USA Work Visa Types, Requirements, Application Steps, and Fees

The United States offers several work visa types, and how you apply depends on which one fits your job, your credentials, and your nationality. Nearly all of them share one rule: a U.S. employer has to petition for you. You cannot file for yourself. The employer submits the petition to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), and once it’s approved you either attend a visa interview at a U.S. consulate abroad or, if you’re already lawfully in the country, change status without leaving.

Below is what each of the main categories covers, what your employer has to prove, what you need to gather, and how the process actually moves.

The Main Work Visa Categories

Federal law defines dozens of nonimmigrant work classifications. A handful account for most employer-sponsored hiring, and the right one depends on your qualifications, your country of citizenship, and whether the job is ongoing or temporary.

H-1B: Specialty Occupations

The H-1B covers “specialty occupations,” which the law defines as jobs requiring both a specialized body of knowledge and at least a bachelor’s degree (or its equivalent) in a directly related field.¹ Software engineers, financial analysts, architects, and research scientists are typical examples. Without a formal degree, you can qualify by showing equivalent work experience, generally three years of progressive professional experience for each missing year of education.

L-1: Intracompany Transferees

The L-1 lets multinational companies transfer employees from foreign offices to U.S. operations. The L-1A is for managers and executives; the L-1B is for workers with specialized knowledge of the company’s products, processes, or procedures. You must have worked for the same employer (or a parent, subsidiary, or affiliate) abroad for at least one continuous year within the three years before your transfer.²

O-1: Extraordinary Ability

The O-1 is for individuals at the top of their field in the sciences, arts, education, business, or athletics. You need to show national or international recognition through evidence like major awards, published work, high salary relative to peers, or significant original contributions. The petition must include a written advisory opinion from a peer group or labor organization in your area of expertise.³

TN: USMCA Professionals

Citizens of Canada and Mexico can work in the U.S. under the TN classification, created by the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement. It’s limited to a specific list of pre-approved professions, including accountants, engineers, scientists, and certain healthcare workers.⁴ You must hold the credentials listed for your profession and have a valid job offer. Canadian citizens can often apply directly at a U.S. port of entry without a prior petition, which makes the process faster than most other work visa categories.

H-2B: Temporary Non-Agricultural Workers

The H-2B fills temporary non-agricultural jobs when not enough U.S. workers are available. Landscaping, hospitality, and construction employers use it heavily. The employer has to show the need is genuinely temporary, whether seasonal, one-time, or a peak-load situation. Congress caps H-2B at 66,000 per fiscal year, split evenly between the first and second halves.⁵ A separate H-2A visa covers temporary agricultural workers and has no annual cap.

E-2: Treaty Investors

The E-2 lets nationals of countries with a commerce treaty with the U.S. live and work here by investing a substantial amount of capital in a U.S. business. You must own at least 50% of the enterprise or control it through a managerial role, and the investment must be large enough relative to the business’s total cost to show real financial commitment. The capital must be at risk in a real, operating business.⁶ Certain key employees of the treaty investor’s business can also qualify for E-2 status.

What Your Employer Has to Do

With rare exceptions, the employer starts the process by filing on your behalf and taking legal responsibility for what’s in the petition.

The Labor Condition Application

Before filing an H-1B petition, the employer must submit a Labor Condition Application (LCA) to the Department of Labor. On the LCA, the employer attests that they will pay you whichever is higher: the actual wage paid to other employees in the same role, or the prevailing wage for that occupation in your work area.⁷ The employer also certifies that hiring you will not harm the wages or working conditions of U.S. workers in similar roles.

Proving the Job Qualifies

The employer has to show the position genuinely requires a professional with specific credentials. For H-1B petitions, that means demonstrating the job duties are complex enough to require at least a bachelor’s degree in a particular field.¹ If the government decides the role could be performed by someone without that degree, or that the degree requirement is too broad (“any bachelor’s degree” rather than “a degree in computer science”), the petition will likely be denied. This is where most H-1B denials happen.

Credential Evaluation

If you earned your degree outside the U.S., a credential evaluation agency must confirm it’s equivalent to a U.S. bachelor’s or master’s. Workers without a formal degree can sometimes substitute three years of progressive work experience for each year of missing education. That substitution isn’t automatic. You’ll need detailed letters from former employers documenting your responsibilities, and USCIS adjudicators read them closely.

Documents You Need to Gather

Missing a single document can delay a case by months.

