Tips For Finding A Sponsor Employer For A Work Visa

Finding A Sponsor Employer For A Work Visa is the first thing to do before applying for immigration. You can’t apply for a visa to work in the U.S. until you have an employer who is willing to hire you and act as your petitioner in the process of your application. However, finding a job when you don’t yet have any right to work is a huge challenge. How do people do it?

Tips For Finding A Sponsor Employer For A Work Visa. Understand the U.S. Work Visa Options

Even though you have talent, the government of the United States only authorizes labor-based nonimmigrant visas for people in certain limited categories. The most likely visas include, in brief:

• E-3. Citizens of Australia who will work in a specialty occupation that requires a bachelor’s degree (B.A.) or higher education.
• H-1B. Workers in a specialty occupation that meet the required criteria of at least a B.A., or else it’s equivalent in on-the-job experience. This category also included distinguished fashion models.
• H-1C. Registered nurses who will work in areas where there are lack of health professionals.
• H-2A. Temporary agricultural workers who will fill the vacant positions that the U.S. Department of Agriculture has recognized as facing a labor supply shortage.
• H2B. Various kinds of workers who will perform short term jobs for which there is a shortage of available, qualified U.S. workers.
• O-1. Workers with extraordinary ability in the sciences, arts, education, business, or athletics.
• O-2. Essential support staff of people with O-1 visas.
• P-1. Recognized international athletes and entertainers as well as their essential support staff.
• R-1. Ministers as well as other workers of recognized religions.

We’ve left off of this list various visas in narrower categories, say, where your existing employer might arrange for a short training stint in the U.S., or its possible you might come as part of a group to give an artistic performance.

Identify Employers in Need

Despite high levels of unemployment in the United States, some employers out there still cannot find the employees they need. Such employers might be excited to render help in order to find someone from another country obtain a visa to work in the United States.

Look for Employers With Experience Hiring Foreign Workers

Employers with a history of hiring foreign workers are more likely to hire you than employers that don’t have much experience with the process. (Because the law of immigration is complicated, they may not even be aware of what their options are.) Some large corporations have entire departments and in-house lawyers dedicated to bringing in foreign workers.

Though, even a smaller employer who has previously been through the process, and successfully so, may be interested in bringing foreign workers to fill their needs. Be at alert for employers who are advertising abroad. It is highly recommended that you also read the company’s press releases or online self-descriptions regarding hiring foreign workers.

Use — and Expand — Your Network

Start by asking everyone you know most especially in your online social networks if they are aware of anyone who has been hired by a company in the United States. Then contact those people to get information on how they found and got hired at their jobs, and whether they know of any openings or can ask around.

Contact the Employer

Once you have been able to identify employers that might be willing to hire foreign workers, you need to contact them. Use any names you might have as connections and try as much as possible to have a name of a specific person at the employer to contact. Even though there is no job opening at the moment, there’s no harm in sending a resume and an introductory letter of yourself,  just in case. If they finally post a job, follow their application guidelines carefully.

In preparing your resume, be sure to read U.S.-authored books on what’s expected in terms of style and tone. It is best you ask someone from the United States to review and edit your resume. Remember, responsibility to prove to the employer that your skills and talents are worth the process that it will have to go through to bring you to the United States to work for them is all on you.

You can also see what to expect when entering U.S.