Temporary Employment Based Visas

H-1B Specialty Occupations

H-1B visa allows foreign workers to enter the US and work in a variety of fields ranging from architecture and engineering to health and medicine. The H-1B visa offers a wide range of employment possibilities and is a logical first step toward permanent immigration. In order to qualify for H-1B classification, the applicant must have at least a US bachelor’s degree or its equivalent AND the job sought must require at least a bachelor’s degree or its equivalent. Because this is not a self-petitioning category, the applicant must have a sponsoring employer in the US. The spouse and unmarried children below the age of 21 are allowed to accompany or join the H-1B worker as H-4 dependents. However, they cannot work unless they qualify for a work visa. H-4 dependents can enroll and attend schools in the US without obtaining a student visa. Visa fees associated with obtaining the H-1B visa vary from country to country.

The H-1B visa has an annual numerical limit “cap” of 65,000 visas each fiscal year. The first 20,000 petitions filed on behalf of beneficiaries with a U.S. master’s degree or higher are exempt from the cap. Additionally, H-1B workers who are petitioned for or employed at an institution of higher education or its affiliated or related nonprofit entities or a nonprofit research organization, or a government research organization are not subject to this numerical cap.

H-2B Skilled/Unskilled Workers

The H-2B visa enables many US businesses and agents to fill temporary needs for non-immigrant workers for jobs that are a one-time occurrence, seasonal in nature, as a result of some peak-load need, or an intermittent need. The visa is not self-petitioned, which means you will need an employer to sponsor you. Your spouse and unmarried children under the age of 21 are allowed to join you in the US under the H-4 status. Dependents are not permitted to work, unless they independently qualify for a work visa.

L-1A Intracompany Transferee Executive or Manager

The L-1A nonimmigrant classification enables a U.S. employer to transfer an executive or manager from one of its affiliated foreign offices to one of its offices in the United States.

This classification also enables a foreign company which does not yet have an affiliated U.S. office to send an executive or manager to the United States with the purpose of establishing one. To qualify for L-1 classification in this category, the employer must:

Have a qualifying relationship with a foreign company (parent company, branch, subsidiary, or affiliate, collectively referred to as qualifying organizations); and
Currently be, or will be, doing business as an employer in the United States and in at least one other country directly or through a qualifying organization for the duration of the beneficiary’s stay in the United States as an L-1.

While the business must be viable, there is no requirement that it be engaged in international trade.

Also to Qualify, the Named Employee Must:

Generally have been working for a qualifying organization abroad for one continuous year within the three years immediately preceding his or her admission to the United States; and
Be seeking to enter the United States to render services in an executive or managerial capacity to a branch of the same employer or one of its qualifying organizations.

Qualified employees entering the United States to establish a new office will be allowed a maximum initial stay of one year. All other qualified employees will be allowed a maximum initial stay of three years. For all L-1A employees, requests for extension of stay may be granted in increments of up to an additional two years, until the employee has reached the maximum limit of seven years.

The transferring employee may be accompanied or followed by his or her spouse and unmarried children who are under 21 years of age. Such family members may seek admission in L-2 non-immigrant classification and, if approved, generally will be granted the same period of stay as the employee. Spouses of L-1 workers may apply for work authorization by filing Form I-765 with fee. If approved, there is no specific restriction as to where the L-2 spouse may work.

Blanket L Visas: Certain organizations may establish the required intracompany relationship in advance of filing individual L-1 petitions by filing a blanket petition. In order to establish eligibility for blanket L certification, the employer and each of the qualifying organizations must:

be engaged in commercial trade or services
have an office in the United States which has been doing business for one year or more
have three or more domestic and foreign branches, subsidiaries, and affiliates
Must meet one of the following criteria
- Along with the other qualifying organizations, have obtained at least 10 L-1 approvals during the previous 12-month period; or
- Have U.S. subsidiaries or affiliates with combined annual sales of at least $25 million; or
- Have a U.S. work force of at least 1,000 employees.

The approval of a blanket L petition does not guarantee that an employee will be granted L-1A classification. It does, however, provide the employer with the flexibility to transfer eligible employees to the United States quickly and with short notice without having to file an individual petition with USCIS.

L-1B Intracompany Transferee Specialized Knowledge

The L-1B non-immigrant classification enables a U.S. employer to transfer a professional employee with specialized knowledge relating to the organization’s interests from one of its affiliated foreign offices to one of its offices in the United States. This classification also enables a foreign company which does not yet have an affiliated U.S. office to send a specialized knowledge employee to the United States to help establish one.

