist visa.

[SalishSea 17,928]

7 hours ago, databit said:

Hope your employer knows you cannot be paid for this time, if you are on a tourist visa.

Sounds to me like the OP needs an employment-based visa, rather than a B.

[SusieQQQ 11,586]

7 hours ago, databit said:

Hope your employer knows you cannot be paid for this time, if you are on a tourist visa.

 

9 minutes ago, Jorgedig said:

Sounds to me like the OP needs an employment-based visa, rather than a B.

Come on guys, plenty people who work for US based companies in their home countries come to the US for short periods of training at head office. It’s not unusual and it’s perfectly in sync with a B1. 

[SusieQQQ 11,586]

25 minutes ago, SusieQQQ said:

 

Come on guys, plenty people who work for US based companies in their home countries come to the US for short periods of training at head office. It’s not unusual and it’s perfectly in sync with a B1. 

In fact back in the day for those who remember the old Arthur Andersen, it was always a big deal in my home country to do articles with them because they’d send everyone to their Chicago office for a month or two for training.

[SalishSea 17,928]

56 minutes ago, SusieQQQ said:

 

Come on guys, plenty people who work for US based companies in their home countries come to the US for short periods of training at head office. It’s not unusual and it’s perfectly in sync with a B1. 

So US based companies can pay B visa holders a salary while they're visiting the US?

[SusieQQQ 11,586]

53 minutes ago, Jorgedig said:

So US based companies can pay B visa holders a salary while they're visiting the US?

They can be paid a salary in their home country as usual by whomever usually pays their salary, while they are training in the US. Where did OP ever say he was going to be paid in the US by the US office? He said he was coming for training and onboarding. 

Edited November 18, 2020 by SusieQQQ

[SalishSea 17,928]

1 minute ago, SusieQQQ said:

They can be paid a salary in their home country as usual by whomever usually pays their salary while they are training in the US. Where did OP ever say he was going to be paid in the US by the US office? He said he was coming for training.

It's a US company, so I assumed the salary is being paid out of the US.  

 

I'm sure he'll have no trouble obtaining a B visa.

[SusieQQQ 11,586]

https://www.uscis.gov/working-in-the-united-states/temporary-visitors-for-business/b-1-temporary-business-visitor

You may be eligible for a B-1 visa if you will be participating in business activities of a commercial or professional nature in the United States, including, but not limited to:

• Consulting with business associates
• Traveling for a scientific, educational, professional or business convention, or a conference on specific dates
• Settling an estate
• Negotiating a contract
• Participating in short-term training
• Transiting through the United States: certain persons may transit the United States with a B-1 visa
• Deadheading: certain air crewmen may enter the United States as deadhead crew with a B-1 visa

[SusieQQQ 11,586]

1 minute ago, Jorgedig said:

It's a US company, so I assumed the salary is being paid out of the US.  

 

I'm sure he'll have no trouble obtaining a B visa.

He is not being paid for training in the US. The usual way this works for multinationals is he gets paid in his home country, either on a salaried basis or per piece of work. If he is on a salary yes he continues to get paid in his home country regardless where he happens to be at the time, working at his home location, training in the US, attending a conference in Germany, lying on a beach in Jamaica during his vacation, whatever. If he is paid by piece of work, he won’t get paid for working while he is there but the company can obviously still pay all his expenses associated with the trip.

 

As for not having any trouble obtaining a visa, that was his original question, and other than the very first response all that happened was him getting piled on because people apparently don’t understand the concept of training in a different country. So to get back to that actual question, @lokolugo, you need to show good evidence of ties at home. Unfortunately, working remotely (if I understand correctly that is what you are doing) is not helpful for that as you can obviously do that from anywhere and it is not a tie to return. If you are actually employed by a physical subsidiary/related entity in India that will help. A spouse, children, owning a home would all be helpful as ties. 

[SalishSea 17,928]

OP, please let us know whether you are successful in getting the B visa.

[SalishSea 17,928]

8 minutes ago, SusieQQQ said:

because people apparently don’t understand the concept of training in a different country

Oh, I understand the concept of training in a different country.  

 

However, "onboarding"  and needing to travel because "otherwise the contract may not last long" sounds both sketchy, and suspect vis a vis needing to travel vs. doing it remotely, like everything else in the software engineering world is currently being done.  Just my .02.

Edited November 18, 2020 by Jorgedig

[SusieQQQ 11,586]

44 minutes ago, Jorgedig said:

Oh, I understand the concept of training in a different country.  

 

However, "onboarding"  and needing to travel because "otherwise the contract may not last long" sounds both sketchy, and suspect vis a vis needing to travel vs. doing it remotely, like everything else in the software engineering world is currently being done.  Just my .02.

Do you understand what onboarding is? It’s totally normal to be done at a head office type environment. 

As for training on site - I spent a good number of weeks on B1 visas in the trading rooms (yes this counted as training) in the US offices of 3 different companies I worked for (along with many more instances of meeting and presenting to clients, going to conferences, etc etc), over a good number of years. All perfectly acceptable under B1 and yes my salary kept going into my bank account the whole time. I was always clear about what I was going to do on each trip to CBP. Never once had an issue.