Those who wish to enter the United States for employment purposes may find this can actually be difficult to accomplish. Employment immigration, just like everything else, is extremely regulated. Only select individuals tend to be granted the appropriate visas needed to secure jobs, whether in California or elsewhere across the country.
Employment visas are often granted to those with certain skill sets. In fact, these visas are divided into five different categories in which preference is given to those based upon their abilities. Those with the most desirable skill sets are placed in the first-preference, or EB-1 category.
EB-1 visas may be granted to those who have what are considered extraordinary or outstanding abilities. The EB-1 category, in itself, has been divided into three different sub-categories: extraordinary ability, outstanding professors and researchers and multinational manager or executive. These individuals tend to have contributed something significant to their fields of work.
Those who qualify under the extraordinary ability category are not required to have a job offer in place before applying for a visa. Those looking for jobs as professors or researchers must show significant achievement in their academic field in order to seek a position at a university or other such facility in the United States. Finally, those who qualify for the multinational manager or executive category may be able to transfer to their firm’s stateside office, in California or elsewhere, after at least one year of employment with that same firm in another country. An experienced immigrantion attorney can help those interested in employment immigration visas determine which preference visas they may qualify for and under which sub-categories they may be able to file.
Source: uscis.gov, “Employment-Based immigrantion: First Preference EB-1”, Accessed on Oct. 8, 2015