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Work and Employment Visa: Requirements and How to Apply

Work and Employment Visa: Requirements and How to Apply

Work and Employment Visa

Also called: Work permit, employment visa, skilled worker visa, H-1B (United States), Blue Card (European Union), Schengen Type D for work

The work visa is the category where the applicant has the least control, because in almost every country the employer, not the employee, is the one who initiates it. The usual shape is: an employer offers a job, proves in some way that a local worker could not fill it, obtains a permit or certificate from the labour authority, and only then can you apply for the visa that lets you travel. That first stage is where the months go, and it is entirely outside your hands.

Who needs this

  • Anyone taking employment with a company in another country, at any level, for any duration.
  • Intra-company transferees moving to a foreign office of the same group, though many countries have a faster dedicated route for this.
  • Self-employed professionals delivering services locally, who in most countries need a work authorisation rather than a business visa.

When this is the wrong category

You will work remotely for a foreign employer without entering the local labour market. That is the digital nomad category, and it exists precisely because the work visa does not fit. Equally, if you are attending meetings rather than producing, you want the business visitor category.

What every application in this category needs

A concrete job offer from a licensed sponsor
Not an expression of interest. In systems like the United Kingdom the employer must hold a sponsor licence before it can offer you anything that counts.
A labour market test, in most countries
The employer demonstrates that the role was advertised locally and could not be filled. Shortage occupation lists, intra-company transfer routes and high-salary thresholds are the usual ways around it.
Qualifications that match the role, authenticated
Your degree apostilled, often plus a credential evaluation, and for regulated professions a licence recognition process that is separate and slower than either.
A salary at or above a published threshold
Most skilled routes set a floor, sometimes absolute and sometimes relative to the local going rate for the occupation. The EU Blue Card sets it as a multiple of the national average salary.
A clean record and a medical
Police certificate from every country of extended residence, and for many destinations a medical examination by a designated physician.
The process, in sequence Roughly 11 months end to end if nothing stalls
  1. 1 Employer secures authorisation to hire you Sponsor licence, labour market test, quota allocation, work permit application to the labour ministry. This stage is the employer responsibility and is where most of the elapsed time goes. Government processing · about 75 days
  2. 2 Authenticate your credentials in parallel Do not wait for the employer stage to finish. Get the degree apostilled and the credential evaluation started while the employer works through the permit, because these are the two things you control. Documents and authentication · about 40 days
  3. 3 Professional licence recognition, if regulated Medicine, nursing, law, teaching, engineering and accountancy all have their own recognition bodies. This routinely takes longer than the visa and it is frequently discovered too late. Your action · about 120 days
  4. 4 Order the police certificate and medical Late in the sequence, because both age. The FBI check goes to the U.S. Department of State for authentication. Documents and authentication · about 30 days
  5. 5 Apply for the visa With the employer permit or certificate number, at the consulate with jurisdiction over your state of residence. Government processing · about 30 days
  6. 6 Enter and convert to a residence permit Almost universally there is a post-arrival step within days or weeks: registration, biometrics, and issue of the card that actually authorises you to live and work there. Your action · about 30 days

Your action Documents and authentication Government processing

Timing, cost and what the status gives you

How far ahead to start
Three to nine months is normal, and regulated professions can run past a year because of licence recognition. The visa decision itself is usually the shortest part.
What it costs
Government fees run from a few hundred to several thousand dollars, and in some systems the employer bears most of them by law. The United Kingdom adds the Immigration Health Surcharge for the whole visa period paid up front, which is substantial for a family.
Validity and duration of stay
Usually tied to the employment, for one to five years. In most countries the permit is tied to that specific employer, and changing jobs requires a new authorisation rather than a notification. Losing the job can start a short countdown, sometimes as little as 30 to 60 days, to find another sponsor or leave.
Work rights
Full, within the terms of the permit. The terms usually name the employer, the occupation and sometimes the location, and working outside them is a status violation.
Family members
Most skilled routes allow a spouse and dependent children, and many now give the spouse full work rights, which is a significant part of the package. Dependant applications need apostilled marriage and birth certificates.

