H1 Visa

The H1 visa is an employment visa offered to those individuals with special skills who are being sought by a particular American company. The H1 visa (sometimes called the H1B visa), is only granted for an initial term of three years, so this is probably not among the more common type of visa. Like with any visa, the person seeking an H1 visa is going to be subjected to scrutiny including his or her reason for wanting to come to the United States. In this case, employment is the only justifiable reason for applying for the visa and the individual's education and work background will be considered before the H1 visa is approved. Typically, the successful candidate of an H1 visa will have a baccalaureate degree or its equivalent, and will have twelve years work experience in that field before he or she is granted an H1 visa. However, like all rules of this sort there are exceptions and the only way to be sure whether lesser degrees or fewer years of work experience will qualify for this particular visa is to apply. The H1 visa is greatly limited in terms of time. According to the rules set down for this kind of visa, the person who is granted this kind of visa is limited to a three-year initial stay on the basis of the employment and the visa. If the employment is terminated for any reason, the visa is also terminated and the person is required to leave the U.S. That means that if the individual willingly leaves the job he must also leave the country, but it also means that he must leave the country if the employer terminates the employment for any reason. The person who is in the United States on an H1 visa can apply for an additional three-year visa, but can apply for only one additional three-year term. If that term is granted the person may stay in the country for a full six years under the terms of the visa, but then must leave and is not eligible to apply for another visa for at least one year.

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