Employment Based Immigration: A Comprehensive Guide to H 1b O 1 and Eb Visas

75 questions on employment based immigration, answered and cited by the UpLaw editorial team.

• Can a founder get an O-1 through her own company?
• Can an employer stop paying an H-1B worker who has no work assigned?
• Can an H-1B be extended beyond six years?
• Can an H-1B employer make the worker pay petition costs?
• Can an H-1B worker change employers before the new petition is approved?
• Can the employee pay for the PERM process?
• Can the spouse of an H-1B worker work in the United States?
• Can you sponsor an independent contractor for a green card?
• Does registering an H-1B beneficiary with multiple employers improve the odds?
• Do U.S. master's degree holders get better H-1B lottery odds?
• How are prevailing wage levels determined, and what is the trap?
• How can an employer be liable for discrimination in immigration compliance?
• How does EB-1A differ from the O-1A if the criteria are similar?
• How does the F-1 to H-1B pipeline work?
• How does the H-1B cap and lottery work?
• How does the new-office L-1 work?
• How does USCIS guidance make the O-1 usable for technologists?
• How do layoffs affect a PERM application?
• How do you build a National Interest Waiver petition?
• How do you read the Visa Bulletin?
• How should a company structure its immigration hiring strategy?
• Is a work visa a general license to work in the United States?
• Is E-Verify mandatory?
• Is there an exemption from the H-1B-dependent employer obligations?
• What are the E-1 and E-2 treaty categories?
• What are the eight O-1A evidentiary criteria?
• What are the employment-based green card preference categories?
• What are the Form I-9 requirements?
• What are the limits of E-2 status?
• What are the requirements for an L-1 intracompany transfer?
• What counts as a “same or similar” job for § 204(j) portability?
• What counts as specialized knowledge for an L-1B?
• What did Hoffman Plastic Compounds hold about unauthorized workers?
• What did the 2025 H-1B modernization rule change about specialty occupation?
• What does an employer attest to in a Labor Condition Application?
• What does EB-5 require after the 2022 Reform and Integrity Act?
• What happens during a USCIS site visit?
• What happens if a qualified U.S. worker applies during PERM recruitment?
• What happens to an approved I-140 if the sponsoring employer withdraws it?
• What is a bona fide termination of an H-1B worker?
• What is AC21 § 204(j) portability?
• What is an H-1B-dependent employer?
• What is a priority date and how is it set?
• What is a Public Access File and what must it contain?
• What is a specialty occupation for H-1B purposes?
• What is concurrent H-1B employment and how does it avoid the lottery?
• What is dual intent and which visa categories have it?
• What is INA § 245(k) and why should every practitioner know it?
• What is PERM labor certification and why does it exist?
• What is retrogression and how do you plan around it?
• What is the “ability to pay” requirement and why does it matter to startups?
• What is the Dhanasar framework for a National Interest Waiver?
• What is the difference between adjustment of status and consular processing?
• What is the difference between EB-2 and EB-3?
• What is the difference between immigrant and nonimmigrant status?
• What is the Kazarian two-step analysis?
• What is the Kellogg language in a PERM application?
• What is the National Interest Waiver and why does it matter?
• What is the O-1 visa and what are the two standards?
• What is TN status and what are its traps?
• What obligations does the STEM OPT program impose on employers?
• What penalties does an employer face for LCA violations?
• What procedural requirements are unique to the O-1?
• What recruitment does PERM require?
• When should a company start the green card process for an H-1B worker?
• Which agencies are involved in employment-based immigration?
• Which employers are exempt from the H-1B cap?
• Why can't a PERM job description require more than the employer actually required?
• Why does the job title matter so much on an H-1B petition?
• Why do Indian and Chinese nationals wait so long for employment green cards?
• Why do startups prefer the O-1 to the H-1B?
• Why is § 204(j) portability unavailable to the most backlogged workers?
• Why is starting a green card dangerous for a TN worker?
• Why is the L-1A valuable as a green card path?
• Why is the NIW especially suited to founders and entrepreneurs?