As mentioned before, employers can use non-immigrant work visas to hire individuals for employment in the United States. These are referred to as Employment Visas or E-1 visa status. The most common type of employment visa is the B-1 business visitor.
With this class of visa, an employer may recruit international workers who will be visiting either for training purposes or to start working at their company here.
The other major category of employment visa is the F-1 student visa. An employee with an F-1 visa must attend school while they are hired, but once their schooling is finished then they can begin working full time for yourcompany!
However, both of these types of visa require that the individual receive adequate job placement after leaving the workplace. This is called VISA JOB PLACEMENT or VJPP. It is important to make sure that you have this covered before finalizing the employment process!
Having trouble finding some extra time to complete all of your paperwork? You are not alone. There are several reasons why it takes so long to process an employment visa, including departmental cutoffs due to budget constraints, staff members being overworked, and the sheer number of documents needed.
In fact, even though we only discussed paperwork for the B-1 visa here, there are additional documents required for the F-1 student visa that take much longer than what we talked about earlier.
The first step in processing your immigrant or nonimmigrant visa is to get approved for employment within the United States. This requires you to be enrolled in an employer certification program, such as ETA’s Employer Certification Program (EPP).
After being certified, your potential employers must also submit proof of their financial stability by submitting Form I-9, which is commonly referred to as the Employment Eligibility Verification form.
Form I-9 asks about identity, marital status, citizenship, social security number, and income. All this information has to match up with what we already have on file, so it is important to update your forms before submitting them!
If anything changes like address, phone numbers, job positions, or employers, you need to re-submit these forms. It takes our staff several days to review and process all documents, so if you notice that your visa hasn't moved forward after a few weeks, that can be normal.
As mentioned before, it takes an average of one week for most employers to receive all required documents and paperwork. This includes having the employer review your resume, gathering references, and getting their approval.
After receiving everything, the next step is to have you apply online for the visa. This can take anywhere from days to weeks depending on how many applicants there are for the position.
The way that this process works is that every applicant has to go through the Electronic Application Service (EAS) system where they input personal information, respond to questionnaires, and upload documentation.
This happens at a time when there are very few people working outside the office, so it could take longer than expected if there’s heavy traffic during business hours.
As mentioned before, there is an additional 2% processing fee for every application you submit with IFA or GCI. This includes all applications such as EB2 business visa petitions, LCA requests, PERM reauthorizations, etc.
These fees are not tax deductible though so make sure to keep that in mind when considering whether to apply.
The exact timing of these fees has been changing over time however we have seen past years having a one month window during which they could be applied for. These days it’s typically about two weeks.
We recommend being familiar with the process of applying for visas so that you aren’t caught off guard by this. Both IFA and GCI offer free trial accounts if you want to look around to see how things work.
After your employment has been verified, it’s time to begin applying for your P-3 visa! The process for obtaining this visa can take anywhere from one day to several weeks, depending on how many employers you have on your contact list and whether there are any issues with your background check.
Most employers require two forms of identification and proof of income before they will agree to offer you a position. These include: a passport or national ID card,proof of residency (like a driver’s license or apartment lease),and usually a pay stub.
Your employer will also ask if you have anything in your criminal history that would prohibit you fro working in their department or office. If so, you won’t be able to work for them until those items have been cleared. This is not only unfair to you but could potentially hurt their business as well.
It is very important to understand what happens next after your apply for a visa. If you do not hear back from US Customs and Immigration within about one month, then it is likely that you will have to start over and reapply!
It can be difficult trying to manage work while waiting around for someone to review your documents and process your visa applications. This is even more true if you are applying for a visa at a time when there is a major holiday or national celebration happening in the United States.
During these times of high demand, immigration offices get extremely busy. Applicants often need to wait several days or weeks before they receive a response from an employee regarding their paperwork and visas.
A third party cannot authorize your visit to the United States or any other country for that matter. So, how does their permission affect you? Unfortunately, it can very much!
If the government discovers something about you during your visa application process or while you are in the U.S., they can revoke your VISA and return you home immediately. This is worse than being denied entry because there’s no way to recover from a visa revocation.
You have been identified as an individual who poses a risk to national security or public safety so we must take action before you enter the country. Because of this, our department has to review all documents related to your applications and trip plans thoroughly.
We also need to confirm your departure date and place so we know where to send you once you leave. All this takes time, which is why most people don’t find out what happens to them until well after arriving at the airport.
Visas are an important part of traveling to the United States, but unfortunately, not all embassies work at a consistent speed in processing visas.
Some take longer than expected while some seem almost instantaneous. There is no set time frame that every embassy must stick to when issuing or denying a visa, so there is nothing you can do but be patient!
It’s also worth noting that even if your passport has expired, there is no rule stating that you cannot enter the country. Some countries may ask you about it during entry, but they will let you into the country after verifying that your documents are authentic.
As mentioned earlier, employers can ask for a lot of documents and paperwork as part of the visa processing process. This includes proof of your job offer, tax forms, medical records, and more.
Be aware that some of these documents must be certified or notarized. The consulate will likely request copies of these documents during the interview stage to make sure they are authentic.
If you’re asked to bring in additional materials, remember that requiring too many items may delay your departure. You don’t want to waste time looking up things like employment certificates while waiting for the next step in the process!
And once again, timing is important. If there’s no answer at 9 AM EST when you call, send what you have now and we’ll update it with whatever you need later.
