How Can a Business Immigration Attorney Help My Company?

How Can an Immigration Attorney Help My Business?

As the national dialogue regarding imported labor continues to simmer, many U.S.-based companies still require the assistance of qualified and proven foreign workers for skilled positions. Because of the growing scrutiny, companies should exercise added diligence to ensure that they follow visa guidelines and procedures precisely to avoid any delays or violations.

Multi-national, medium, and small-sized companies have found that often the individuals with the specific talent and experience for key positions may not reside in the United States. Moreover, proven and specifically skilled individuals are frequently transferred from within external divisions of a company or may need to be recruited from abroad.

The best person for a position is not always a local search.

To comply with a potentially changing immigration landscape, companies benefit significantly from professional and experienced legal assistance that can facilitate the appropriate work visas to allow entry and also to remain problem-free during the designated period of residence.

Categories of Work Visas: United States Immigration Center

Intra-Company Transfers: L-1

Multi-national companies frequently transfer current employees from around the world to take advantage of their best practices and learnings developed at other locations. These individuals may come to the United States to manage a function, teach skills, or to train in highly technical areas.

Professionals: H-1B

The United States offers H-1B visas for a predetermined number of foreign citizens who achieved a Bachelors or Masters degree in various fields. These professionals, when recruited by a U.S. company, may specialize in technical fields like software development, analytics, engineering, or marketing. Qualified teachers, professors, and lawyers also fall into this category.

Extraordinary Ability Visa: O-1

This unique category of foreign workers includes individuals with a proven and unique skill in education, science, athletics, arts, entertainment or more.

 NAFTA Work Visa

Limited only to individuals from Canada and Mexico, visas are available, similar to H-1B visas, for those with higher education degrees plus a bonafide offer of employment from a U.S. company.

 Other Unique International Visa Agreements

The United States Department of State has developed agreements with other partner nations to give preferential treatment for a work visa to qualified individuals. The countries are Australia, Chile, and Singapore.

Temporary Work Visas H-2A, H-2B, H-3

U.S. companies often require the availability of workers for short or seasonal periods. These individuals are admitted for essential jobs in agricultural and hospitality. Many in the fruit and vegetable-growing industries have been dependent on foreign workers for decades and would be devastated with their absence.

Similarly, areas with high levels of seasonal tourism are dependent on bringing foreign employees to the United States to accommodate crowd flows. These people generally return to their countries after only a few months.

For many multinational companies, bringing individuals to the United States for training is essential to the company’s global expansion.

In each case, having a qualified business immigration attorney is essential. Sometimes the requests involve large numbers of people and working with an experienced immigration lawyer can be far more efficient.

Enforcement and Verification

As your new employees settle into their new life in the United States, it is important that they understand and comply with all regulations and laws regarding their residency. Each visa has a specific time of legal residency and certain conditions may apply to each situation.

Keeping your company and your employees out of trouble is another role of a professional business immigration attorney. A qualified business immigration attorney can inform you, your company, and the employee of time lines and other significant elements for keeping their residency legal.

In a situation when the employee might run into some trouble or be in violation of a law, immediate legal representation by a qualified business immigration attorney may be essential to prevent the employee from being deported or otherwise punished.

Nanthaveth and Associates of Austin TX

Clearly, navigating the waters of legal employment immigration can be complicated. The outlook may be becoming more complex than ever. Procedures that seemed simple in the past may not be quite as effective.

Collaborating with an experienced, professional Business Immigration Attorney like Nanthaveth and Associates to expedite the work visa process will save time, money, and headaches.

If you are planning to bring employees from other countries to work to help grow your business, consult with a professional business immigration attorney, Vi Nanthaveth and Associates at 512-371-9000. These experienced professionals will facilitate the ins and outs of the visa process to allow you to focus on your business.