DC Employment Visa Lawyer

Employment-based immigration comes in several forms, namely as non-temporary or temporary visas. Depending on the type of employment opportunity and your qualifications, you may be eligible for different employment immigration options. Contact a DC employment visa lawyer today to learn more about the application process, sponsors, and more.

The experienced DC employment visa attorneys at our firm understand the complexities of the visa application process and can help guide you throughout. Call today to schedule your initial consultation and learn more about how they can help you. En Español.

Non-temporary Employment-based visas:

Every fiscal year (October 1 – September 30), approximately 140,000 non-temporary employment-based immigrant visas are made available to qualified applicants. These employment-based categories are divided into five categories:

(1) First Preference – Priority workers (reserved for extraordinary ability aliens, outstanding researchers, and multinational managers and executives),

(2) Second Preference – Members of professions holding advanced degrees or persons of exceptional ability,

(3) Third Preference – Professionals (with at least a bachelor’s degree in their field of study), skilled workers (with at least 2 years of experience) and other workers who may possess less than 2 years of training or experience,

(4) Fourth Preference – Special immigrants; a mixed category used primarily for religious workers, and

(5) Fifth Preference – For those who invest significant, job-creating funds in American industries.

You can also visit the State Department Employment-based immigration page here.

Each preference category is allocated a fixed percentage of the 140,000 available employment immigration visas. The majority (85.8%) of these visas are reserved for the EB-1, EB-2 and EB-3 categories, each of which receives 28.6%. The remaining visas are divided equally between the EB-4 and EB-5 categories, which are allocated 7.1% each. For the EB-2 and EB-3 categories, the employer must apply for and obtain a Labor Certification (LC) proving that the position the employee is seeking cannot reasonably be filled by a U.S. worker before any application may be filed with USCIS.

For more specific information on each of the Employment-based (EB) visa categories, please contact a DC employment visa lawyer or visit the links below:

• EB-1 Visas for Persons of Extraordinary Ability, Outstanding Professors & Researchers, and Multinational Executives and Managers
• EB-2 Visas for Members of Professions Holding Advanced Degrees or Individuals of Exceptional Ability
• EB-3 Visas for Professionals, Skilled, and Other Workers
• EB-4 Visas for Special Immigrants
• EB-5 Visas for Investors and Job Creators

Temporary Employment Based Visas:

Applicants who do not qualify for the non-temporary employment-based visas listed above may, in the alternative, apply for temporary immigration status based on their employment. One of the major challenges with temporary employment-based visas is the government’s numerical cap, which is set at 65,000 per year for skilled (H1B) workers and 66,000 for unskilled (H2B) workers.  Due to an extremely high demand for these visas, the cap is often reached within months or even weeks of the opening date. Accordingly, it is extremely important for an applicant to consult a DC employment visa lawyer and to begin preparation well before the first day of the fiscal year.

For more information on temporary employment-based visas, please contact an employment immigration attorney in DC or visit the links below:

• H1B: Temporary Visas for Specialty Occupations, DoD Project Workers & Fashion Models
• H2: Short-Term Visas for Agricultural and Non-Agricultural Workers
• E-1: Treaty Traders Visas
• E-2: Investor Visas
• I Visa: Representatives of Foreign Media
• O Visas:  Visas for Persons of Extraordinary Ability in the Arts, Sciences, Education, Business, or Athletics
• P Visas: Performers and Athletes
• Q: International Cultural Exchange Program Visas
• R: Religious Worker Visas
• TN Visa: Visas for Employees from Mexico and Canada Employed in NAFTA Professions
  
• L Visa: Foreign Employees Who Want to Transfer to a Corporation’s U.S. Office