From You

You need a valid passport with at least six months of validity beyond your intended stay. Citizens of certain countries are exempt from the six-month rule and only need a passport valid for the period of stay itself.⁸ Beyond the passport, assemble original or certified copies of academic transcripts, diplomas, and a detailed resume. If your credentials were issued in a language other than English, provide a certified translation along with a statement from the translator confirming it’s complete and accurate.⁹

Letters from former employers confirming dates of employment and specific responsibilities are essential, especially if you’re relying on work experience for degree equivalency or specialized-knowledge claims. They should be on company letterhead and signed by someone who can speak to your role.

From Your Employer

The employer files Form I-129, the core petition form, which collects the employer’s federal tax identification number and details about the company’s workforce size.¹⁰ Financial records demonstrating the ability to pay the offered salary go in as well, along with a detailed description of the job duties supporting the classification being requested.

The DS-160 for Consular Processing

If you’re outside the U.S. and need a visa stamp, you’ll complete the DS-160 online nonimmigrant visa application, which collects personal, family, travel, and security information.¹¹ It generates a confirmation page with a barcode that you bring to your consular interview. Be meticulous. Inconsistencies between the DS-160 and the information in your petition are exactly what consular officers look for.

How the Application Moves Through the System

The timeline depends heavily on whether you’re already in the U.S. or applying from abroad.

Petition Filing and Receipt

The employer submits Form I-129 to USCIS by mail to a designated lockbox or through the online filing system. USCIS issues a receipt notice with a unique 13-character tracking number you can use to check your case status online.¹² Without premium processing, standard review times vary widely by category and service center. During review, USCIS may issue a Request for Evidence (RFE) asking for more documentation, which resets the clock.

Employers can pay for premium processing by filing Form I-907, which guarantees USCIS will take action on the petition within 15 business days.¹³ “Action” means approve, deny, or issue an RFE within that window. It does not guarantee approval.

Consular Interview

If you’re outside the U.S. when the petition is approved, you schedule an interview at a U.S. embassy or consulate. A consular officer reviews your DS-160, verifies your credentials, and screens for security or health-related grounds that would make you inadmissible. A biometrics appointment collects fingerprints and photographs.¹⁴ Some cases go into “administrative processing” after the interview, meaning additional background checks that can add weeks or months.

Entry at the Border

An approved visa stamp in your passport is not the same as admission. It only authorizes you to travel to a U.S. port of entry and ask to be admitted. A Customs and Border Protection officer makes the final decision on whether to admit you and for how long, issuing a Form I-94 arrival/departure record that controls the actual dates of your authorized stay. Check your I-94 online after arrival. Errors happen, and an incorrect end date can cause problems down the road.

The H-1B Cap and Lottery

The H-1B is the one category where filing correctly isn’t enough. Each fiscal year, 65,000 visas go to workers meeting the standard bachelor’s degree requirement, and an additional 20,000 are reserved for holders of a U.S. master’s degree or higher.¹ Because demand outstrips supply, USCIS runs a random lottery to decide which petitions it will even accept.

Before filing a full petition, employers submit an electronic registration during a narrow window. For fiscal year 2027, that window opened at noon Eastern on March 4, 2026 and closed on March 19, 2026.¹⁵ If your registration is selected, the employer has 90 days to file the full petition. If not, you try again the following year or pursue a different category.

Not every employer is subject to the cap. Institutions of higher education, their affiliated nonprofit entities (like teaching hospitals tied to universities), and nonprofit research organizations can file H-1B petitions year-round without going through the lottery.¹⁶

How Long Each Visa Lasts

H-1B: Up to three years initially, extendable to a maximum of six years total. Extensions beyond six years are possible if you have an approved immigrant petition or a long-pending labor certification for permanent residency.¹
L-1A (managers/executives): Up to seven years total.¹⁷
L-1B (specialized knowledge): Up to five years total.¹⁷
O-1: Up to three years initially, with one-year extensions. There’s no statutory maximum, so you can keep extending as long as the qualifying work continues.³
TN: Up to three years initially, with no statutory cap on renewals. You can keep renewing, though repeatedly extending a “temporary” visa without pursuing permanent residency can raise questions about your intent.¹⁸

When your authorized period ends, you must extend, change status, or leave. Overstaying by even a single day can trigger bars on future entry, and more than 180 days of unlawful presence triggers a three-year or ten-year bar on returning.

