Study, Work, Live in United States
As foreigners ourselves we know firsthand how crazy the struggle can be as collectively we have covered the J1 visa (various types), F1 Visa & OPT, E3 Visa, H1B Visa, Green Card Application Process & Green Card Lottery along with various renewals as well as work with people who have had to endure the L1 Visa, EB-5 Visa and H-2B visa along with all the partner and dependent visas.
Between us we have also worked at US Immigration sponsor organizations so worked the US Department of State, USCIS, SEVIS, US Consulates & Embassies all over the world as well as helped individually here thousands of people every month with answering their questions on all the various posts. Basically we have heard and seen it all!
Visas at your finger tips
The H-1B visa is the most talked about US visa in all of US Immigration. It is ultimately the most common work visa accessible to all foreigners of any nationality to allow them to work mainly in a professional capacity in America. There is currently a limited amount of 85,000 of these visas issued every year so it is always competitive not just amongst foreigners but also the employers around the US desperate to hire talent.
The E-3 Visa is currently a working visa that is exclusively for Australian citizens to work in the US for 2 year stints but renewable indefinitely. There is a push for an E-3 type visa for Irish and South Korean citizens, however that is still pending. It has many of the same characteristics of the H-1B working visa with some important different differences around length, renewal, spousal working ability and dual intent with Permanent Residency.
A Green Card is viewed as a mystical unattainable document from foreigners and as status all too freely given out by many US citizens. In actuality a Green Card is many things and until very recently wasn’t even Green (although originally it was at its inception). It ultimately represents Permanent Resident status in the US and bestows most of the rights of a US Citizen on to its holder barring the ability to vote, running for elected office, jury duty and some other civil benefits.
In truth the Green Card is very difficult to obtain and is extremely complex with numerous paths to attainment from employer sponsored, family sponsored, refugee, extraordinary ability, investment based and even a lottery. However there are limited caps and long waiting lists in most cases.