To Qualify for L-1 Classification in this Category, the Employer Must

Have a qualifying relationship with a foreign company (parent company, branch, subsidiary, or affiliate, collectively referred to as qualifying organizations); and
Currently be, or will be, doing business as an employer in the United States and in at least one other country directly or through a qualifying organization for the duration of the beneficiary’s stay in the United States as an L-1. While the business must be viable, there is no requirement that it be engaged in international trade.

Also to Qualify, the Named Employee Must:

Generally have been working for a qualifying organization abroad for one continuous year within the three years immediately preceding his or her admission to the United States; and
Be seeking to enter the United States to render services in a specialized knowledge capacity to a branch of the same employer or one of its qualifying organizations.

Specialized Knowledge means special knowledge possessed by an individual of the petitioning organization’s product, service, research, equipment, techniques, management, or other interests and its application in international markets, or expertise in the organization’s processes and procedures. (See 8 CFR 214.2(l)(1)(ii)(D).) Such knowledge is beyond the ordinary and not commonplace within the industry or the petitioning organization. In other words, the employee must be more than simply skilled or familiar with the employer’s interests.

Qualified employees entering the United States to establish a new office will be allowed a maximum initial stay of one year. All other qualified employees will be allowed a maximum initial stay of three years. For all L-1B employees, requests for extension of stay may be granted in increments of up to an additional two years, until the employee has reached the maximum limit of five years.

Nafta Visas (TN)

Under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), certain citizens of Canada and Mexico are eligible to enter the US under the nonimmigrant TN status. The TN Visa enables Canadian and Mexican citizens to temporarily work in US in a NAFTA-approved professional occupation. The following are the requirements to be eligible for the TN Visa:

The profession be on the NAFTA list
The foreign national must possess the necessary training (education and/or experience) for that profession
The proposed position must be classified as a professional position
The foreign national must work for a US employer.

Canadian Citizens may apply for the TN-1 Visa, and Mexican citizens may apply for the TN-2 Visa. Please note that the process to obtain a TN-2 Visa is much more complicated than that of the TN-1. Spouses and/or unmarried children under the age of 21 are eligible to enter the US under the derivative TD-1 and TD-2 visas. Family members are not required to be Canadian or Mexican citizens, and are eligible to remain in the US for the duration of the TN Visa holder’s stay. They may either accompany the TN Visa holder to the US or come at a later time.

Investor or Trader Visas (E-1, E-2)

E-1 Treaty Traders: The E-1 non-immigrant classification allows a national of a treaty country (a country with which the United States maintains a treaty of commerce and navigation) to be admitted to the United States solely to engage in international trade on his or her own behalf. Certain employees of such a person or of a qualifying organization may also be eligible for this classification.

A treaty trader is defined as a national of a country with which the United States maintains a treaty of friendship, commerce and navigation or Bilateral Investment Treaty or other arrangement such as NAFTA (Canada and Mexico). You should be coming to the US to carry on substantial trade which is international in scope principally between the US and the foreign state of which you are a national. Your spouse and children may join you under the same status. Spouses are eligible for employment authorization and children are able to attend school. Also your employees, or the employees of your treaty company, may also be eligible for E-1 status. Application for the E-1 visa is made either at the U.S. Embassy or Consulate with jurisdiction over your place of permanent residence, or with the U.S. immigration service if you are already in the U.S. and are seeking a change of status. If approved, you will be granted an initial stay of 2 years, and are able to extend your E-1 status indefinitely in 2 year increments.

E-2 Treaty Investor: The E-2 nonimmigrant classification allows a national of a treaty country (a country with which the United States maintains a treaty of commerce and navigation) to be admitted to the United States when investing a substantial amount of capital in a U.S. business. Certain employees of such a person or of a qualifying organization may also be eligible for this classification.

A treaty investor is defined as a national of a country with which the United States maintains a treaty of friendship, commerce and navigation or Bilateral Investment Treaty or other arrangement such as NAFTA (Canada and Mexico). You should be coming to the US to develop and direct the operations of an enterprise in which you have invested, or are actively in the process of investing a substantial amount of capital in a legitimate enterprise. The question of how much money is considered to be “substantial” is not defined, but practice shows that the U.S. government is generally looking for at least an investment amount of US$100,000 – $150,000. Your spouse and children may join you under the same status. Spouses are eligible for employment authorization and children are able to attend school. Also your employees, or the employees of your treaty company, may also be eligible for E-2 status. Application for the E-2 visa is made either at the U.S. Embassy or Consulate with jurisdiction over your place of permanent residence, or with the U.S. immigration service if you are already in the U.S. and are seeking a change of status. If approved, you will be granted an initial stay of 2 years, and are able to extend your E-1 status indefinitely in 2 year increments.

