Visas for Professionals

L-1 Intra-Company Transfer Visa

For corporate executives, managers or those with specialized knowledge who currently work, or have worked for at least one continuous year in the past 3 years, in a foreign company related in a specific manner to a U.S. company, such as by having a parent/subsidiary relationship or by being the same or an affiliate employer (all grouped into intra-company classification), the L-1 visa may be the most effective way of being able to work in the U.S.

Multi-national companies often have a policy of international rotation of managerial level personnel or need to move employees with specialized knowledge to implement or assist with the opening of new offices or installation of new technologies. Therefore, the L visa was specifically designed to facilitate the needs of international transfer of executives, managers and those with specialized knowledge. An example of a specialized knowledge employee would be someone who possesses proprietary knowledge about a company's product and who travels to the U.S. share this specialized knowledge with U.S. employees. This implies that the knowledge and experience that the person has is specific and unique and could not be equally provided by another person. An L-1 visa is also the appropriate visa classification for an employee of an international company which wants to establish a parent company, branch, affiliate or subsidiary in the U.S.

If you have any questions about intra-company transfers, investor visas, setting up a business in the U.S., or any other concerns, please contact us at info @usavisaspecialists.com .

H-1B visa: Specialty occupation workers

The H-1B category is designed for skilled professionals in a specialty occupation to work in the U.S. on a temporary basis, usually for up to six consecutive years. The alien must possess at least a bachelor's degree or foreign equivalent. The H-1B is suitable for engineers, professors, researchers, software programmers and other foreign professionals. Whereas a few years ago the H-1B cap was not an issue, in recent years the number of applicants has far exceeded the maximum allowed per fiscal year. This has created not only unascertainable processing times but uncertainty as to what fiscal year the petitions might be approved for.

Because of this, it is recommended that the H-1B visa be utilized when all other viable visa classifications are not feasible. If the H-1 visa is the only option, those filing must be ready to file before April of a given year in order to be then be cleared to enter the U.S. sometime after October of that same year. As the H-1 visa process has become increasingly complicated, it is highly recommended that those companies interested in bringing an skilled professional to the U.S. consult with a lawyer.

For any questions regarding visas for professional please contact us at info @usavisaspecialists.com .