Counsel for temporary, employment-based work visas, including H-1B specialty occupation, TN professional, and related nonimmigrant classifications, from choosing the right category through petition, sponsorship, and the compliance that keeps work authorization intact.
An H-1B employer promises the Department of Labor, on a labor condition application posted at the worksite for ten days, to pay the higher of the prevailing wage and the wage it pays similar workers, and the promise binds until it tells USCIS the job has ended. Dismiss the worker without that notice and the offer of a fare home, and the wage keeps accruing.
New H-1B numbers are capped at 65,000 a year plus 20,000 for U.S. master's graduates, allocated by a March registration that enters each person once however many employers register them; universities and research non-profits are exempt. A TN professional under the USMCA faces neither cap nor labor condition application, but the job must sit on the treaty's list and the degree must match.
We act for the employer and the worker, and we have represented clients in matters before USCIS and the Department of Labor. A move to a worksite outside the area the application covers needs a new application and an amended petition before the first day there, and the six-year H-1B limit yields only to a green card case started in time.
Guidance and petition preparation for H-1B specialty occupations. We confirm the role meets the specialty standard, address the candidate's qualifications, and assemble documentation that speaks to the legal test.
Counsel on TN classification for qualifying Canadian and Mexican professionals under the USMCA framework, confirming the occupation qualifies and preparing the job offer and supporting evidence the category requires.
Structuring employer sponsorship of temporary workers. We choose the right classification for a role, map the process and timing, and fit the petition to the company's hiring plan.
Handling the Labor Condition Application and prevailing-wage requirements that attach to H-1B sponsorship, and the recordkeeping obligations that come with them, so the labor side of a petition is properly supported.
Tracking the deadlines tied to a status and preparing extensions, amendments, and renewals, including the filings triggered when job duties, work location, or employer change during a visa term.
Responding to government requests for additional evidence and supporting a petition through adjudication, with the record assembled to answer the agency's concerns and keep the case moving toward a decision.
The 65,000 new H-1B numbers a year, plus 20,000 for U.S. master's graduates, are oversubscribed every March. A worker already counted against the cap, including one changing H-1B employers, does not re-enter it, and universities and non-profit research organizations are exempt and may file in any month.
The employer attests that it will pay the higher of the prevailing wage and the wage it pays similar workers, that working conditions will not suffer, and that no strike or lockout is under way, and posts notice of all three. A public access file proving them must exist within a business day of filing.
H-1B status comes three years at a time to a maximum of six. Beyond that, one-year extensions are available if a labor certification or immigrant petition was filed at least 365 days earlier, and three-year extensions if an I-140 is approved but no visa number is available. Days spent abroad are recaptured on request.
Moving an H-1B worker to a worksite outside the area named on the labor condition application requires a new application and an amended petition before the first day there. Short placements of up to 30 days a year elsewhere are allowed without one. A TN worker who changes employers needs a new approval first.
The USMCA lists the professions and their credentials; a software developer is sponsored as an engineer or computer systems analyst with a matching degree. Canadians apply at the port of entry, Mexicans at a consulate, three years at a time. TN has no dual intent; a pending green card case is awkward at the border.
An employer that dismisses an H-1B worker early must tell the worker, notify USCIS in writing and offer the cost of return transportation; until all three are done the wage obligation continues and the Department of Labor awards back pay for it. The worker has 60 days to find a new petitioner or depart.
Before anything is filed, the role is tested against the category: a genuine H-1B specialty occupation, or a defined TN profession under USMCA. For cap-subject H-1B cases the strategy is set to the March electronic registration window. For Canadian and Mexican TN candidates the calendar opens differently, at a port of entry or by petition.
For the H-1B, the labor side runs first: a prevailing-wage determination for the role and worksite, then a Labor Condition Application certified by the Department of Labor, with the public access file built behind it. TN cases skip this step, which is one reason classification was decided first.
The petition goes to USCIS with the record aimed at the legal standard on role, degree field, and qualifications, anticipating the Request for Evidence rather than reacting to it. TN professionals may instead present the application at the border or consulate, where it is decided the same day.
