# contracting advice on H1B visa for a European citizen



## calder (Nov 22, 2010)

hello

I am new to the forum and to contracting. Hope someone can help me.

I am a french citizen who worked in the UK for many years in IT consulting. I took a year off last year in order to travel, and relax. I am planning to come back to the UK in january and start contracting.

I have been offered a contract to work on a project (duration: 1 year) in the USA with Consulting Company X (ie. my client), but in order to work in the US, I need a work visa and Company X say they cannot process because I am not a permanent employee, but just a contractor, so I need to find other options. I did some research online and I found that an alternative is:
-I contact a contracting agency that has offices in Europe and in the US
-I do a contract with the contracting agency
-the contracting agency does a contract with my client
-the contracting agency processes my work visa for the USA

Has anyone had similar experience? Is it a good option? Are there other options? Do you know of any contracting agencies that could help me and do you have an estimate of their fees? I think fees are generally high when they help you find jobs and clients, but in this case I'm the one who found the client and the job... I'll be living most of my time in the USA, where the project is located so I assume I'll pay tax in the USA but not in the UK. Is it correct?

Also, I was planning to get a flat when I come back to the UK in January but not anymore now if I get the contract in the USA. Would a contracting agency still sign with me if I don't have an address in the UK or can I put a friend's address?

Would appreciate any help and advice.
Cheers
Calder


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## Bevdeforges (Nov 16, 2007)

To get a work visa for the US you need a work sponsor. It's the sponsor who must clear the job with the US authorities and once that is done, you can apply for a visa. 

One big issue about working as a "contractor" in the US is that the IRS (the US tax authority) takes a very skeptical attitude toward contractors, as contracts are used by some companies as a way of avoiding to pay the "payroll taxes" (basically the employer's portion of things like social insurances) for their staff. In the past, the IRS takes a very dim view of anyone working on a contract basis who has only a single "customer," which sounds like your case.

I'll let the folks with the visa experience advise you on that side of things, but you could be in for some difficulty with using the contractor route.
Cheers,
Bev


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