Since obtaining a green card through employment can take two to three years, or longer, to accomplish, an employer ordinarily first would obtain a temporary work permit for his or her employees before starting the green card process.

The types of temporary work permits most frequently utilized for corporate employees are H-1Bs for employees in a specialty occupation, L-1s for intracompany transferees, TNs for certain Canadians and Mexicans through the NAFTA Treaty, O-1s for aliens who are extraordinary in their field, and E-1s or E-2s for treaty traders or treaty investors.

Deciding which of these temporary work permits to obtain is a function of many considerations, including the following:

1. How soon the prospective employee is needed;

2. The length of time the employer hopes to employ the employee;

3. Whether the employee has a university degree;

4. The salary being offered to the employee;

5. Whether the employee has been employed abroad by a related company;

6. Whether the employee is a national of Canada or Mexico;

7. Whether the employee is extraordinary in his or her field.

8. Whether the employee is a national of a treaty country.

9. Whether the employee has made a substantial investment in a business in the United States.

10. Whether the employee is employed by a company engaged in substantial trade with his or her country of nationality.

An analysis of the various non-immigrant work categories shows how the answers to these questions determine the choice of temporary work status.