As the leading global economy, establishing operations in the U.S. is a significant opportunity for any business. When planning to enter the U.S. companies may consider finding a local U.S. hire to support their entry, or many realize the best person to lead the company during this critical time is someone with company experience within the global operations. This page will help you understand how to ensure key employees can make the move to the U.S.
Many individuals are often wrongly advised and think a Green Card (U.S. permanent residence) is required to work in the U.S. Actually seeking permanent residence for anyone coming to lead a U.S. company is a time consuming and complex process (typically taking a year or many years depending on the category and country of origin). For this reason, companies initially pursue non-immigrant status for such individuals. A non-immigrant status can be issued within a week to several months, depending on the classification sought, and the country the applicant comes from, and it will allow your key person the opportunity to work for at least a year, or several, depending on the visa; most status options we recommend are also extendable before the initial period ends.
The first options noted below more directly relate to the specific fact scenario of an individual leading or contributing to a foreign company and seeking to enter and work at the U.S. company, whether new or long established.
There are a variety of work visa options that are tied to the passport an individual holds and the work they will perform in the U.S. and they are readily available to individuals as a way to facilitate entry to work not based on the corporate relationship. They are also used to support individuals who may be coming to the U.S. to start a subsidiary or affiliated operations
Alternatives that will always be considered when starting operations in the U.S., especially when the individual leading the company is either already in the U.S. in H-1B status or has previously held H-1B status, or when it comes to the IEP, when no other clearly available alternative exists.