Working in the U.S.: Visa Options, Job-Search Strategy, and Risks

Different people actually take completely different routes.

What really deserves to be studied by typical applicants is usually onlyL-1, H-1B, F-1/OPT, specific occupation green card route.

Common strategies in the past were:

Now in 2026, there’s a huge real-world obstacle to that path.

The United States currently requires a $100,000 payment for covered new H-1B petitions involving people outside the United States (using an exchange rate of approximately CNY 6.72 per U.S. dollar). The current presidential proclamation says the restriction took effect on September 21, 2025 for 12 months. Unless extended, it is scheduled to expire on September 21, 2026. Because the date is now August 22, 2026, developments over the next month deserve close attention.

What does it mean?

If an ordinary foreign programmer is in Japan:

American companies might have felt:

It is now possible to consider:

Then most ordinary positions are simply not cost-effective.

So,As of now, it is not recommended that "directly go to a US company to apply for the first H-1B" as the only main route when you are outside the United States.

But don’t give up completely.

Due to current restrictions, it was originally scheduled toExpires September 21, 2026, unless extended, policy changes may come soon.

There is another change.

The new cap H-1B selection system is no longer a lottery with equal weight for everyone, but is tilted towards high-wage/high-skilled positions. The final rule uses wage level weighting, which is roughly:

**Level I: 1 weight
Level II: 2 copies
Level III: 3 copies
Level IV: 4 copies**

So the same foreigner in the future:

An entry-level position with an annual salary of $70,000,

and

A senior position with an annual salary of $180,000,

When entering the H-1B selection system, the latter has a clear advantage.

Therefore, the idea of "first finding a low-paying job in the United States" is getting worse and worse.

This is a path ignored by a large number of online “work guides to the United States”.

Suppose you are currently in Japan, China, Singapore, etc.

Don’t look for it directly:

But the other way around:

this isL-1 intracompany transferee.

The most critical conditions for L-1

Generally need to meet:

Over the past 3 years, you have worked for this company’s affiliate outside the U.S.Work continuously for at least 1 year.

And there must be a qualified relationship between the companies, such as:

Parent company, subsidiary, affiliate, branch, etc.

Your position usually falls under:

L-1A: Manager/Executive

Or:

L-1B: Employees with specialized knowledge.

USCIS still clearly requires this type of overseas work experience and requires U.S. entities to have qualified corporate relationships with overseas entities.

The biggest advantages are:

There is no annual H-1B lottery.

There is no competition for 65,000 + 20,000 spots like H-1B.

L-1A can usually be up to7 years, L-1B is usually the longest5 years.

Let's say it starts today.

Don’t search Indeed first:

Instead, search for your country:

The point is not necessarily to look for these companies, but to look for:

Enterprises with "large overseas offices + many US headquarters/offices + an internal talent mobility system".

Then look at the positions.

What position is easier to qualify for as L-1B?

Saying "I am a programmer" does not automatically count as specialized knowledge.

The best thing you can accumulate is:

Something specific to the company.

For example, if you are responsible for:

internal core systems;

The company’s own payment system;

Special production equipment;

Internal algorithm platform;

Global ERP;

internal supply chain systems;

A piece of software that only this company uses;

The key structure of a certain product;

A certain customer system;

A project between a regional business and the U.S. headquarters.

When USCIS determines specialized knowledge, it will also look at evidence such as training records, company-specific processes, product/system knowledge, work impact, and organizational relationships, instead of the company simply writing "This person is special."

So, if your goal is to go to the United States in three years:

Ordinary programmer A:

and programmer B:

B’s L-1 story is obviously much easier to tell.

For example target:

Go to the United States before 2028.

Month 0:

Enter a multinational company with significant U.S. operations.

1st to 6th month:

First turn yourself into an important member of a product/system/business.

Don’t rush to ask on the first day:

It's easy for your line manager to think that you're just using your current position as a stepping stone.

6th to 9th month:

Start researching the company’s internal job system.

Search:

At the same time, take a look at which colleagues have transferred to the United States from offices in Japan, China, India, Singapore, etc.

9th to 12th month:

Discuss career development with your manager.

Q:

Than ask directly:

Much more natural.

After 12 months:

Now that you have a basic foundation for legal overseas working time conditions, you can then look for a job within the United States.

And then:

American team wants you
↓
Global Mobility/HR Intervention
↓
Immigration attorney confirms L-1 eligibility
↓
Company application
↓
approve
↓
US Consulate Visa
↓
Entry
↓
U.S. office jobs

The advantages of this path are here:

American companies are not recruiting a complete stranger.

