H2B Work Visa

H2B work visa is the visa given to foreign non professional workers to work in the US. These workers fall in the category of unskilled workers and should not work in the field of agriculture. The H2B work visa is given on a temporary basis such as jobs which are recurrent in nature based on seasons, intermittent jobs, or when the load of work is heavy or any one time occurrence.

Before the employer recruits you, he or she must confirm that they do not have any unemployed people who are qualified or willing to work in the US. Initially they advertise the job vacancy in the media and once they are sure that there is no one to work among the US workers, and then they start recruiting foreigners.

The H2B work visa is valid only for the temporary duration of the work period which is usually no more than 1 year. But an extension is allowed up to 3 years under the supervision of the immigration authorities.

The employer must file a petition for non-immigrant worker called the form I-129 with the USCIS or United States Citizenship and Immigration Services. There is flexibility for the employers to file all the applications for several employees in one petition called the ‘Blanket petition’. Once your application is approved, your employer will get a notice of approval called form I-797.

The documents needed for the H2B work visa application includes DS-156 (application for non immigrant visa application), DS-157 (for males in the age group of 16 to 45 years), copy of notice of approval of H2B work visa petition, passport, passport size photograph (pictured according to the specified standards) and documents which prove that you would return after the job is over.

The application should be filed later than 45 days before the beginning of employment and not before 6 months the work begins. The dependents of H2B work visa holder can also come to the US taking an H-4 visa but are not authorized to work in the US. They must be either your spouses or unmarried children less than 21 years.

You must be aware that your visa is liable to denial at the port of entry by the officer concerned. They will issue form I-94 which decides your length of stay in the US.