Visa & Residency

The US offers over 180 visa types, but most expats use a handful of key categories. Employment-based visas require employer sponsorship (except the O-1 and EB-1A which are self-petitioned). The Diversity Visa Lottery provides 50,000 Green Cards annually to citizens of underrepresented countries. Understanding which category fits your situation is the critical first step.

The H-1B is the primary work visa for professionals in specialty occupations — roles requiring at least a bachelor's degree in a specific field. Your US employer must sponsor you and file a petition with USCIS. The annual cap of 85,000 visas means a lottery system applies, with registration typically in March and results announced by the end of March. As of September 2025, a $100,000 application fee was introduced for new H-1B petitions.

The Green Card grants permanent residency in the United States, allowing you to live and work anywhere without visa restrictions. Employment-based Green Cards are the most common path for expats and are divided into five preference categories (EB-1 through EB-5). Processing times vary dramatically by category and country of birth — most nationalities wait 2–4 years, while Indian and Chinese nationals in EB-2/EB-3 categories face backlogs of 10+ years.

The US offers specific visa routes for investors and entrepreneurs. The E-2 treaty investor visa provides a renewable non-immigrant option for citizens of treaty countries who invest substantially in a US business. The EB-5 immigrant investor program provides a direct path to a Green Card through investment. The O-1 visa is increasingly used by startup founders with demonstrated extraordinary ability.

The US visa process is employer-driven for most work categories. Here's the typical path for an H-1B visa, the most common route for professional expats. The process takes 6–12 months from job offer to visa stamp, though Premium Processing can accelerate USCIS adjudication to 15 business days.