It can be incredibly challenging navigating both the getting hired battle and the US Immigration system. It’s helpful to know the various kinds of visas and what they provide.
Disclaimer: I am not a Lawyer.
Terminology:
Permanent Residency: The ability to permanently reside in the country (also called a green card), without any restrictions on employer sponsorship, and nature of profession.
Dual Intent Visa: dual purpose visa allows the individual to signal immigrant intent to the USCIS - thereby allowing them to apply for a permanent residency if one so desires.
Employer Sponsored Work Visas
The H1B
By far the most well known (and in a sense, general purpose work) visa, the H1B visa is a dual intent visa that allows an individual to work here for 3 years. It can then be extended for another period of 3 years. After a total of 6 years, it can be extended on a yearly basis if the company sponsoring the individual’s H1B has applied for a permanent residency (Green Card).
The biggest advantage with a H1B is your ability to freely change jobs (until your permanent residency is filed for).
The downside is that if you are married, your spouse cannot work. A recent ruling allows a spouse of an H1B worker to work if they have crossed a particular stage of the Green Card Process. This stage typically takes between 1-2 years once the initial permanent residency has been filed for.
Another downside is a more recent one. There is cap on the number of H1Bs issued each year (65,000 for general visas and an additional 20,000 for applicants with master’s in the US), and currently they are oversubscribed due to the high hiring pressure. The H1B typically gets oversubscribed in the very first week of their opening itself (April 1st week) and the lucky winners get picked through a lottery. For more, see the post on [H1B Cap and Determination of Winners].
The L1 Visa
The L1 Visa is a dual intent inter-company transfer visa. It has a requirement that you have worked at a subsidiary or branch of the US company in a location outside the US for at least 1 year (within the last 3 years preceding the application). There are, further, two subclasses in the L1:
The L1A “manager visa” - The applicant is an executive or multinational manager. This can be issued for a maximum of 7 years.
The L1B “employee visa” - The applicant has gained skills that is specialized knowledge to the company. This can be issued for a maximum of 5 years.
Contrary to popular opinion, only the L1A visa makes the green card application process easier.
The L1 visa has many advantages - They are not capped and are granted year round. Further, the spouse of the employee / manager can also work after applying for an EAD card under an L1B visa.
However, it does not allow the applicant to change jobs or leave the company since it is a inter-company transfer visa. Also, a pre-requisite of the visa is that you have worked for the company for at least 1 year outside the US.
The O1 Visa
The O1 Visa is a dual intent visa for people “who possesses extraordinary ability in the sciences, arts, education, business, or athletics, or who has a demonstrated record of extraordinary achievement in the motion picture or television industry and has been recognized nationally or internationally for those achievements”. Spouses can enter but not work under the accompanying O-3 Visa.
Special Visas depending on country of citizenship
The E3 visa for Australians
Non dual intent visa for Australian’s with a Bachelor’s degree. Spouses can work under the E3-D visa. It’s indefinitely renewable and while it is subject to a cap of 10,500, the cap has never been reached because of the limited applicant pool. This makes the visa available year round.
The TN visa for Canadians and Mexicans
Non dual intent visa for certain professions from Mexico and Canada. Spouses can enter but not work under the accompanying TD-1 or TD-2 Visa. Since it is not subject to a cap, it can be easier for Canadians and Mexicans to obtain this visa. However, since the visa cannot signal immigrant intent and renewal of this visa can be unpredictable (but theoretically infinitely renewable) the applicant has to switch to a a dual intent visa if they intend to stay here in the long run.
The H1B1 visa for Chileans and Singaporeans
The H1B1 visa is a H1B visa with special quota for people from Chile and Singapore. It has a quota of 5400 visas for people form Singapore and 1100 for people from Chile totaling a special quota of 6500 visas. These visas are carved out from the whole 65,000 H1B quota; but unused visas in the quota are added to the next year’s pool.
If an applicant is eligible for this visa, it’s probably be their best - it has all the benefits of the H1B and no lottery decision since the quotas have not been recently reached.
Other Possibilities
The J-1 internship visa has been used with some success. Of late, it has had it’s issues, with several applicants being asked to spend 2 years in their home country after the completion of their internship before applying for any other US work visa. It’s still a good option to move to the Bay area on a temporary basis, and figure out next steps. Note that the sponsoring for this visa requires a third party apart from your employer to also jointly file.
The F-1 student visa comes with a nice OPT that enables students to work for a year after the completion of an degree for “Optional Practical Training”. For STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) majors, this one year period can be extended for another 17 months, making it a total of 29 months of OPT period. The OPT period is also nice because students can work in small startups or even start their own company - this is something that the other visas do not easily enable.
A note on the B-1 visa: It is unfortunately, often misused. It’s meant only as a conference / meetings visa, but many companies send people to work here for a few months a time. This is definitely not an option, in my opinion, since it can lead to a lot of headache in the long run.
Resources
Please do note that I am not a lawyer, and nothing in this post should be construed as legal advice. Please do contact an immigration attorney who can help you with your case.