Managing Employee Deputation on H1B Visa: India-US Transition Insights

Could someone please help me understand how an employee sent to the US on an H1B visa is treated back in India? Do they need to resign from the Indian company? Since they will be receiving a US salary, do we need to process some minimum salary here to maintain their employment status in India, or do they cease to become our employee from the time they are deputed to the US? If the deputation is for a short period, do they come back after that and join the Indian company as a fresh employee, or do they continue as the old employee?

All help will be highly appreciated.

Thank you.

Shyamili

It depends on the project for which the employee is sent onsite. I worked for an MNC headquartered in the US. Each time we sent an employee onsite for a long-term assignment, we would stop their salary in India but continue the PF and Gratuity payments to their account. Once they returned, we would resume their salary as per the decided industry standards. The employee would join the US Headquarters and be paid by them during the assignment. It would be treated as an internal transfer.

However, there was another firm headquartered in India, with its office in the US, that managed the transition differently. They would continue the salary in India and almost offer per diem for a short-term, i.e., a 3-month assignment. In the case of a long-term assignment, they had a different payout at the US office where the employee would report.

Hope this answers your question.