Trainee or Intern visas (J-1 & H-3)

H-3 Trainee Visa: The H-3 Visa is specifically designed to enable you to train in the US in almost any discipline. The H-3 Visa is not self-petitioned. An employer must petition on behalf of you, the trainee. The employer must provide certain evidence about the training, including a description of the training program, your compensation (if any) and reasons why you need the training. The employer must then submit a petition on Form I-129 with the regional USCIS center that has jurisdiction over the place where the training will be offered. Along with the requisite nonimmigrant application documents, the H-3 Visa requires your employer provide the following:

Proof that this training is not available in your home country, and that this training will aid you in your career.
Proof that you will not engage in productive employment while in the US
Proof that the training is formal in nature.

J-1 Exchange Visitor Visa: The J-1 visa is designed to provide educational and cultural exchange programs, and to promote the sharing of individuals, knowledge and skills in education, arts and sciences. Participants in this visa category include students, teachers, research scholars, trainees and foreign physicians who are coming here to teach, study, observe, conduct research, consult, or receive training. Spouses and/or unmarried children under the age of 21 may apply for entry under J-2 status. A very important consideration — Certain J visa holders are subject to a requirement that they must return to their home country or country of last residence upon completion of their training in the U.S. before they are eligible to adjust status, apply for an immigrant visa, apply for an H or L visa, or change status inside the U.S. There are waivers available to this “two year home residence requirement”, but those can be extremely difficult to obtain.

Extraordinary Ability or Achievement, and Internationally Recognized Athlete or Entertainment Group

O-1 Visa: The O-1 Visa is for foreign nationals with extraordinary ability in the sciences, arts, education, business, athletics, motion picture or television industry to enter the US for temporary periods of time. The immigration service broadly interprets this visa category to encompass “any field of endeavor” including craftsmen and lecturers. To be considered an individual of extraordinary ability in science, education, business or athletics, you must prove that you possess a “level of expertise indicating that [you are] one of the small percentage who have arisen to the very top of the field of endeavor; for the arts, you must show “a high level of achievement in the field of arts evidenced by a degree of skill and recognition substantially above that ordinarily encountered”; and for the motion picture or TV industry, you must show “a degree of skill and recognition significantly above that ordinarily encountered.”

If approved, you can only work in the US in that area of expertise. Your spouse and unmarried children under the age of 21 may join you in the US under O-3 status. While they may not work while in the US, family members are allowed to attend school. The O-1 Visa must be petitioned by a US employer, US agent or foreign employer through a US agent.

P-1A Internationally Recognized Athlete: The P-1A classification applies to you if you are coming to the U.S. temporarily to perform at a specific athletic competition as an athlete, individually or as part of a group or team, at an internationally recognized level of performance.

To qualify as an “Individual Athletes,” you must be coming to the United States to participate in individual event, competition or performance in which you are internationally recognized with a high level of achievement; evidenced by a degree of skill and recognition substantially above that ordinarily encountered so that the achievement is renowned, leading or well known in more than one country.

To qualify as “Athletic Teams,” you must be coming to the United States to participate in team events and must have achieved significant international recognition in the sport. The event in which your team is participating must be distinguished and require the participation of athletic teams of international recognition.

P-1B A Member of an Internationally Recognized Entertainment Group: The P-1B classification applies to you if you are coming to the United States temporarily to perform as a member of an entertainment group that has been recognized internationally as outstanding in the discipline for a sustained and substantial period of time.

At least 75 percent of the members of your group must have had a substantial and sustained relationship with the group for at least one year. Your entertainment group must be internationally recognized, having a high level of achievement in a field evidenced by a degree of skill and recognition substantially above that ordinarily encountered. The reputation of the group, not the individual achievements of its members or the acclaim of a particular production, is essential.

Note: Individual entertainers not performing as part of a group are not eligible for this visa classification.

Religious Worker Visas(R-1)

An R-1 is a foreign national who is coming to the United States temporarily to be employed at least part time (average of at least 20 hours per week) by a non-profit religious organization in the United States (or an organization which is affiliated with the religious denomination in the United States) to work as a minister or in a religious vocation or occupation.

To qualify, the foreign national must have been a member of a religious denomination having a bona fide non-profit religious organization in the United States for at least 2 years immediately preceding the filing of the petition.

Every petition for an R-1 worker must be filed by a prospective or existing U.S. employer through the filing of a Form I-129, Petition for Non-immigrant Worker. An R-1 visa cannot be issued at a U.S. Embassy or Consulate abroad without prior approval of Form I-129 by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). If the foreign national is visa-exempt (e.g. Canadian), he or she must present the original Form I-797, Notice of Action, reflecting an approval of a valid I-129 R petition at a port of entry. There are certain general requirements which must be satisfied by the petitioning organization as well as by the religious worker, the beneficiary of the petition.