Getting a U.S. work visa through employer sponsorship means a U.S. company petitions the federal government for permission to hire you, attests it will pay you at least the prevailing wage for the role, and shepherds paperwork through the Department of Labor and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services until you can either enter the country on the visa or change your status if you’re already here. The specific steps depend on which visa category fits the job, and the H-1B, the most common one, adds a lottery on top because Congress caps it at 85,000 new visas a year against registration numbers that routinely top 400,000.
Pick the Visa Category That Fits the Job
Sponsorship starts with matching the position to a visa category. The category dictates the timeline, the paperwork, the fees, and whether you’re competing in a lottery.
The H-1B covers specialty occupations that require at least a bachelor’s degree in a specific field: software engineers, financial analysts, architects, and similar roles where the position itself demands the education. Initial stays run up to three years, extendable to a six-year maximum.1U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. H-1B Specialty Occupations2U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. FAQs for Individuals in H-1B Nonimmigrant Status
The L-1 is for intracompany transfers. You must have worked for the same company abroad for at least one continuous year in the three years before the transfer. L-1A covers executives and managers; L-1B covers employees with specialized knowledge of the company’s products, services, or internal systems.3U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. L-1A Intracompany Transferee Executive or Manager
The O-1 is for individuals with extraordinary ability in sciences, arts, education, business, or athletics. The bar is high: sustained national or international recognition, evidenced by major awards, published research, or a substantial body of work.4U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. O-1 Visa – Individuals with Extraordinary Ability or Achievement
Canadian and Mexican citizens have a shortcut: the TN visa under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement. It covers a defined list of professions including accountants, engineers, and scientists. Filing is faster and cheaper than the H-1B, but the eligible occupation list is narrow.5U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. USCIS Policy Manual Volume 2 Part P – USMCA Professionals (TN)
Confirm Both Sides Are Eligible
Sponsorship is a two-sided qualification test. The employer has to prove it’s a real business that can afford you, and you have to prove your credentials match the job.
The sponsoring company needs a Federal Employer Identification Number from the IRS.6Internal Revenue Service. Employer Identification Number It must show it can pay the prevailing wage, which is the average salary paid to workers in the same occupation and geographic area.7U.S. Department of Labor. Prevailing Wage Information and Resources USCIS looks at tax returns, net income, and net assets. Newer companies without a long tax record can submit audited financial statements instead. The position also has to be a real job that genuinely requires the worker’s skills; USCIS treats this as a substantive test, not a formality.
On your side, your qualifications have to match the job. For an H-1B, that means at least a bachelor’s degree in a field directly related to the role.1U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. H-1B Specialty Occupations If your degree is from a foreign institution, you’ll need a credential evaluation from an organization recognized by the National Association of Credential Evaluation Services or the Association of International Credentials Evaluators.8United States Department of State. Evaluation of Foreign Degrees If the role requires a professional license, such as nursing or engineering, you need that license before the petition can be approved.
How the Filing Process Actually Works
For H-1B and most other employer-sponsored categories, the paperwork moves through two agencies.
Step one is the Labor Condition Application, which the employer files with the Department of Labor. On the LCA, the employer attests that it will pay at least the prevailing wage and that hiring you will not harm the wages or working conditions of U.S. employees doing similar work.9U.S. Department of Labor, Foreign Labor Certification. Labor Condition Application (LCA) Specialty Occupations with the H-1B, H-1B1 and E-3 Programs
Step two, after the LCA is certified, is Form I-129, Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker, filed with USCIS.10U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. I-129, Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker The package needs to include:
- Employer information: EIN, a detailed description of the job duties, and the physical work location.
- Your biographical data: passport details and your current immigration status if you’re already in the U.S.
- Educational evidence: degree transcripts, credential evaluations for foreign degrees, and any required professional licenses.
- Employment terms: a signed offer letter or employment agreement spelling out title, salary, start date, and work conditions.
- Prevailing wage documentation: the certified LCA and any supporting wage determination.
Misrepresenting anything on these forms is serious. You can be permanently barred from entering the United States, and the employer can face criminal prosecution. Accuracy beats speed.
USCIS sends a receipt notice with a case number once it accepts the filing. If the officer reviewing the case wants more information, you’ll get a Request for Evidence. That’s not a denial, but it is a hard deadline: the standard response window is 84 days, plus three days when the notice is mailed.11U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Policy Memorandum – Change in Timeframes for RFEs Missing it almost always ends the case. Otherwise strong petitions collapse here when the RFE sits unopened for a week and the response is rushed at the end.
