The ABC of Hiring Foreign Employees

We all know that hiring foreign employees is a good choice, from many points of view. First of all, every businessman wants to hire the best professionals in order to build a solid business, and sometimes foreign professionals fit perfectly. There are things you need to know if you intend to hire foreign workers for your business, if you want to respect the immigration laws and avoid a lot of disturbing problems.

• Be prepared to deal with the H-1B visa

It’s a well known fact that an H-1B visa is very hard to obtain. Therefore, you should always look for employees that already possess an H-1B visa, and you will spare a lot of time. The prospect employees should fulfil the following conditions:

1. To maintain the lawful status;

2. To work ion the lawful status;

3. To be legally admitted to the U.S.

Another thing you must remember is to fill in the petition for the H-1B visa before the old one expires.

• Take advantage of the 7th year extension

Did you know that the H-1B visa can be extended for three additional years instead of the there years ranted by law? Well, there is a law that provides even more time: the AC 21 (the American Competitiveness in the 21st Century Act) allows the proper candidates to extend the H-1B visa limit up to seven years.

If your employees want to benefit from this extension pay attention to the labour certification, as it must be pending for more than a year from the date the labour certification (known as the I-140 paper) was filled.

• Does your employee fit the eligibility rules for the three years extension?

This is an easy thing to check: if the employee has an approved labor certificate, but he is not able to adjust his status because no immigrant visa numbers are available, it’s OK; you can extend his H-1B via status for three extra years.

• Are here any extra options for extending the visa limit of a foreign employee?

Yes, they are in case they don’t fit the conditions mentioned above. If your employee has less than one year left on his H-1B visa, you can apply on his behalf for a labor certification. This applies only in case the employee will manage to solve his visa situation before it expires.

• How to recover the time your employee has spend outside of the U.S

If your employee spends a certain period of time outside the U.S, you can recovery that time by filling an application of extension for the H-1B visa. This way, you can recover the days he/she was in vacation, for example. There is one thing you should remember though: the application must be filled before the visa expires.

Now regardless of the number of days you want to recover, the foreign employee still qualifies for a visa extension up to 240 days, depending on the decision of USCIS. This is the basic ABC of hiring and holding foreign employees within your business staff. Respecting the current legislation will allow you to grow a professional team of employees without fearing that you violate the United States Immigration Laws.

*** Remember that this article does not constitute a legal advice for those trying to solve related problems. Therefore, you must seek for legal advice and counselling before you take any decision regarding hiring foreign employees.

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