Temporary Workers and Trainees

H, L, O, and P visas entitle the holder to work temporarily in the United States. All require the hiring company or organization in the United States to first submit a petition to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) of the Department of Homeland Security. If the petition is approved, the company will be issued a form I-797.  Once the applicant has an approved I-797, he or she should apply for a visa.

Visa Specific Information

H Visa: An H visa is for people who wish to live and work temporarily in the United States.  Applicants who perform a professional or highly skilled job, fill a temporary position for which there is a shortage of U.S. workers, or receive on-the-job training from an employer require H visas. 

L Visa: An L visa is for people who are being temporarily transferred to the United States to a parent, branch, affiliate, or subsidiary of the same company where they work in their home country.  The international company may be either a U.S. or foreign organization.  Applicants must intend to fill a managerial or executive position, or have specialized knowledge, and have been continuously employed by the same employer or a related company for at least one of three years immediately preceding the visa application. 

O or P Visa: Individuals with extraordinary ability in the sciences, arts, education, business, and athletics, or extraordinary achievement in motion picture and television production, may qualify for an O-1 visa.  A P visa is for certain athletes, artists and entertainers who wish to live and work temporarily in the United States.

Note: The Form I-797 is not a travel document on its own. In order to travel to the United States, you must apply for the appropriate visa above, and present both the visa and I-797 form to the Immigration Officer at arrival in the U.S.

Visa Validity
The validity of H, L, O, and P visas are determined based on the validity of the petition.

Family Members
Spouses and/or children under the age of 21 can apply for a derivative visa to accompany or follow-to-join the principal visa holder in the United States. A stepchild may also apply for this type of visa, as long as the stepchild-parent relationship began before the child’s eighteenth birthday.

Derivatives are generally subject to the same visa validity, period of admission, and limitation of stay as the principal applicant. Note that U.S. law does not recognize Colombian common-law (unión libre) marriages, and such spouses therefore do not qualify for derivative visas.

Derivative spouses and children may study on their visas without applying for an additional student visa. The only individual with a derivative visa who is authorized to work in the United States is an L-2 spouse.

All other spouses and children with derivative visas (H, O, P) are not authorized to work in the United States. Once in the U.S. the L-2 spouse should contact the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to apply for a work authorization. 

Required Documents

• A valid passport
• The confirmation page from the DS-160 Application form
• A photograph (for requirements see TIPS for the DS-160)
• The original or a copy of the Notice of Action Form I-797A, B, or C
• For family members of the principal applicant: proof of family relationship, such as a birth or marriage certificate
• For H visas only: A signed form that the applicant (employee) has read the Wilberforce pamphlet on Rights and Protections for Temporary Workers