Curran & Berger

Foreign medical graduates (FMG) who study or complete residencies in the U.S. in J-1 visa status are subject to the 212(e) two-year home residence requirement, which requires that they must spend at least two years in their home country before they are allowed to change their status to H-1B or be granted permanent resident status in the U.S.  If you are a FMG who has an offer of full time employment at a health care facility and are working in an area experiencing a designated shortage of health care professionals, you may be eligible to apply to the U.S. State Department for a waiver of the two-year home residence requirement. 

A TN Visa is available to citizens of Canada and Mexico who have an offer of temporary employment in the U.S. for a position that is on the list that was negotiated as part of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).  Detailed information about the TN Visa can be found on the U.S. Department of State website.

The J-1 Exchange Visitor Visa program allows foreign nationals to come to the U.S. for a temporary period for a wide variety of educational and cultural exchange programs.  Exchange programs sponsor students, job trainees, faculty, professors and research scholars, specialists, government visitors and several other types of visitor.  Detailed information about J-1 visas can be found on the U.S. Department of State website.

An H-1B nonimmigrant visa is a temporary visa for professional workers in specialty occupations that normally require a bachelor’s degree or equivalent as a minimum requirement.  Typical examples of H-1B eligible professionals are computer programmers, engineers, teachers, scientists, and lawyers. The H-1B visa is valid for three years and can be renewed for an additional three years.

An L-1 visa is a temporary visa which allows foreign companies to temporarily transfer executives and managers ("L-1A") and technical workers possessing "specialized knowledge" ("L-1B") to affiliates or subsidiaries in the United States.

The O-1 visa is a temporary employment visa available for aliens of extraordinary ability in the arts, sciences, athletics, education or business. In practice, this includes nearly any field of endeavor: pupateers, figure skaters, scientific researchers, and more. The O visa can be a welcome option for highly talented individuals who are not eligible for another type of visa. O visas are granted for the duration of an "event" (i.e. a grant, project, tour, etc.) and for an initial period of no longer than three years. Extensions for the O visa are easy and unlimited, granted in increments of 1 year at a time.