Instead:

Transfer over.

The business logic is completely different.

H-1B is not “just a college degree.”

The position itself must bespecialty occupation.

Simple understanding:

Normal entry requirements for this job require aBachelor's degree or higher in a specific field directly related to. USCIS's current rules also emphasize the need for a direct logical relationship between degree and job responsibilities.

For example:

Bachelor of Computer Science
→ Software Engineer

Relatively very natural.

Bachelor of Electronic Engineering
→ Electrical Engineer

Natural.

Bachelor of Accounting
→ Accountant

Natural.

But:

Bachelor's degreeTourism Management
→ Software Engineer

It will be a lot of trouble.

The company needs to prove why your academic qualifications, experience, etc. can meet the professional requirements.

Let's say you find one:

Data Analyst with an annual salary of $110,000.

What do you think:

But the real question is whether HR has:

immigration policy.

Many American companies are not "legally inoperable".

Instead, the company directly stipulates:

That's the end.

Therefore, it is better to screen 100 companies before investing in 500 companies overseas.

Don’t believe an article on the Internet:

Check the official historical data yourself.

USCIS hasH-1B Employer Data Hub, you can query the employer's past H-1B application status, including company, city, initial/continued employment and other data.

The U.S. Department of Labor also disclosed:

**LCA data
PERM data**

So you can build an Excel:

There is a very important difference here:

Continuing employment ≠ Willing to sponsor foreigners for the first time.

The company may have many people who are already on H-1B and is only willing to renew them, but has stopped issuing new sponsors.

So try to see:

Initial employment.

Don't just search for:

visa sponsorship

Because many positions don’t write it in the title at all.

Combination search:

Alternatively, you can go directly to:

Company Career Page
LinkedIn Jobs
Indeed
University recruitment website
Hospital recruitment website

Then use USCIS/DOL data to check whether the company has done anything in its history.

Screen the employer first, then submit your resume.

The efficiency will be much higher.

Unless the industry has special requirements, resume recommendations for general professional positions in the United States are very clean.

Generally do not put:

photos;

date of birth;

gender;

marriage;

ID number;

passport number;

"good health";

family members.

The point is not:

Instead:

That is:

What was done + scale + results.

For example:

Bad:

Good:

For H-1B, especially:

**Academic major
Position professional
Work experience**

These three things go together.

American companies often ask:

and:

If you are abroad and do not have U.S. work status:

The first question is usually not simply "yes, I can apply for a visa in the future."

Question 2: If you need the company to apply for H-1B for you in the future:

should usually answerYes.

Don't deliberately say "no sponsorship required" just to pass the ATS.

At the HR stage, the company found inconsistencies, which made them worse.

There is an annual quota for ordinary H-1B.

However, some employers are exempt from the ordinary annual cap limit, such as those who meet the following conditions:

university;

higher education institutions;

Qualified nonprofit institutions affiliated with institutions of higher education;

Some non-profit research institutions;

Government research agency.

So if your career can go into:

University laboratories, research institutions, university IT, academic medical systems, etc.

Worth searching specifically for:

Its core advantages:

There is no need to compete for the annual cap with the H-1B of ordinary commercial companies.

But be careful:

“cap-exempt” solves the annual quota problem.It cannot simply be understood as automatically exempting all other current H-1B policy restrictions..

This path is often packaged as:

This is also misleading.

The real logic is:

american school
↓
F-1 student status
↓
Graduation
↓
OPT
↓
U.S. work experience
↓
The employer is willing to keep you for a long time
↓
H-1B/other status/green card

OPT is generally the most available after graduation12 months.

Eligible STEM degrees may apply for additional24-month STEM OPT extension, so the common maximum working window can reach approximately36 months.

Because the situation between you and someone looking for a job directly in the United States is completely different.

Overseas candidates:

OPT graduates:

The company can first see if you can use it well.

After working for a year, the company feels:

Firms' willingness to bear the costs of immigration will vary markedly.

This is also the most valuable part of studying in the United States.

This is a very common pitfall.

if:

Tuition: $50,000
Living expenses: $30,000
Opportunity cost: $30,000

The total investment may reach $110,000.

The result after reading is:

A school with poor employment prospects
+
Majors with poor employment prospects
+
no internship
+
No employer wants to sponsor

That route could be very bad financially.

The correct order should be:

First look at the position after graduation → then look at the company → then look at the salary → then look at the sponsor probability → and finally decide whether it is worth studying for this degree.

instead of:

You can’t just look at “what you like”.

