To work in a specialty occupation. Requires a higher education degree or its equivalent. Includes fashion models of distinguished merit and ability and government-to-government research and development, or co-production projects administered by the Department of Defense.

Your prospective employer is required to file an employment based petition, form I-129H, on your behalf with USCIS, but before doing so, is required to obtain from the Department of Labor, labor certification confirming that there are no qualified U.S. workers eligible for the employment on which the petition is based.

If you are traveling to the United States to receive training from an employer in any field of endeavor, other than graduate medical education or training, you may be eligible for an H-3 visa. Please note, that the training cannot be used to provide productive employment and cannot be available in your home country.

Your prospective employer is required to file a petition, form I-129H, on your behalf with the USCIS to obtain approval for the training.

If you are an employee of an international company who is being temporarily transferred to a parent, branch, affiliate, or subsidiary of the same company in the United States, you will require an Intra-Company transfer (L-1) visa. The international company may be either a U.S. or foreign organization, and you must be at the managerial or executive level or have specialized knowledge, and be destined to a position within the U.S. company at either of these levels, although not necessarily in the same position as held previously. In addition, you must have been employed outside the United States with the international company continuously for one year within the three years preceding the application for admission into the United States.

If you believe that you qualify for the L-1 visa, your employer is required to file an employment based petition, form I-129H, on your behalf with USCIS. Any questions which you may have concerning this process should be addressed to USCIS.

Blanket L-1

Companies seeking the classification of multiple aliens as intra-company transferees may file a blanket petition with USCIS. The blanket petition provision is meant to serve only relatively large, established companies having multi-layered structures and numerous related business entities.

The blanket petition provision is available only to managers, executives and specialized knowledge professionals that are destined to work in an established office.

Opening an Office

An L-1 visa is the appropriate visa classification for a qualified employee of an international company who is coming to the United States to establish a parent, branch, affiliate or subsidiary in the United States, i.e. commence business.

When filing the petition, the international company will be required to show that sufficient physical premises to house the new office have been secured and that within one year of the approval of the petition, the intended U.S. operation will support an executive or managerial position. In the case of a person with specialized knowledge, the petitioner is required to show that it has the financial ability to remunerate the beneficiary and to commence doing business in the United States.

A petition for a qualified employee of a new office will be approved for a period not to exceed one year, after which the petitioner must demonstrate that it is doing business as described above in order for the petition and alien’s stay to be extended beyond one year.

Participants in an international cultural exchange program designed to provide practical training, employment and sharing of the participant’s native culture, require classification Q visas.
The training/employment must be approved in advance by the office United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) in the United States on the basis of a petition, form I-129, filed by the U.S. sponsor.
A new petition must be filed each time a qualified employer wants to bring additional persons into the United States in Q status.
Before a petition may be filed with the USCIS, the following criteria must be met:

The cultural exchange program:

• The culture-sharing must take place in a school, museum,
business or other establishment where the public is exposed to aspects of a foreign culture as part of a structured program;
• The cultural component must be an essential and integral part of the participant’s employment and training, and must be designed to exhibit the attitude, customs, history, heritage, philosophy and/or tradition of the alien’s country of nationality; and

• The employment and training may not be independent of the cultural component;

• The organization must demonstrate that it has the ability to conduct a responsible international cultural exchange program and has the financial ability to remunerate the participant and offer him/her wages and working conditions comparable to those accorded local domestic workers similarly employed;

• The applicant must be at least 18 years of age, qualified to perform the stated service or labor or receive the specified type of training and have the ability to communicate effectively about his/her culture.