hi there everybody, I am a student in F1 right now. before some months I had joined a desi company in CPT. Since I had still not finished school, my proff wanted to finish some work and called me back. I terminated the CPT and notified the desi company.I had signed the contract with them initially (which mentioned if I leave before I get placed I have to pay). Later I got a intern and started working in CPT for 3 mth, now desi company wants to extract money from me more than $10,000 saying that was incurred in training and stuff. However, as you all know what training and lodging they provide. They even sent me a letter signed from the lawyer from attorney's office. What should I do? I am still in school (as CPT in F1 status).Please reply. Thank you.

contract..............whoever breaks it, pays for it.

It's not true. Go to court. If the judge finds contract vague, lots of disclaimers and excess termination fees, the decision will be in favor of consumer. By the way, how many hours training you got? The amount you have to pay will be determined on that basis. And did you also use their lodging? For how many days? If you explain, what services you got in detail, I can give you most precise possibility going to happen.

Bus law 101 any contract that involves illegal activity can not be binding. Fake resume?

First of all show the finger to the desi company!!

Try to talk thing out...i know that usually desi company have desi lawyers so they think they can jointly victimize ppl left and right. They are predidators but you can protect yourself.

Second, ask them to send you a copy of contract. Get a probono lawyer and fight it out. These companies try to do intemidating things like this to scare you off and they expect you to give in. If you have any emails or any records of writted communication indicating that they had offered free training, save it.( i doubt if you have anythign as they are vv careful about this). YEs document every service they have provided you.

Even if they take you to the court ..I dont think that the contract will be binding as you dont have any work authorization anymore. I am sure the judge will see this as modern day glorified slavery and decision will be in your favor. dont worry. Talk to them saying that if they take them to court , you will expose all the illegal activities they are doing. Try to convince them that you will come back after OPT.

I really dont think that they will take you to court.

 

 

 

 

 

 

worse come worse, what's gonna happen cuz they are not going to break ur fingers. First of all the crooks will never take you to court. if they did, then you can always say that u  signed that contract hoping that the contracting agency will make you authorized to work in the USA and they did not, rather they faked your resume and pressured to lie to their client about your job and other experiences so you decided to quit the company. try to find cases against that company by other employees and join them. just tell dhoti about going to labor dept and they will be shytting in their pants. 

yeah they made fake resume....and not with me but I also heard them they photoshop you h1b before sending to clients, because client ask for h1b. They did not give me contract copy even when I asked them for it multiple times....regarding training they did not specifically train...used to send online links which is free in internet. regarding services they had an apartment and they gave limited food. it was so shitty i moved to my friends place nearby and stayed there. guys thankyou for your comments. please feel free if you have any other suggestions.

Hell yaaa doc everything and counter sue those biuutches for 1ooooo ntry to gather as much docs as u can and find other employees too to go withj you.

I think you cannot complain on their quality of training. Further they are asking for the time and money they spent you for the training and lodging. Yes you can assume and seems like mostly true that they are faking resumes and do lots of stuffs what seems to be illegal or not right. But when it comes to legal prosecution they barely have any stuff that proves that they did anything are against the law.

But you have several other strong points. One big is your CPT. CPT is something that is done when required by your curriculum and done only when authorized by your university or professor. It is not something a third party can enforce. They cannot act as a staffing agency for a person on CPT who does not have work authorization. Again, CPT is not actually a work authorization, it is a part of your curriculum. So it is clear that you cannot do anything with them while you are on CPT or on OPT. In the contract, asking or promising for you to make some placement after training seems to be invalid. If you have to follow their contract then it violates the federal immigration law. In other words that contract enforces you to do some illegal activity.
Further, the intern you are doing now is part of your curricullum and doing so you have not breached their contract, even if it is legally valid. All those training and lodging were part of your salary/benefits as an intern which you don't have to return. Also, taking it other way round, you must had the training with them on your CPT. That means an internship. I think, an employment contract to intern is not valid. You were just an intern and were not offered permanent position, in fact they could not. Such kind of employment contract to an intern without any offer of employment is just not valid and does not make any sense.
If the consultancy fears that they may be investigated in detail by USCIS if they follow to prosecute you then it is very less likely that they will file any case against you.  If they did then it would be just on the ground of that contract which on further investigation will prove illegal and invalid.

Please note that this is just my understanding and not a suggestion or legal advice.

If you signed a legal contract; they they will make you pay for it. It will be easy If you can work out a deal or get back with them. But If you go to a court with a lawyer(expensive) and If you go without a lawyer; they will
steamroll you...
If the court rules in their favor they will garnish your wages... And in cases like this ; you will end up paying for the

Continúes.....


Court cost and their attorney and legal fees....
Good luck

Thank you everyone for the suggestion. I think they are trying to threaten me. Well, before joining them they also sent me the letter stating it is for three months (with out which I could not have obtained CPT from University), but in contract they have written have to work for nine billable months upon training completion. Well I am not backing up them. Thanks Khairey for your suggestion.