After the petition is approved, what happens next depends on where you are. If you’re abroad, you attend a visa interview at a U.S. embassy or consulate in your home country to get the visa stamp in your passport. If you’re already in the U.S. on another valid status, you may be able to change status without leaving.10U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. I-129, Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker
The H-1B Lottery Is a Separate Hurdle
If your job falls under the H-1B category, there’s an extra step before any of the above. Congress caps new H-1B visas at 65,000 per fiscal year, with another 20,000 reserved for workers holding a master’s or higher from a U.S. institution.12U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. H-1B Cap Season Because demand far outruns supply, USCIS runs an electronic lottery.
Employers register you online during a short spring window. For fiscal year 2027, registration opened at noon Eastern on March 4, 2026, and closed at 5:00 p.m. Eastern on March 19, 2026. Each registration costs $215 per beneficiary.13U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. H-1B Electronic Registration Process Only selected registrations may then file the full petition.
Some employers skip the lottery entirely. Petitions from institutions of higher education, nonprofit research organizations, and government research organizations are cap-exempt.12U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. H-1B Cap Season A university or qualifying research nonprofit can file for you any time of year.
Fees and How Long It Takes
Government fees stack. For H-1B petitions, the employer pays the Form I-129 base filing fee (which varies by employer size), the ACWIA training fee under the American Competitiveness and Workforce Improvement Act (also size-dependent), a Fraud Prevention and Detection Fee on initial petitions and certain employer changes, and the $215 registration fee per beneficiary.13U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. H-1B Electronic Registration Process Because amounts shift and depend on employer size and category, USCIS’s fee calculator is the reliable way to total your case.14U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Calculate Your Fees For a mid-sized company filing an initial H-1B, government fees commonly run to several thousand dollars before legal costs.
Timing depends on whether the employer pays for premium processing. For $2,965, USCIS guarantees action on the petition within 15 business days.15U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. How Do I Request Premium Processing That action can be an approval, a denial, or an RFE, but it ends the waiting. Without premium processing, standard cases can take months depending on the service center’s backlog.
Bringing Family
Your spouse and unmarried children under 21 can come with you on dependent visas that track your category: H-4 for H-1B, L-2 for L-1, and so on.16U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. USCIS Policy Manual Volume 10 Part B Chapter 2 – Employment Authorization for Certain Dependent Spouses Dependent children cannot work. L-2 spouses are eligible for work authorization. H-4 spouses can apply for a work permit only if the H-1B worker is the beneficiary of an approved I-140 immigrant petition or has been granted H-1B status beyond the six-year limit under the American Competitiveness in the Twenty-first Century Act.17U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Employment Authorization for Certain H-4 Dependent Spouses When an H-4 spouse qualifies, the work permit is unrestricted and not tied to a specific employer.
If You Lose or Change Jobs
H-1B workers have portability. Once a new employer properly files a new H-1B petition for you, you can start work for that employer immediately; you don’t have to wait for USCIS to approve it.2U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. FAQs for Individuals in H-1B Nonimmigrant Status The new petition has to be legitimate, and you must be in valid H-1B status when it’s filed.
If your job ends before you have a new sponsor lined up, you get a grace period of up to 60 consecutive calendar days or until the end of your authorized stay, whichever comes first. It applies to H-1B, L-1, O-1, TN, and several other nonimmigrant categories. During that window you can find a new sponsor or file to change to a different immigration status. The clock runs from the last day of employment, not from when you were notified, so move fast.
If the employer fires an H-1B worker before the authorized employment period ends, federal law requires the employer to pay the reasonable cost of return transportation to the worker’s last foreign residence, regardless of the reason for dismissal.18Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1184 – Admission of Nonimmigrants If you quit, the employer owes nothing for travel.
Work Visa Versus Green Card
These visas are temporary. Many workers use them as a stepping stone toward permanent residence, but that’s a separate process running on its own track. It typically involves three stages: the employer obtains a PERM labor certification from the Department of Labor to test whether a qualified U.S. worker is available; the employer files Form I-140 with USCIS to classify you under an employment-based preference category;19U.S. Department of State. Employment-Based Immigrant Visas and once your priority date is current, you file for adjustment of status or attend a consular interview abroad.
The wait can take years, and for workers born in countries with the highest demand it can stretch past a decade. An approved I-140 helps you in the meantime: it can let an H-1B worker extend past the standard six-year cap, and it can make an H-4 spouse eligible for work authorization. Getting the work visa done is the first move; the green card is a separate campaign to plan for once you’re here.