At least watch at the same time:

**Are there a large number of jobs in the United States?
Whether the position requires professional qualifications;
Whether it belongs to STEM;
Whether the salary is high enough;
Whether the company is a frequent sponsor;
Is it easy to get an internship? **

In the current employment immigration data of the Department of Labor, occupations such as Software Developers, Registered Nurses, Computer Systems Analysts, Data Scientists, Project Management Specialists, etc. all have quite obvious employer immigration application activities.

Of course, this doesn’t mean “you can stay if you learn.”

Instead it states:

The sponsor ecosystem of companies in these professions does exist.

This is a very important exception.

The United States puts:

Professional Nurses

and:

Physical Therapists

Placed in Schedule A Group I.

In other words, these two occupations have been identified as having labor shortages and can bypass part of the labor market recruitment certification process that is quite troublesome in ordinary PERM.

Of course the nurse also deals with:

academic qualifications;

NCLEX-RN;

state license;

English;

VisaScreen and other requirements.

If you are already a nurse, there is usually no need to prioritize:

It is better to study directly:

RN licensure → Schedule A → employer sponsorship.

This is the professional corresponding route.

Let’s be more realistic about this issue.

The United States is not:

It's far from that simple.

The United States certainly has:

Agriculture;

Hotel;

garden;

processing;

travel;

catering;

Construction related;

Seasonal work.

For example, H-2B is targeted at certain:

temporary non-agricultural workers

But the employer must prove that this is a temporary need, for example:

Seasonal need, peakload need, one-time need, etc., and there are annual quota limits.

More importantly, ifMainland China passport, the U.S. Department of State currently displays H-2A/H-2B in China’s reciprocity table asN/A. So I saw this online:

This kind of advertising, at least, cannot be copied directly.

If you are not a citizen of Mainland China, you will need to recheck based on your nationality.

This is where there are a lot of scams and gray intermediaries on the Chinese Internet.

Common ads:

One thing must be understood here:

EB-3 Other Workers does not buy a job spot in the United States.

In principle, U.S. employers still need to have real positions, real recruitment needs, and complete corresponding labor procedures.

The ordinary PERM process requires the employer to prove that there are no suitable U.S. workers to fill the position.

And it's not fast at all.

Department of Labor as ofAugust 7, 2026In the published data, PERM analyst review has processed approximatelySeptember 2025of cases; the average processing time for completed cases in July 2026 will be372 calendar days. In other words, the big step of PERM alone is currently about one year level.

Not counting yet:

I-140;

Immigration visa waiting list;

Consulate procedures.

A general look at the U.S. employment-based immigration schedulechargeability/place of birth, it doesn’t simply look at whether you currently live in Japan or China, nor does it just look at what passport you have now.

In the August 2026 Visa Bulletin, the Final Action Date of “China-mainland born” is:

Pay special attention to:The date for Other Workers is still stuck in 2019.

Here's why:

Such commitments must be made with great caution.

It’s not a “quick job to America” route.

If a person's resume is already relatively strong, such as:

Paper;

Quote;

patent;

media coverage;

Important awards;

Industry associations;

Review other people’s work;

high salary;

Key positions in important companies;

The product generates high revenue;

international projects;

Industry recognized.

Can be studiedO-1 extraordinary ability.

For O-1 categories such as science and business, extraordinary ability can generally be proven through major international awards or by meeting multiple prescribed evidence standards.

Its biggest advantage:

Do not draw the H-1B annual lottery.

So what truly powerful engineers, researchers, designers, artists, and entrepreneurs should sometimes do is:

Instead of betting on H-1B for several consecutive years.

There is often confusion on this Chinese website.

E-2 mainly looks at:

Nationality.

Japan is an E-2 treaty country.

Therefore, people with Japanese nationality may apply for E-2 by investing in American companies.

However, mainland China currently does not have E-2 treaty qualifications. The U.S. Department of State's China Reciprocity Table clearly shows that the E-2 isNo Treaty; Japan has E-2 qualifications.

Therefore:

A Chinese citizen has lived in Japan for 20 years,

You will not automatically be eligible for E-2 just because you have permanent residence in Japan.

If you later acquire Japanese citizenship, that's another matter.

You can go to the United States to participate in certain legal business activities, interviews, etc. Specific circumstances must be distinguished.

However:

You cannot work directly for an American company in the United States with B-1/B-2 tourist/business visit status.

The U.S. State Department explicitly lists employment as an activity not permitted under the visitor visa.

So if the agent tells you:

This is a huge alarm.

Likewise:

ESTA is not a work permit either.

