The H-1B is a visa in the United States under the Immigration and Nationality Act, section 101(a)(15)(H), that allows U.S. employers to employ foreign workers in specialty occupations. A specialty occupation requires the application of specialized knowledge and a bachelor's degree or the equivalent of work experience. The duration of stay is three years, extendable to six years, after which the visa holder can reapply. Laws limit the number of H-1B visas that are issued each year. There exist congressionally mandated caps limiting the number of H-1B visas that can be issued each fiscal year, which is 65,000 visas, and an additional 20,000 set aside for those graduating with master’s degrees or higher from a U.S. college or university. An employer must sponsor individuals for the visa. USCIS estimates there are 583,420 foreign nationals on H-1B visas as of September 30, 2019. The number of issued H-1B visas have quadrupled since the first year these visas were issued in 1991. There were 206,002 initial and continuing H-1B visas issued in 2022.
An L-1 visa is a visa document used to enter the United States for the purpose of work in L-1 status. It is a non-immigrant visa, and is valid for a relatively short amount of time, from three months to five years, based on a reciprocity schedule. With extensions, the maximum stay is seven years.
TN status is a special non-immigrant classification of foreign nationals in the United States, which offers expedited work authorization to a citizen of Canada or a national of Mexico. It was created as a result of provisions of the North American Free Trade Agreement that mandated simplified entry and employment permission for certain professionals from each of the three NAFTA member states in the other member states. The provisions of NAFTA relevant to TN status were then carried over almost verbatim to the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement that replaced NAFTA in 2020.
An H-2A visa allows a foreign national worker into the United States for temporary agricultural work. There are several requirements of the employer in regard to this visa. The H-2A temporary agricultural program establishes a means for agricultural employers who anticipate a shortage of domestic workers to bring non-immigrant foreign workers to the U.S. to perform agricultural labor or services of a temporary or seasonal nature. In 2015 there were approximately 140,000 total temporary agricultural workers under this visa program. Terms of work can be as short as a month or two or as long as 10 months in most cases, although there are some special procedures that allow workers to stay longer than 10 months. All of these workers are covered by U.S. wage laws, workers' compensation and other standards; additionally, temporary workers and their employers are subject to the employer and/or individual mandates under the Affordable Care Act. Because of concern that guest workers might be unfairly exploited the U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division is especially vigilant in auditing and inspecting H-2A employers. H-2A employers are the only group of employers who are required to pay inbound and outbound transportation, free housing, and provide meals for their workers. H-2A agricultural employers are among the most heavily regulated and monitored employers in the United States. Unlike other guest worker programs, there is no cap on the number of H-2A visas allocated each year.
The Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act was a United States Senate bill introduced in the 109th Congress (2005–2006) by Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) on April 7, 2006. Co-sponsors, who signed on the same day, were Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE), Sen. Mel Martínez (R-FL), Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA), Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), and Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS).
A guest worker program allows foreign workers to temporarily reside and work in a host country until a next round of workers is readily available to switch. Guest workers typically perform low or semi-skilled agricultural, industrial, or domestic labor in countries with workforce shortages, and they return home once their contract has expired.
An H-4 visa is a United States visa issued to dependent family members of H-1B, H-1B1, H-2A, H-2B, and H-3 visa holders to allow them to travel to the United States to accompany or reunite with the principal visa holder. A dependent family member is a spouse or unmarried child under the age of 21. If a dependent of an H-1B, H-1B1, H-2A, H-2B, or H-3 worker is already in the United States, they can apply for H-4 immigration status by filing Form I-539 for change of status with United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).
A Form I-766 employment authorization document or EAD card, known popularly as a work permit, is a document issued by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) that provides temporary employment authorization to noncitizens in the United States.
The Security Through Regularized Immigration and a Vibrant Economy Act of 2007 or STRIVE Act of 2007 is proposed United States legislation designed to address the problem of illegal immigration, introduced into the United States House of Representatives. Its supporters claim it would toughen border security, increase enforcement of and criminal penalties for illegal immigration, and establish an employment verification system to identify illegal aliens working in the United States. It would also establish new programs for both illegal aliens and new immigrant workers to achieve legal citizenship. Critics allege that the bill would turn law enforcement agencies into social welfare agencies as it would not allow CBP to detain illegal immigrants that are eligible for Z-visas and would grant amnesty to millions of illegal aliens with very few restrictions.
