Employment-Based Immigration
What is employment-based immigration?
The United States immigration law provides employers with several ways to bring foreign workers into the U.S. on a temporary or permanent basis.
- Temporary (non-immigration) employment visas allow employers to hire foreign nationals to work in a specific job for a limited time period.
- Permanent employment visas (commonly referred to as a “green card”) allows a foreign national to work and live lawfully and permanently in the United States. Green card holders are subject to fewer restrictions than temporary workers (non-immigrants), and generally may apply for U.S. citizenship after five years.
Certain spouses and children may accompany or follow-to-join employment-based immigrants.
How can we help you?
There are many employment-based immigration visas available for foreign nationals, in addition to the ones that will be presented below. Requesting an employment-based visa might seem like a daunting and scary task; however the lawyers at Orza Global Immigration are experienced in all aspects of employment-based immigration law and will help you determine the best option available to your company and your employee(s).
Orza Global Immigration has helped many companies with their employment-based immigration cases. To speak to an attorney call us at (678) 570-1238 or contact us.
EMPLOYMENT-BASED IMMIGRATION VISAS
Temporary Visas
There are many different types of temporary visas available for foreign workers; however some of the most common temporary visas are:
- Specialty occupations (H-1B) is for highly educated foreign professionals in “specialty occupations” that require at least a bachelor’s degree or the equivalent.
- Temporary agricultural workers (H-2A) is for foreign nationals seeking to perform agricultural labor or services of a temporary or seasonal nature in the United States.
- Temporary non-agricultural workers (H-2B) is for foreign nationals employed in non-agricultural positions in the United States.
- Intra-company transfers (L-1A and L-1B) allows a U.S. employer to transfer an executive, manager or someone with specialized knowledge from one of its affiliated foreign offices to one of its offices in the United States, or a parent subsidiary of affiliate thereof. (Note: The L-1A visa 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).
Permanent Visas
Every fiscal year (starting in October 1st), approximately 140,000 permanent employment-based immigration visas are made available to qualified applicants (and their spouses and children) who seek to immigrate to the United States based on their job skills. Employment based immigrant visas are divided into five preference categories. The five employment-based immigrant visa preferences (categories) are listed below:
- First preference (EB1) is for persons of extraordinary ability in the sciences, arts, education, business, or athletics; outstanding professors or researchers; and multinational executives and managers.
- The second preference (EB2) is reserved for professionals that hold advanced degrees or for persons with exceptional ability in the arts, sciences, or business.
- The third preference (EB3) is for workers who are professionals, skilled workers, and other workers.
- The fourth preference (EB4) is for “special workers” and includes certain religious workers, employees of U.S. foreign service posts, retired employees of international organizations, alien minors who are wards of courts in the United States, and other classes of aliens.
- The fifth preference (EB5) is for people who wish to make a substantial investment in a U.S. business. See our page on permanent residence through investment here.