Employment (Visa) Sponsorship For Financial Services Professionals

Many Financial Services Companies cannot hire individuals as financial advisor position who are not legally authorized to work in the United States or who require or will require sponsorship for employment visa status.

Often at the end of a job ad for Financial Services…it will say: “Are you legally authorized to work in the U.S. without visa sponsorship for employment?  Due to restrictions imposed by U.S. immigration laws, individuals who require visa sponsorship may be ineligible for consideration as a Financial Services Professional.”

This is not to say that Financial Services Companies do not hire foreign workers.  This practice is simply not as commonplace as it was before September 11, 2001 . Nevertheless we must have a discussion of the types of work visas allowed in the USA.

Employment Eligibility Verification
All U.S. Employers must complete and retain a Form I-9 for each individual they hire for employment in the United States. This requirement is for all of us…i.e. citizens and noncitizens. On Form I-9, the employer must examine the employment eligibility and identity document(s) an employee presents to determine whether the document(s) reasonably appear to be genuine and relate to the individual and record the document information on the Form I-9. The list of acceptable documents can be found on the last page of the Form I-9. If the worker is a immigrant and want o be considered as a nonimmigrant under the classifications below, the applicant's prospective employer or agent must file Form I-129, Petition for Nonimmigrant Worker, with the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services in the Department of Homeland Security (USCIS).

Overview and Types of Visas (Classifications)
The Immigration and Nationality Act provides several categories of nonimmigrant visas for a person who wishes to work temporarily in the United States. If you want to work in the U.S. temporarily, under immigration law, you need a specific visa based on the purpose of your travel and type of work you will be doing. There are annual numerical limits on some classifications, which are shown in parentheses. The annual numerical limits are set by Congress on certain nonimmigrant visa classifications, e.g., H-1B and H-2B. Caps control the number of workers that can be issued a visa in a given fiscal year to enter the United States pursuant to a particular nonimmigrant classification. Caps also control the number of aliens already in the United States that may be authorized to change status to a cap-subject classification.

• H-1B classification applies to persons in a specialty occupation which requires the theoretical and practical application of a body of highly specialized knowledge requiring completion of a specific course of higher education. Typical H-1B occupations include architects, engineers, computer programmers, accountants, doctors and college professors. The H-1B visa program also includes certain fashion models of distinguished merit and ability and up to 100 persons who will performing services of an exceptional nature in connection with Department of Defense (DOD) research and development projects or coproduction projects. This classification requires a labor attestation issued by the Secretary of Labor (65,000). Unused numbers in this pool are made available for H-1B use for the next fiscal year.
• H-1B Advanced Degree Exemption (The H-1B Visa Reform Act of 2004) makes available 20,000 new H-1B visas for foreign workers with a Master's or higher level degree from a U.S. academic institution. For each fiscal year, 20,000 beneficiaries of H-1B petitions on behalf of persons who hold such credentials are statutorily exempted from the cap.
• H-1C classification applies to foreign nurses coming to perform nursing services in medically underserved areas for a temporary period up to three years. The Nursing Relief for Disadvantaged Areas Act of 1999 (NRDAA) has been reauthorized for an additional three years, and will expire on December 20, 2009.
• H-2A classification applies to temporary or seasonal agricultural workers.
• H-2B classification applies to temporary or seasonal nonagricultural workers. This classification requires a temporary labor certification issued by the Secretary of Labor (66,000).
• H-3 classification applies to trainees other than medical or academic. This classification also applies to practical training in the education of handicapped children (50).
• L classification applies to intracompany transferees who, within the three preceding years, have been employed abroad continuously for one year, and who will be employed by a branch, parent, affiliate, or subsidiary of that same employer in the U.S. in a managerial, executive, or specialized knowledge capacity.
• O-1 classification applies to persons who have extraordinary ability in the sciences, arts, education, business, or athletics, or extraordinary achievements in the motion picture and television field.
• O-2 classification applies to persons accompanying an O-1 alien to assist in an artistic or athletic performance for a specific event or performance.
• P-1 classification applies to individual or team athletes, or members of an entertainment group that are internationally recognized (25,000).
• P-2 classification applies to artists or entertainers who will perform under a reciprocal exchange program.
• P-3 classification applies to artists or entertainers who perform under a program that is culturally unique (same as P-1).
• Q-1 classification applies to participants in an international cultural exchange program for the purpose of providing practical training, employment, and the sharing of the history, culture, and traditions of the alien's home country.

 How Long I Am Authorized To Stay In The U.S.?

• The H-1B Visa is valid for up to 3 years and may be extended for another three years for a total of six years.
• The H-2A Visa is valid for one year with two one-year extensions.
• The H-3 Visa is valid for the period required to complete the training..limited to two years.
• The H-4 Visa is valid for the same amount of time as the H-1B, H-2A, H-2B and H-3 visas holder that you are accompanying.  Application may be made to extend the H-4 visa to correspond to extensions of the H-1B, H-2A, H-2B and H-3 visa holder.

A visa does not guarantee entry into the United States, but allows a foreign citizen coming from abroad, to travel to the United States port-of entry and request permission to enter the U.S. The Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials have authority to permit or deny admission to the United States, and determine how long a traveler may stay. At the port of entry, upon granting entry to the U.S., the Department of Homeland Security, US immigration inspector, provides you a small white card, Form I-94, Arrival-Departure Record in your passport. Visa Waiver Program travelers receive Form 1-94W. On this form, the U.S. immigration inspector records either a date or "D/S" (duration of status). If your I-94 contains a specific date, then that is the date by which you must leave the United States. Your Form I-94, or I-94W is a very important document to keep in your passport, since it shows your permission to be in the U.S. Review information about Admission on the CBP Website.

Petitions - Form I-129 (Consideration as a NonImmigrant)
As mentioned earlier, In order to be considered as a nonimmigrant under the above classifications the applicant's prospective employer or agent must file Form I-129, Petition for Nonimmigrant Worker, with the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services in the Department of Homeland Security (USCIS). Important Note: It is very important for prospective employers to file the petition as soon as possible (but not more than 6 months before the proposed employment will begin) to provide adequate time for petition and subsequent visa processing. The petition, Form I-129 must be approved by USCIS before the prospective employee can apply for a visa at a U.S. Embassy or Consulate abroad. When the petition is approved, the employer or agent is sent a Notice of Action, Form I-797, the notification of petition approval. However, the I-797 is no longer needed for the visa applicant's interview, since petition approval is now verified in the Department of State's system called Petition Information Management Service (PIMS). In order to verify the petition approval, we will need your approved I-129 petition receipt number so please make sure to have this available. It should be noted that the approval of a petition shall not guarantee visa issuance to an applicant found to be ineligible under provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act. 

For mome information on Visas, Forms and Fees: The Office of Visa Services