Curran & Berger LLP

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.

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.

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. 

An L-1 visa is a temporary visa that allows foreign companies to transfer executives and managers (L-1A) and other workers possessing specialized knowledge (L-1B) temporarily to affiliates or subsidiaries in the United States.  This visa category is intended to improve management effectiveness, expand U.S. exports, and enhance competitiveness in markets abroad.

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.

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 E-1 and E-2 categories provide temporary visas for nationals of select countries that come to the US to conduct trade between the US and the treaty country or to oversee the operations of an enterprise in which they have invested.  The spouse and children under age 21 of the principal E visa holder may apply for derivative E visas.  The spouse is eligible for work authorization, children are not.  The duration of E visas is governed by the treaty.  For example, citizens of the UK are generally granted an initial two-year visa and extensions are granted for a maximum of five years.

In accordance with section 212(a)(7)(B) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, an alien who applies for admission into the United States on a nonimmigrant visa (NIV) is required to possess a passport that:

1. Is valid for a minimum of six months beyond the date of the expiration of the initial period of admission into the United States, and
2. Authorizes the alien to return to their home country, or to proceed to and enter some other country at the end of the initial period of admission.

If your passport expires before the expiration date of your NIV, you may not be admitted to the United States for the full duration of your visa.  When you enter the United States, please be sure to carefully check any new I-94 card or NIV stamp in your passport to confirm that expiration date is correct.