Bringing Your Family

Most work visa categories include a derivative classification for your spouse and unmarried children under 21. H-1B dependents enter on H-4 visas, L-1 dependents on L-2, O-1 dependents on O-3, and TN dependents on TD. Family members can live in the U.S. and attend school, but whether they can work depends on which derivative category applies.

L-2 spouses are authorized to work simply by virtue of their status. Since November 2021, an L-2 spouse with a valid Form I-94 marked with the “L-2S” admission code can use that document as proof of work authorization without needing a separate employment authorization document.¹⁹

H-4 spouses have a harder path. Work authorization is available only if the H-1B worker has an approved immigrant petition (Form I-140) or has been granted an H-1B extension beyond the normal six-year limit under the American Competitiveness in the Twenty-First Century Act.²⁰ Without one of those, an H-4 spouse cannot legally work. Dependent children on any of these derivative visas are not authorized to work.

Fees and Who Pays Them

By law, the employer pays most of the government fees on a work visa petition. For H-1B and L-1 petitions, the employer pays a base Form I-129 filing fee plus several mandatory add-ons: a Fraud Prevention and Detection Fee and, for H-1B specifically, an ACWIA training fee (the amount varies with employer size) and an Asylum Program Fee. Employers with 50 or more employees where more than half hold H-1B or L-1 status pay an additional surcharge.²¹ These government-mandated fees cannot be deducted from your salary.

The premium processing fee is separate from the base filing fee and can be paid by either the employer or you.

Dual Intent: Working Toward a Green Card

Most temporary visas require you to show you plan to leave when your status expires. The H-1B and L-1 are notable exceptions. Both fall under a “dual intent” provision that lets you actively pursue a green card while working on the temporary visa without jeopardizing it. On categories that don’t allow dual intent, like the TN or F-1 student visa, filing a green card application can be used as evidence you don’t intend to leave, which can result in denial or revocation of your temporary status.

The path from H-1B to permanent residency typically runs through the PERM labor certification process, where the employer shows through recruitment that no qualified U.S. worker is available for the position. After the Department of Labor certifies the application, the employer files an immigrant petition (Form I-140). Once approved, you wait for a visa number based on your country of birth and preference category. For workers born in countries with high demand like India, that wait can stretch well beyond a decade.

If You Lose Your Job

Losing your job on a work visa is stressful, but you don’t have to leave the country the next day. Workers in H-1B, L-1, O-1, TN, and several other classifications get a grace period of up to 60 days (or until authorized status expires, whichever is shorter) after employment ends.²² The grace period applies whether you were fired or quit.

During those 60 days you’re considered to be maintaining status, but you can’t work unless a new employer files a petition for you. If a new employer files a valid H-1B petition during the grace period, you can start working for them as soon as USCIS receives it. If you take no action within 60 days, you and any dependents must leave.²²

Other options during the grace period include filing to change to a different nonimmigrant status (a B-1/B-2 visitor visa can buy more time), filing an adjustment of status application if you’re eligible for a green card, or departing and seeking reentry with a new employer’s petition. There’s no separate application for the grace period itself; USCIS evaluates your eligibility when it adjudicates whatever petition or application you file next.

1
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1184 – Admission of Nonimmigrants
2
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. L-1A Intracompany Transferee Executive or Manager
3
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. O-1 Visa: Individuals with Extraordinary Ability or Achievement
4
U.S. Department of State Foreign Affairs Manual. 9 FAM 402.17 USMCA Professionals – TN and TD Visas
5
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. H-2B Temporary Non-Agricultural Workers
6
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. E-2 Treaty Investors
7
Flag.dol.gov. Labor Condition Application Specialty Occupations with the H-1B, H-1B1 and E-3 Programs
8
U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Six-Month Validity Update
9
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Volume 7 – Adjustment of Status Part A Chapter 4 – Documentation
10
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. I-129, Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker
11
U.S. Department of State Electronic Application Center. Online Nonimmigrant Visa Application
12
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Checking Your Case Status Online
13
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. How Do I Request Premium Processing
14
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Preparing for Your Biometric Services Appointment
15
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. H-1B Electronic Registration Process
16
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. H-1B Cap Season
17
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Chapter 10 – Period of Stay
18
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. TN USMCA Professionals
19
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Employment Authorization for Certain H-4, E, and L Nonimmigrant Dependent Spouses
20
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Employment Authorization for Certain H-4 Dependent Spouses
21
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. H and L Filing Fees for Form I-129, Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker
22
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Options for Nonimmigrant Workers Following Termination of Employment