Overview

An H-3 visa allows a temporary trainee to come to the United States to participate in a training program at the invitation of an American organization or individual. The purpose of U.S. training is to further the nonimmigrant's career in their home country. It may not be designed primarily to provide productive employment.

H-3 Requirements

A beneficiary may be eligible for H-3 training if it can be established that:

1. The beneficiary has a foreign residence to which he or she will return upon completion of training;

2. The proposed training is not available in the alien's own country;

3. The beneficiary will not be placed in a position which is in the normal operation of the business and in which citizens and resident workers are regularly employed;

4. The beneficiary will not engage in productive employment unless such employment is incidental and necessary to the training; and

5. The training will benefit the beneficiary in pursuing a career outside the United States.

Specific Qualifications for Nurses

In addition to the above, nurses must meet the following criteria in order to enter the U.S. as an H-3 trainee:

(1) The beneficiary has obtained a full and unrestricted license to practice professional nursing in the country where the beneficiary obtained a nursing education, or such education was obtained in the United States or Canada; and

(2) The petitioner provides a statement certifying that the beneficiary is fully qualified under the laws governing the place where the training will be received to engage in such training, and that under those laws the petitioner is authorized to give the beneficiary the desired training.


H-3 Training Program Requirements

In order to qualify under the H-3 category, the petitioning company must present the following information with regard to the training program:

1. Type of training and supervision to be given, and the structure of the program;

2. Proportion of time that will be dedicated to productive employment;

3. Number of hours that will be spent, respectively, in classroom instruction and in on-the-job training;

4. The career abroad for which the alien is receiving training;

5. Reasons why such training is not available in the alien's home country and why it is necessary for the training to be obtained in the U.S.; and

6. Source of any remuneration received by the trainee and any benefit which will accrue to the petitioner for providing the training.

A training program that presents any of the following may be disapproved:

1. Deals in generalities with no fixed schedule, objectives, or means of evaluation;

2. Is incompatible with the nature of the petitioner's business or enterprise;

3. Is on behalf of a beneficiary who already possesses substantial training and expertise in the proposed field of training;

4. Is in a field in which it is unlikely that the knowledge or skill will be used outside the United States;

5. Will result in productive employment beyond that which is incidental and necessary to the training;

6. Is designed to recruit and train aliens for the ultimate staffing of domestic operations in the United States;

7. Does not establish that the petitioner has the physical plant and sufficiently trained manpower to provide the training specified; or

8. Is designed to extend the total allowable period of practical training previously authorized a nonimmigrant student.

Period of Admission

The trainee is generally admitted for the length of the training program, but in no event longer than 2 years. An H-3 trainee may not obtain an extension, change of status or readmission after two years unless he or she has resided or been physically present outside the U.S. for the prior 6 months. This limitation does not apply to training that is seasonal, intermittent or less than 6 months in duration.

By Teressa Accurso Dickman
Law Offices of Teressa Accurso Dickman, P.A.
www.ImmigratingToAmerica.com

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