VISA2US Blog

There are many benefits to an H-1B visa, making it a highly sought-after document for foreign workers worldwide. One of these perks is the ability to bring your spouse and dependent children with you to the United States under an H-4 visa category. However, that label doesn’t give those individuals the immediate right to work, as you have. Instead, they must apply for an Employment Authorization Document (EAD), and there’s no guarantee that this application will be approved. You may need to use compelling circumstance arguments to get your H-4 dependents an EAD, and we’ll explain what those are in this short blog.

The architect profession requires an advanced degree and significant skills to be successful. With the expansive amount of new construction and remodeling in the United States on a regular basis, it can be challenging to find American citizens who fit the requirements of the job and are open to working for a particular company, requiring those employers to reach out to overseas countries for help. As a foreign worker in this occupation, you’ll need a visa to accept a job offer. Here are the options you have to move your profession into the US job market and what you should know before taking another step forward along this journey.

Followers of the immigration law landscape in the United States have been bracing for rising fees for months. One of those increases is slated for May 30, 2023. This rate hike affects anyone applying for a nonimmigrant visa. What does this mean for you? We have the details here.

There’s no denying that the H-1B visa is arguably the most popular category on the market. But with many more petitioners than visas allocated, it’s also very difficult to obtain. This year’s lottery, FY 2024, saw the largest influx of registrations in history, but the US Citizenship and Immigration Services can only provide 85,000 visas. If you weren’t one of the chosen few, you still have options, as we’ll discuss here.

Each year, hundreds of thousands of specialty workers enter the US or apply for new documents to stay in the country. These applications always have fees attached to them, but the government agency processing the documents, USCIS, is working outside of its budget. To offset rising costs and enhance the working conditions of each processing center, the US Department of State agreed to increase fees for specific nonimmigrant visa applications. 

You know you want to expand your career outside of your country’s borders, and the United States has a lot to offer. All you have to do is get there! But to live and work in the US, you need a visa, with the H-1B category being the most popular. However, it’s not the only kind of work visa there is, and navigating the various types can be confusing. We’ve broken them down for you here to help you understand which one is right for you.

The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services filed a petition recently requesting permission to raise its rates. If this proposed rule is approved, certain applications and petitions will see filing fee hikes. As with any fee request, there are advantages and disadvantages to this change, but USCIS and the government aren’t making this decision unilaterally. Those affected by this rule and anyone with an opinion on the proposed rule may be heard, but the public comment period ended on March 13, 2023. What does this mean for you? Read on to learn the details.

The time it takes to file and process a visa from start to finish is quite lengthy. Some petitioners end up waiting over a year for their paperwork to process and then longer for their interview. The COVID-inflicted backlog took an already time-consuming project and added even more delays. However, those visa petitioners who were placed on hold because of the pandemic are mostly caught up, allowing USCIS officials to catch up on new filers. 

When an employer extends a job offer to a foreign worker, it’s never done lightly. This action comes at a cost — payable to the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and the Department of Labor. Yet, although those fees can seem hefty when you’re the one paying them, USCIS operates on a constant backlog due to high operating costs. The fees have stayed consistent since 2016, but in 2023, a proposed rule seeks to help reduce backlogs by increasing fees and allowing the department to streamline its processes. 

Certain fields are known to have job openings that are notoriously difficult to fill. These industries, such as those in the STEM categories, have high-skill requirements and fewer people who meet the criteria to choose from. For that reason, many of these US employers must reach beyond the pool of native applicants and attempt to find foreign workers who can help them. But this action, although it's a last resort, does not get performed lightly. You must follow government guidelines as a US employer looking to hire a nonimmigrant. We've summarized them here to help you get started.