On According to a recent Gallup study, the number of Russians wishing to move to another country has tripled over the past 11 years. Most of these people (44%) are in the age group under 29 years old. Also, according to statistics, among the most desirable countries for immigration among Russians, the United States is confidently holding on.
I decided to collect in one topic useful links to materials about various types of visas and other important issues for potential immigrants.
Types of visas with the right to work
For IT professionals and entrepreneurs, three types of work visas are best suited:
- H1B - a standard work visa, which is received by workers who have received an offer from an American company.
- L1 β a visa for intra-corporate transfers of employees of international companies. So employees move to the USA from the offices of an American company in other countries.
- O1 - visa for outstanding specialists in their field.
Each of these options has both its pros and cons.
H1B work visa
People who do not have citizenship or a residence permit in the United States must obtain a special visa - H1B to work in this country. It is sponsored by the employer - he needs to prepare a package of documents and pay various fees.
For an employee, everything is fine here - the company pays for everything, it is very convenient. There are even specialized sites, like a resource , with which you can find companies that are most actively inviting workers on an H1B visa.
Top 20 visa sponsors as of 2019
But there is one drawback - not everyone who has received an offer from an American company will be able to immediately come to work.
H1B visas are subject to quotas that change annually. For example, the quota for the current fiscal year 2019 is only 65 visas. At the same time, 199 thousand applications for its receipt were submitted last year. There are many more applicants than visas issued, so a lottery is held among applicants. It turns out that in recent years the chance to win it is 1 out of three.
In addition, obtaining a visa and paying all fees costs the employer at least $10, in addition to paying salaries. So you have to be a very valuable asset for the company to be so stressed and still risk not seeing the employee in the country because of losing the H000B lottery.
Useful articles for H1B visa applicants:
Visa L1
Some large US companies with offices in other countries circumvent the restrictions of H1B visas with the help of L visas. There are different subtypes of such a visa - one of them is for the transfer of top managers, and the other is for the transport of talented employees (special knowledge worker) to the USA
Usually, in order to be able to move to the United States without any quotas and lotteries, an employee must work in a foreign office for at least a year.
Companies such as Google, Facebook, and Dropbox transport talent under this scheme. For example, there is a common scheme in which an employee works for some time in an office in Dublin, Ireland, and only then moves to San Francisco.
Useful links for those who are going to move to the US in transit through the overseas office of a large company:
Visa O1
According to the US Immigration Service, in order to qualify for an O1 visa, the applicant must demonstrate his professional recognition at the national or international level. You also need to have a clear purpose for coming to the US to work in your field. An application for an O1 visa must be submitted on behalf of a company or organization registered in the United States.
The main advantage of this type of visa is that it is given for 3 years, there are no quotas or other restrictions for its holders.
You can read more about the O-1 visa in these articles:
Source: habr.com