“We experienced a significant reduction in the administrative burden and the
elimination of many typical communication hold-ups associated with the traditional
model of providing immigration services.”
Corporate Counsel
Tokyo Electron
The H-3 visa category is used by U.S. companies and institutions
to bring foreign individuals to the US for a temporary period in order to participate
in an established training program in a particular field, such as agriculture, commerce,
communication, finance, government, transportation, or the professions.
Physicians coming to the U.S. for graduate medical education or training are not
entitled to an H-3 visa.
What Are The Requirements For an H-3 Visa?
How Long Is The H-3 Visa
Valid?
The H-3 visa applicant must be coming to the U.S. to participate
in an established training program in a particular field as organized by a U.S.
company or institution. The training program must take place in a particular field
such as agriculture, commerce, communication, finance, government, transportation,
or the professions.
The training program may provide classroom training, or a combination of classroom
and on-the-job training, which MUST BE unavailable in the alien trainee's home country.
The H-3 visa category is therefore used as a means of increasing the foreign employee's
knowledge and skills, thereby enhancing his or her worth to a company's foreign
operations or other appropriate foreign operations.
The following requirements must met in order to qualify for an H-3 visa:
- The alien worker, or a group of alien workers, must be entering the United States
to participate in an existing company training program;
- The training of the foreign workers cannot be conducted or engaged in with the intention
of eventual employment in the United States;
- The alien trainees cannot be employed to engage in productive employment that is
other than incidental to the training program;
- The training program must provide knowledge or experience that is unavailable in
the alien's country of residence;
- The alien trainee must have need for the training and not merely seek to apply and
enhance previously-acquired skills;
- The alien trainee must maintain a foreign residence which he or she has no intention
of abandoning
An H-3 visa holder is admitted to the U.S. for the period
that is required to complete the training, which cannot exceed two years.