The United States houses thousands of foreign workers across a number of employment fields every year. A work visa or work permit is a generic term for a legal authorization giving permission to work in a country where one does not hold citizenship.
Typically, a citizen of a foreign country who wishes to enter the United States must first obtain a visa, either for temporary or permanent residence. Temporary worker visas are for persons who want to enter the United States for employment lasting for a fixed period of time and are not considered permanent or indefinite.
It is very common to not be certain about what you need to do, or what type of visa to apply for, when bringing a non-US national to work for you because there are almost 60 different types of temporary visas.
Additionally, the U.S. government has several routes for getting permanent residence for foreigners, the most commonly mentioned, being a “green card.”
However, there are 5 main ways an individual can obtain residency and work authorization in the United States:
1) Sponsorship by an employer
2) Investment
3) Sponsorship by a close family member in the United States
4) Diversity Visa Lottery Program
5) Asylum & refugee status
Employers seeking to sponsor foreign national employees have several visa options to consider
For employers seeking skilled labor from the global marketplace, the U.S. immigration system offers various work visa options to fit different needs. Understanding the nuances and requirements of each before getting started is a key first step in the process. Doing so can help organizations confidently secure the appropriate work authorization for their foreign national employees and fill roles effectively.
Six of the most common U.S. work visas
H-1B Specialty Occupation
Among the various work visa types in the U.S., the H-1B specialty occupation visa is the most popular. The temporary work visa is available to foreign nationals who work in specialty occupations, such as engineering and computer science. Because of the high demand, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) applies a yearly cap of 85,000 petitions to the H-1B, of which 20,000 are reserved for individuals with a master’s degree. The high number of petitions and the low number of available H-1B visas has brought more attention to other visa types in recent years.
L-1 Intracompany Transferee
The L-1 visa category is reserved for employers who need to transfer managers, executives or employees with specialized knowledge from a foreign entity to a U.S. entity. The worker must be with the organization for at least one year and the employer must establish a relationship between the foreign and U.S. entity. L-1A visas are available to high-level company executives or managerial employees with supervisory duties. The L-1B visa shares many of the same benefits as the L-1A, but is intended for foreign employees with specialized knowledge that benefits the sponsoring employer. To qualify, the employee must possess essential qualifications that others in the company or industry do not.
O-1 “Extraordinary Ability”
The O-1 visa is a special classification for foreign nationals who possess “extraordinary ability or achievement in the sciences, education, business or athletics”. Extraordinary ability means the person has risen to the very top of the field of endeavor and is known internationally or nationally for his or her achievements.
TN Visa
Originally established as part of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the TN visa is a special classification for citizens of Mexico and Canada. The agreement itself has since been replaced with the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, but the provisions of the TN visa remain in place. Citizens from Mexico or Canada eligible to seek admission to TN status include accountants, engineers, lawyers, and other specifically designated professionals. This visa type is highly valued because there is no annual cap and can be renewed indefinitely in three-year increments.
E-1 And E-2 Treaty Visas
The E visa category includes treaty traders and investors who come to the U.S. under a treaty of commerce and navigation between the U.S., and the country of which the treaty trader or investor is a citizen or national. An E-1 visa is used for companies or individuals who are involved in or want to develop substantial trade between the U.S. and a country that the U.S. maintains an appropriate treaty. Substantial trade refers to the flow of sizable international items of trade that involves many transactions over time. An E-2 visa is used for applicants who want to enter the U.S. solely to develop and direct an enterprise in which they have invested a substantial amount of capital.
E-3 Australian Specialty Occupation
This category also includes the E-3 visa, which is available to workers in specialty occupations or professional occupations who are nationals of Australia.An E-3 visa can also be granted to the primary visa holder’s spouse and minor children. There are a maximum of 10,500 E-3 visas issued annually. Spouses and children of primary petitioners do not count against the numerical limitations. To qualify, the primary visa petitioner must possess a bachelor’s degree or foreign equivalent, receive a legitimate job offer in the U.S., and fill a specialty occupation that requires a specific skill set.
U.S. Green Cards
It is possible to become a permanent resident (Green Card holder) of the United States through a job or offer of employment.2 There is also a lottery program that provides a limited number of green cards to successful applicants.3
However, some categories require a certification from the U.S. Department of Labor to show that there are not enough U.S. workers who are able, willing, qualified, and available in the geographic area where the immigrant is to be employed and that no American workers are displaced by foreign workers.
U.S. immigration law provides foreign nationals with a variety of ways to obtain a Green Card through employment in the United States. These employment-based (EB) “preference immigrant” categories include:4
- (EB-1) – First preference for priority workers, including “foreign nationals with extraordinary ability in the sciences, arts, education, business, or athletics; outstanding professors and researchers; or certain multinational managers and executives.”
- (EB2) – Second preference for “foreign nationals who are members of the professions holding advanced degrees or who have exceptional ability (including requests for national interest waivers).”
- (EB3) – Third preference for foreign nationals who are “skilled workers, professionals, or other workers.”
- (EB4)– Fourth preference for special immigrants like religious workers, neglected/abused juveniles, and retired officers or employees of certain international organizations, or NATO, and certain family members.
- (EB5) Fifth preference for immigrant investors, “foreign nationals who have invested or are actively in the process of investing [sums of at least] $1 million (or $500,000 in targeted employment areas) in a new commercial enterprise that will benefit the U.S. economy and create at least 10 full-time positions for qualifying employees.”
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has more information on how to apply for a Green Card.
