US work visa - Introduction

If you are not certain about what US work visa you need to bring a non-US national to work for you, don’t worry – this is entirely normal. There are almost 60 different types of temporary US visas in addition to several routes to permanent residence ‘the green card’. This guide will not make you an expert, and is no substitute for professional advice, but it should make you familiar with the territory.

This on-line guide limits itself to the most commonly used work visas for professional staff. If you have a query about another work visa type, please e-mail us.

If you have not researched this area before, you may be thinking in terms of getting a ‘green card’ for your staff. Unfortunately, ‘green card’ applications usually take a long time so, even if this is the ultimate goal, you will probably need to begin by applying for a temporary work visa (once the candidate arrives in the US, you can begin working on the long term project of arranging the ‘green card’).

If you are going to need someone for less than 6 months, a sensible first question is – can the work be done by someone on a visitor’s visa (or visa-waiver), or will I need to get a ‘proper’ US work visa? Visit visas in the US are called B1 or B2 visas, and we have a section dealing with them.

The other ‘easy way out’ is if the candidate you want to hire is a Canadian. Treaties between the US and Canada mean that it is far easier to get a work visa if the candidate is Canadian. Unfortunately, Canada suffers from many of the same skills shortages as the US, so you will probably need to look at the ‘mainstream’ visa types for non-Canadian citizens.

There are three main categories of US work visa for professionals. The H1B work visa is probably the most famous – or rather ‘infamous’ given the constant battles in congress over the controversial issue of how large the H1B quota should be. If it were not for the fact that these quotas tend to run out rather early in the fiscal year, then the H1B visa would probably be the most useful type of US work visa as virtually any US enterprise can use it for either hires or intra-group transfers.

The problem of H1B quotas means that you will probably want to familiarise yourself with the other main type of visa used to bring alien workers into the US. This is the L1 visa; these US workvisas can be used to transfer staff who have been employed for at least one year in the last three by your parent, subsidiary or affiliated companies outside the US.

The index of this guide aims to be self-explanatory; once you know what visa type you want, if you click on the ‘I want to apply’ link, you will be taken to a page which shows

• A simple flow diagram outlining the process
• An on-line form which can be sent to workpermit.com

When an on-line form is received by workpermit.com, we will conduct an assessment. If we don’t think that the application will succeed, we will advise you of this. If, as is hoped, the application is assessed as likely to succeed, we will be in a position to proceed without delay once we have your confirmed instructions.

The table below provides an ‘at a glance’ summary.

There are dozens of other visa categories that may be used by those in particular circumstances. Unfortunately, we cannot cover them all in this guide (or it would end up as large as the standard reference guide to US Immigration; the standard reference book in this area of the law takes up more than two feet of bookshelf space). However, if you e-mail workpermit.com an advisor will be able to cover any areas that have been omitted from this publication.
 

US Work Visas for :
US Companies
Non-US Companies
Individuals
Application Forms for :
Individual (General)
Individual (H1B Visa)
Employer (General)
Employer (H1B Visa)
Employer (L1 Visa)
Employer (E Visas)

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New York City
NY 10167, USA

Tel: +1 212 672 1602
Fax: +1 212 372 8798