RECENT NEWS . Employment Visas

[in coming]

Employment Visas . Recent News . Eligibility . Issues

ELIGIBILITY . Employment Visas

[in coming]

OUR OFFICE . Our offices has helped many employers and employees get immigration status to come and work in the United States. Often, the worker is already here in the U.S. and we assist in changing status to a visa that will allow him/her to work with a specific employer. If s/he gets permanent residence, s/he may work for any employer.

Employment Visas . Recent News . Eligibility . Issues

ISSUES . Employment Visas

Quotas . Labor Certification . Job Offer . Admissibility . Continued Residence . Deportation/Removal . Derivative Benefits . On to Citizenship

1. QUOTAS All employment visas are subject to an annual quotas, allowing only a certain number of applications to be granted each year. Accordingly, if application is made, it may sit in "line" until it can be considered with other applications under the quota. The date an application is submitted is called the "priority date." When a priority date becomes "current," the application and all other submitted on or before that priority date may be considered. Current priority dates are published every month in the Visa Bulletin.

2. LABOR CERTIFICATION Many, but not all, employment visas require the employer to show that there are no U.S. workers available who are qualified and willing to take the position being offered to the foreigner. This process is called "Labor Certification." It requires advertising the position, responding to resumes, and determining fitness of applicants for the position. If there is an available U.S. worker, that worker must be hired and labor certification is not granted. The entire process is strictly regulated. See more here.

3. JOB OFFER There are some employment-based applications that do not require the applicant be hired by a U.S. entity to get permanent residence. Most of the applications require a U.S. entity to desire the services of the individual, but if the individual is highly, highly accomplished, the United States will let him/her in to pursue his/her career and ambitions further in the U.S. even if a U.S. entity is not seeking his/her services.

4. ADMISSIBILITY Any applicant for an employment visa must be admissible in ten general, important ways, including health, financial ability, clean criminal history, immigration history, etc. (See Admissibility).

5. CONTINUED RESIDENCE If the employment visa is an immigrant visa (for permanent residence), the applicant must intend to stay in the U.S. on a 'permanent' basis. A permanent resident's status depends on his/her intention to reside in the United States permanently. If he/she leaves the United States for more than six months at one time, there is a possibility that s/he will be determined to have "abandoned" his/her residency. If s/he leaves for more than one year, it is a legal presumption that s/he has abandoned his/her residency and should reapply to re-enter the United States. If a permanent resident knows that s/he will be out of the country for more than six months, s/he can retain his/her residency by making application for a "Re-entry Permit." This allows an absence for two years without the legal presumption of abandoning residency. There are times, the officials at the airport or border may listen to the reasons for an extended absence and grant return to the U.S. without the re-entry permit, but that is the rare, rare experience - not the rule. See Re-entry Permit and Returning Resident.

6. DEPORTATION/REMOVAL All visa holders, even permanent residents, and even those living in the U.S. for most of their lives may be subject to deportation or removal from the U.S. if s/he takes any action listed as a deportable offense in relevant laws. (See Deportation/Removal) If a resident intends to stay in the U.S. indefinitely and feels it appropriate to do so, citizenship application should seriously be considered for the simple fact that U.S. citizens cannot be deported or removed.

7. DERIVATIVE BENEFITS Most permanent resident and temporary visa rules allow the applicant to bring his/her immediate family with him/her to the United States should the application be granted. Applications for immediate family members, however, are individual and do not extend to the other immediate family members. The sections on each type of application indicate whether derivative benefits are extended or if separate application must be made for each family member.

8. ON TO CITIZENSHIP Generally, a permanent resident may apply to become a citizen of the United States if s/he has been a permanent resident for five years or more, has physically resided in the United States for 2 1/2 of the past five years, and is otherwise admissibility. (See Citizenship).

Employment Visas . Recent News . Eligibility . Issues

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