A B visa is one of a category of non-immigrant visas issued by the United States government to foreign nationals seeking entry for a temporary period. The two types of B visa are the B-1 visa, issued to those seeking entry for business purposes, and the B-2 visa, issued to those seeking entry for tourism or other non-business purposes. In practice, the two visa categories are usually combined and issued as a "B-1/B-2 visa" valid for a temporary visit for either business or pleasure, or a combination of the two. Nationals of certain countries do not usually need to obtain a visa for these purposes.
EB-3 is a visa preference category for United States employment-based permanent residency. It is intended for "skilled workers", "professionals", and "other workers". Those are prospective immigrants who don't qualify for the EB-1 or EB-2 preferences. The EB-3 requirements are less stringent, but the backlog may be longer. Unlike persons with extraordinary abilities in the EB-1 category, EB-3 applicants require a sponsoring employer. There is no "self-petition" category.
The Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act of 2013 was a proposed immigration reform bill introduced by Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) in the United States Senate. The bill was co-sponsored by the other seven members of the "Gang of Eight", a bipartisan group of U.S. Senators who wrote and negotiated the bill. It was introduced in the Senate on April 16, 2013, during the 113th United States Congress.
The Labor Condition Application (LCA) is an application filed by prospective employers on behalf of workers applying for work authorization for the non-immigrant statuses H-1B, H-1B1 and E-3. The application is submitted to and needs to be approved by the United States Department of Labor Employment and Training Administration (DOLETA)'s Office of Foreign Labor Certification (OFLC). The form used to submit the application is ETA Form 9035.
The American Competitiveness in the 21st Century Act (AC21) was an act passed by the government of the United States in October 2000, pertaining to immigration to the United States. It was a complement to the American Competitiveness and Workforce Improvement Act that had been passed in 1998. The focus of AC21 was to change rules related to portability and caps for the H-1B visa to increase the effective number of visas available and make it easier for workers on those visas to switch jobs. Although the language of the Act references the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), the INS would soon be restructured and the functions of the INS referenced in AC21 would be handled by United States Citizenship and Immigration Services.
The American Competitiveness and Workforce Improvement Act (ACWIA) was an act passed by the government of the United States on October 21, 1998, pertaining to high-skilled immigration to the United States, particularly immigration through the H-1B visa, and helping improving the capabilities of the domestic workforce in the United States to reduce the need for foreign labor.
Form I-140, Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker is a form submitted to the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) by a prospective employer to petition an alien to work in the US on a permanent basis. This is done in the case when the worker is deemed extraordinary in some sense or when qualified workers do not exist in the US. The employer who files is called the petitioner, and the alien employee is called the beneficiary; these two can coincide in the case of a self-petitioner. The form is 6 pages long with a separate 10-page instructions document as of 2016. It is one of the USCIS immigration forms.
The term H-1B-dependent employer is used by the United States Department of Labor to describe an employer who meets a particular threshold in terms of the fraction of the workforce comprising workers in H-1B status. An employer classified as H-1B-dependent needs to include additional attestations in the Labor Condition Application used for the petition of any H-1B beneficiary being offered an annual compensation of less than $60,000 and without a master's degree. The notion was introduced by the American Competitiveness and Workforce Improvement Act (ACWIA) passed in 1998 and operationalized through the United States Department of Labor's Interim Final H-1B Rule of December 20, 2000. The regulation is found in 20 CFR 655.736 in the Code of Federal Regulations.
In the United States, the most common visa used for short-term trips is the B visa. This is a combination of the B-1 visa and the B-2 visa. People on B visas are generally not allowed to engage in productive work or study activities. However, in some cases, B visas can be issued that allow people to engage in some types of productive work and learning activity, in lieu of another visa. The three visa categories, for which a B visa could be issued instead, are the H-1B visa, H-3 visa, and J-1 visa. The U.S. Department of State recommends that consular officers clearly annotate such B visas to make the scope of the visa clear to the applicant and the U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer at the port of entry.
The H-1C visa was a visa that was previously available to foreign nationals seeking temporary employment in the United States. These visas were made available to foreign nurses coming into the United States to perform services as a registered nurse in areas with a shortage of health professionals as determined by the Department of Labor. The creation of this visa was prompted by a nursing shortage.
The H-1A visa was a visa that was previously available to foreign nationals seeking temporary employment in the United States. These visas were made available to foreign nurses coming into the United States to perform services as a registered nurse in areas with a shortage of health professionals as determined by the Department of Labor. The creation of this visa was prompted by a nursing shortage.