You can obtain a temporary employment visa or an employment visa for permanent residence to the U.S. based on your skills, education, religious vocation or extraordinary ability whether you are outside of the U.S. or in the U.S. when you apply.
You can find an overview of all available employment visas below.
Contact us for an assessment of your background and qualifications with our business immigration attorney to determine your eligibility for one or more employment visas.
TEMPORARY EMPLOYMENT VISAS
GREEN CARD BASED EMPLOYMENT VISAS
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FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
The difference between a temporary employment visa and an employment visa for permanent residence is that with a temporary employment visa, you must go back to your country after the work is completed and the visa expires, and you will not obtain a Green Card or Permanent Residence in the U.S. An employment visa for permanent residence gives you a visa to the U.S. to work, and also permanent residence (Green Card) so you can live in the U.S., and eventually apply for citizenship. Our business immigration can give you more details.
With both a temporary employment visa and a employment visa for permanent residence you can also include your spouse and children on the petition and they can immigrate with you. However, your dependents will usually not be able to work in the U.S. with some of the temporary visas, while with a permanent employment visa, they too will obtain a Green Card and have the ability to work in the U.S.
An employment visa is different from a work permit. You generally get a work permit as a result of another pending application or petition before the United States Citizenship or Immigration Services (USCIS) or the Immigration Court, and you need the work permit to be able to legally work.
A employment visa is a visa you obtain when you already have a employer who wants to employ you and is willing to petition for you based on certain qualifications (unless it is a self-petitioning visa like the EB-1) OR you have a project you need to complete in the U.S. (like the P visa), and you need the visa to legally work for this employer or complete the project in the U.S. In this situation, depending on your circumstances, you can apply for a temporary employment visa or an employment visa for permanent residence in the U.S. Sometimes you may be eligible for more than one visa or petition, with significant differences in processing times and government and legal fees.
Contact us to schedule an appointment with our business immigration attorney.
You can have more than one petition pending at the same time. However, it might be more strategic and cost effective for you to file the strongest petition for which you are eligible. Contact us to do an assessment of your background and qualifications to determine which visa is your best option.
A prospective petitioner/applicant/beneficiary depending on the type of petition, does not need to be in the U.S. to apply for an employment visa. For many employment visas, the prospective petitioner or applicant, has either the option of applying from within the U.S. or outside the U.S., and sometimes both options. Depending on whether they choose to apply from within the U.S. or outside, and the type of visa, there are different procedures to follow. Sometimes it might be more beneficial to apply for a change of status to the employment visa within the U.S., while other times it might make more sense to return to the home country and await processing through the consulate. Contact us to best discuss your options given your individual circumstances.