This part is more important than "how to apply for a visa":

1. "H-1B is guaranteed to be selected."Doesn't exist. Even if the selection mechanism is adjusted, intermediaries cannot guarantee it.
2. "Give me tens of thousands of U.S. dollars and I'll arrange a sponsor for you."Great care must be taken that a genuine employment relationship must exist.
3. Fake resume, fake work experience.Many people think this is just job hunting cheating, but once the materials enter the immigration system, the nature is completely different.
4. Affiliated company, fake projects, no actual work.This is the so-called "shortcut" that is least worth taking.
5. If you have a tourist visa, go and work first.This practice is illegal.
6. “EB-3 buys a job = buys a green card.”EB-3 is a real immigration category, but paying for a fictitious position is another matter entirely.

In addition, H-1B itself has some statutory fees that cannot be simply passed on to employees, such as specific training fees and $500 fraud prevention fees. If a company requires employees to privately return various "company visa processing costs," they should first consult an independent immigration lawyer.

Here is a more practical action plan.

1. First determine what kind of person you are.Passport, nationality, place of birth, highest degree of education, major, job, working years, English, whether there are American affiliated companies, and budget, these determine 90% of the route.
2. Only choose 1 main route + 1 backup route.For example, "L-1 primary route + H-1B backup" instead of studying 10 visas at the same time.
3. Establish a target database of 100 companies.Check USCIS H-1B history, DOL LCA/PERM, US positions on the company's official website and the company's internal transfer system.
4. Divide the company into A/B/C levels.A: There were often new sponsors in the past and the positions were highly matched; B: There were only a small number of sponsors; C: There were almost no sponsors in history. 80% of your energy goes to A.
5. Change your resume to American recruitment logic.Delete irrelevant information such as photo age and highlight "results + numbers + skills" while ensuring that professional and work experience logic is consistent.
6. Complete quality applications every week.For example, there are 15 highly matched positions and 5 employee referrals, instead of 300 Easy Apply with one click.
7. Check the visa policy in every HR communication.Ask directly:Is this position eligible for employment-based immigration sponsorship?If it is H-1B, ask the company if it is sponsor initial H-1B; if it is already in a multinational company, ask global mobility/L-1.
8. Ask long-term green card questions together.Finding a company willing to apply for H-1B does not mean being willing to apply for PERM. You can ask the company how long it usually takes to start the employment-based permanent residence process.
9. All so-called sponsors are checked against the official database.An agency said, "This American employer recruits foreigners every year." If you can't find any history of H-1B, LCA, or PERM, you should be vigilant.
10. Re-evaluate the route every 3 to 6 months.Especially in 2026, the H-1B policy is changing very quickly, and we cannot use the strategies for 2023 to formulate plans for 2027.

ifAlready have good professional work ability, but are outside the United States:

First choice: Multinational Corporation → L-1.

This is currently the highest priority route.

ifWith good academic qualifications and majors, you can get high-paying professional jobs in the United States.:

H-1B continues to prepare, but observe policy changes around September 21, 2026.

Especially in the future, the new weighting mechanism will be more biased towards higher wage levels.

ifYoung, with sufficient funds, and a career that is indeed suitable for the American market:

Consider:

American STEM Master → Internship → OPT → STEM OPT → Long-term Sponsor.

But the return on investment must be calculated, and you must not just study for a degree that costs hundreds of thousands of U.S. dollars just to "live in the United States."

If yes:

RN Nurse/PT Physical Therapist

Study career-specific routes directly instead of studying with ordinary white-collar workers.

if:

He is already an outstanding person among his peers

Research O-1/NIW.

if:

No education, no skills, weak English

A more practical approach is to first spend 2 to 4 years cultivating yourself into a talent that American employers have reason to introduce, instead of spending tens of thousands of U.S. dollars to buy so-called EB-3 jobs now.

Because the core problem of the U.S. immigration system is actually:

As long as this problem can be solved, "going to work in the United States" will begin to become a practical project.

A simple decision tree

Are you currently working in a multinational company with an office in the United States?
→ Prioritize researchL-1

No, but you are a nurse/PT?
→ Prioritize researchSchedule A

No, but a bachelor’s degree or above + a major that is highly relevant to the job + a high earning potential?
→ H-1B / cap-exempt H-1B

Already have a strong industry record?
→ O-1 / NIW

No, but are you willing to spend money to study a STEM major with a high employment rate in the United States?
→ F-1 → OPT

Don’t have any academic qualifications and want to work directly?
→ The options are obviously narrower. Don’t fall into the EB-3/H-2B intermediary scam just because the threshold is low.