Approval starts the clock. A new worksite, changed duties, or a corporate reorganization is tested against the amendment rules before it happens, and extensions are calendared against the H-1B's six-year arc while any green-card strategy runs in parallel.
A work visa is a status you keep rather than a document you obtain, and it is kept in the details.
Both are temporary work classifications tied to a specific employer, and they differ in almost everything else. The H-1B is open to any nationality, requires a specialty occupation, meaning a role that normally needs a bachelor's degree in a directly related field, and runs through a labor condition application and, for most employers, the annual cap and March registration. It is granted three years at a time to a maximum of six and tolerates a pending green card case. The TN is open only to Canadian and Mexican citizens, only for the professions the USMCA lists, with no cap and no labor condition application; Canadians apply at the border and Mexicans at a consulate, admissions run three years at a time without limit, and the classification carries no dual intent, so immigrant intent can be held against the applicant at each entry.
For an H-1B, yes: the employer files the labor condition application and the petition, pays the required wage, and remains liable for it until the employment is terminated properly. Since the 2025 modernization rule a company can sponsor its own founder even where the founder holds a controlling interest, with the first approval and first extension limited to 18 months each. A TN also needs a U.S. employer and a letter describing the professional role, the credential and the term, though no petition is required for a Canadian applying at the border; self-employment does not qualify. We represent the employer and the worker, and we have represented clients in matters before USCIS and the Department of Labor.
The position must be a specialty occupation. Under the definition in force since January 2025, that is a role that normally requires at least a bachelor's degree, or the equivalent, in a specific specialty directly related to the duties; an employer may accept a range of degree fields only if each is directly related. The worker must hold that degree or an evaluated equivalent and any license the state requires. The employer must obtain a certified labor condition application at one of four wage levels and post notice of it at the worksite for ten days; it must then pay the higher of the prevailing and actual wage and keep a public access file from the day after filing. Cap-subject employers must also win a number in the March registration before any of this can be filed.
An H-1B is approved for up to three years and may be extended to a total of six, measured in days physically present in the United States, so time abroad can be recaptured. Beyond six years, one-year extensions are available where a labor certification or I-140 was filed at least 365 days earlier, and three-year extensions where an I-140 is approved but the priority date is not current. A TN is admitted for up to three years at a time and renewed without a statutory ceiling, though each renewal must show the stay remains temporary. Each classification carries a 60-day grace period after employment ends, and an H-1B worker may enter ten days before the start date and remain ten days after the end date without working.
Material changes to a sponsored position, such as a change in job duties, work location, hours, or employer, can require an amended or new petition before the change takes effect, depending on the classification and the nature of the change. Acting before a change is implemented avoids most compliance problems. We advise employers and employees on which changes trigger a filing and prepare the documentation needed to keep the status valid.
By treating the status as a set of dates and documents rather than an approval notice. Before filing: the right wage level for the duties, a labor condition application that covers every worksite, and a job description written to the degree field. After approval: the public access file built the day after filing, amendments filed before a move or a material change rather than after, and the three steps of a bona fide termination completed on the day a role ends so that no back-wage claim accrues. One partner holds the calendar, and the employer and the worker both have the direct line.
Counsel on L-1 classification for transferring managers, executives, and specialized-knowledge employees from affiliated foreign offices to U.S.-based operations.
Explore →Guidance for treaty-country nationals pursuing E-1 trader and E-2 investor classifications, covering eligibility, the qualifying investment or trade, and the supporting documentation.
Explore →Assistance for foreign nationals and employers seeking lawful permanent residency through employment-based immigration across the EB-1, EB-2, and EB-3 categories.
Explore →Support for employers sponsoring foreign workers and meeting their I-9 and work-authorization compliance obligations across the hiring lifecycle.
Explore →Reviewed by Jonathan D. Herpy, Sr., Senior Partner · Last updated October 2026 · Educational overview · Not legal advice
One partner is accountable for the whole matter, and you have that partner's direct line. Chicago, London, and Dubai work to the same standard.