My company is growing but I am unable to find qualified workers to keep up with business demands. May I consider hiring temporary foreign workers?
Yes, Congress has made available a number of employment-based visa classifications for professional, skilled or unskilled foreign workers. Although this article is limited to non-immigrant visas, meaning the employee will return to his/her home country at the end of the assignment, there are also immigrant visas available for foreign workers who seek to permanently live and work in the U.S.
The process of petitioning for temporary workers is certainly not easy. Certain classifications require the employer, under strict conditions set by the Department of Labor, to first test the market to make sure there are no U.S. workers who are able, willing, qualified, and available to do the temporary work, and the employment of the foreign workers will not adversely affect wage rate and working conditions of similarly employed U.S. workers. Some classifications also have a limited number of visas available per fiscal year.
For instance, the H-1B classification allows foreign nationals to accept professional assignments, such as engineers, teachers, architects, physicians, with U.S. employers. This classification typically requires the foreign national to have the equivalent of a bachelor’s degree, and there is an annual cap 65,000 for H-1B visas, with an additional 20,000 H-1B visas for foreign nationals holding U.S. advanced degrees.
The H-2A program allows U.S. employers who meet specific regulatory requirements to bring foreign nationals from certain eligible countries to the U.S. to fill temporary agricultural jobs. Due to the nature of agricultural work, U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) expedites the processing of H-2A petitions. The H-2B program, on the other hand, is reserved for temporary non-agricultural jobs, and has an annual cap of 66,000 visas. The top industries utilizing H-2B workers are resort and hospitality services, retail sales, landscaping, food service and processing, and construction.
The TN classification is for Canadian and Mexican citizens who will perform professional assignments in the U.S. The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) treaty specifies the list of occupations, such as accountants, computer system analysts, hotel managers, land surveyors, teachers, nutritionists, and research assistants, to name a few, as well as the corresponding educational and/or licensure requirements. The TN classification has no numerical limitation.
The L-1 visa, under the L-1A or L-1B classification, allows for the intracompany transfer of employees of foreign entities to U.S. parent, affiliate, and subsidiary companies. The L-1A is reserved for employees who perform managerial or executive assignments in the U.S. The L-1B is reserved for employees who perform specialized knowledge assignments.
The H, TN, and L classifications are only a few of many other available classifications. For U.S. employers seeking temporary foreign workers, planning is key given the complexity of this process, the annual numerical limitations, the extensive requirements, and the strict deadlines that need to be adhered to in order to have an application processed and approved.