Kalamazoo Employment Immigration Attorney

Kalamazoo Employment Immigration Attorney

Millions of people come to America to study and work. Perhaps the most common reason for immigration is the desire to pursue a trade or make more money. Despite its problems, America remains a place where industrious and hard working people can still make a living and build a life. If you are not careful, however, you can make serious mistakes when applying for a visa or trying to keep your employment visa.

At Kriezelman, Burton & Associates, LLC, our team of skilled immigration attorneys can help you maintain work visa compliance and help you avoid forced removal if you have overstayed your visa.

Alien Labor Certification

Like most countries, America’s immigration system is designed to encourage skilled labor and promote immigrants who fill jobs that may be difficult to fill otherwise. If you wish to come to the U.S. and obtain a permanent work visa, you will need to show that there are not enough other qualified workers already available to fill the position. This requires a certification by the Department of Labor.

Getting an Alien Labor Certification can actually be quite difficult, especially in larger cities and areas with a large labor pool. Employers must follow specific procedures to attempt to fill the position through advertising. If no one qualified applies, then it opens the door for immigrant applications.

H-1B Visas

There are also visas for those with special skills. Highly trained experts, health professionals, scientists, and other tradespeople may qualify to be hired by a company that cannot readily fill these positions. Employers obtain these on the employee’s behalf. There are a number of specific rules and requirements that must be met in order to get an H-1B visa for foreign applicants:

• There must be an employment relationship between the immigrant and the U.S. employer
• The job has to be a “specialty occupation” requiring a degree or a level of skill that generally comes from having a college-level education
• The job has to be in the field of study or skill that the employee brings to the job
• The employer must be paying a comparable wage for the job and geographic area
• There must be visas available (they are limited in number)

Multinational Job Transfers

Many multinational corporations operate in the U.S., as well as abroad. For those who are reassigned or sent to the U.S. to continue working for the same company, it can be more streamlined at times. But there are still strict rules that must be followed if you wish to remain year after year on the same visa. Corporate compliance can be challenging, and the rules regularly change.

Get Experienced Employment Immigration Representation Now

Before you run the risk of fines, violations, or penalties, employers should contact a firm with significant experience helping with corporate compliance and employer-sponsored immigration. Likewise, employees who are facing errors with their visa applications or who may have inadvertently overstayed their work permits should definitely contact an immigration attorney to avoid a forced removal. Call Kriezelman, Burton & Associates, LLC today.