Can a US company sponsor me under these circumstances?

[nakamoto29 0]

My company have ventures in the US but another (US based) company will soon be purchasing our product that is used in the US. The company are potentially open to the idea of taking some staff from my company who have lots of knowledge on the product over to work for them (so, leaving my current company & working for this other US company instead) - however, I'm not sure if this is very feasible in regard to visas.

As a bit of background, I have a 3 year STEM degree and a couple of years in the IT industry. My knowledge is fairly specialised but I have only been in the company for 6 months, though I played a large role in rebuilding our product. 

 

Does anyone know what the options are? It's very early days yet. I know that H1b could potentially be an option but obviously I would need to win the lottery. Other than that, is it feasible to just hire a foreign person straight off the bat, without them being really exceptionally talented?

 

Thanks.

[SusieQQQ 11,586]

Doesn’t sound like L visa applies because afaik you have to have been with the company a year before you can be transferred on that (I presume the company being bought out would count as the same for visa purposes). Possibly, you could just wait for that year to be up then move. If your knowledge is particularly specialized, O visa is an option, though normally people on that have a lot more experience than you. Anyway, the company presumably has an immigration lawyer who would know the best visa to apply for for you? Have you spoken to them?

[nakamoto29 0]

Just now, SusieQQQ said:

Doesn’t sound like L visa applies because afaik you have to have been with the company a year before you can be transferred on that (I presume the company being bought out would count as the same for visa purposes). Possibly, you could just wait for that year to be up then move. If your knowledge is particularly specialized, O visa is an option, though normally people on that have a lot more experience than you. Anyway, the company presumably has an immigration lawyer who would know the best visa to apply for for you? Have you spoken to them?

We would not be able to apply for an L visa as I would be going from one company to another, rather than moving from my current companies home office to US office (because there isn't one, just our product is used in the US, we don't really have a base/entity there).

 

We haven't yet, we are just throwing about some ideas before the CEO speaks to the company about it. Everything is quite slow at the moment & just want to have an understanding of what my options may be - if any.

Thanks

[Boiler 45,486]

Sounds very much like a H1b, temporary work visa for those with degree level skills and where the job requires those skills.