Useful link:

• USCIS FAQ on H-3 nonimmigrant visas (USCIS website)

The H-3 nonimmigrant visa category allows foreign nationals to come temporarily to the United States as trainees to receive training, and is not intended for productive employment. The H-3 program is designed to provide a foreign national with job-related training that is not available in his or her country for work that will ultimately be performed outside the United States. There are no numerical limits on the number of people who can be granted H-3 visas as trainees each year.

An H-3 petitioner (employer) is required to submit evidence to demonstrate the following:

• The proposed training is not available in the trainee’s own country;
• The trainee will not be placed in a position that is in the normal operation of the business and in which U.S. citizen and resident workers are regularly employed;
• The trainee will not engage in productive employment, unless it is incidental and necessary to the training; and
• The training will benefit the trainee in pursuing a career outside the U.S..

Additionally, the H-3 beneficiaries (trainees) must also establish that they intend to return to their foreign residence upon the termination of their H-3 status.

H-3 programs may be granted for up to two years. If an H-3 trainee has spent two years in the U.S. in H-3 status, s/he may not seek extension of, change of status to, or be readmitted in, either H-visa or L-visa status unless s/he has resided outside the U.S. for the previous six months. The H-3 trainee can only extend status if the initial stay was less than 2 years, and the total period of stay, together with the extension period, does not exceed 2 years.

DISCLAIMER: This information is intended for clients of Jackson & Hertogs only. This is not intended to provide legal advice to non-clients of this firm. Nor will we respond to inquiries from non-clients. You should seek your own legal counsel in these matters.