Where applications go wrong

  • Discovering the professional licence recognition requirement after accepting the job. For doctors, nurses, lawyers and teachers this is the single biggest cause of a delayed start.
  • Assuming a degree apostille is enough where a credential evaluation is also required. They are different things.
  • Not realising the permit is employer-specific and that resigning ends it.
  • Starting work before the permit is issued, including remotely from abroad in some jurisdictions.
  • Salary thresholds that move annually, so an offer negotiated in one year can fall below the floor by the time it is filed.

Common refusal grounds

  • The labour market test was not satisfied or was not properly documented by the employer.
  • Salary below the published threshold or below the going rate for the occupation.
  • Qualifications not recognised as equivalent.
  • Quota exhausted, which is a scheduling problem rather than a merits problem in capped systems.
  • Sponsor not licensed, or licence suspended.

Documents and authentication for this category

Work visas are document-heavy and the routing rules matter. Your degree is apostilled by the Secretary of State of the state that issued it. Your FBI Identity History Summary is a federal record and goes to the U.S. Department of State. Marriage and birth certificates for dependants go to their issuing states. Professional licences, transcripts and experience letters are private or institutional documents that usually need a notary acknowledgement first. For non-Convention destinations, particularly in the Gulf, every one of these then needs embassy legalisation on top, and the Gulf states additionally require attestation by their own ministry of foreign affairs after arrival.

The document chain, in the only order that works
  1. 1 Obtain a certified original From the issuing authority. Photocopies, scans and souvenir certificates cannot be authenticated.
  2. 2 Notarise, if it is a private document Letters, affidavits, powers of attorney and diploma copies need a notary acknowledgement first. Government-issued vital records do not.
  3. 3 County clerk, in some states A handful of states require the county clerk to certify the notary commission before the Secretary of State will act.
  4. 4 Authenticate at the right level State-issued documents go to the Secretary of State of the ISSUING state. Federal documents, including the FBI Identity History Summary, go to the U.S. Department of State Office of Authentications.
  5. 5 Apostille or embassy legalisation Hague Convention destination: the apostille ends the chain. Non-member destination: the document then goes to that country embassy or consulate.
  6. 6 Certified translation Translate the document together with its apostille or legalisation certificate. Doing this first means paying twice.
  7. 7 File with the right consulate Jurisdiction is by your U.S. state of residence. Bring originals plus a full copy set.

The two expensive mistakes. Sending a federal document such as an FBI Identity History Summary to a Secretary of State, which cannot authenticate it. And translating before authentication, so the apostille certificate is not inside the translation and the whole set has to be paid for twice.

How it differs by country

United States (inbound)
H-1B is capped and allocated by lottery in most years, so timing is dictated by the registration window rather than by readiness. L-1 covers intra-company transfers, O-1 extraordinary ability, E-2 treaty investors. The employer files a petition with USCIS before any consular step.
European Union
The EU Blue Card is a common framework for highly qualified employment with a salary threshold set as a multiple of the national average, and it carries intra-EU mobility rights that national permits do not.
United Kingdom
The Skilled Worker route requires a licensed sponsor and a Certificate of Sponsorship, with salary and skill thresholds that were raised substantially in 2024.
Gulf states
The sponsor holds formal legal responsibility for the employee. Document attestation is unusually demanding: authentication, embassy legalisation, and then attestation by the destination ministry of foreign affairs after arrival.
Japan and South Korea
The employer obtains a Certificate of Eligibility first, which the applicant then presents at a consulate. It is a two-stage process and the first stage is where the time goes.

This category, country by country

Questions

Can I find a job while I am there on a tourist visa?

Looking is generally fine; working is not. Several countries now offer a dedicated job-seeker visa, including Germany, Austria, Portugal and the United Arab Emirates, which is the clean way to do this. Converting a tourist entry into a work permit in-country is impossible in most places and requires leaving and applying properly.

Is my degree enough?

Two separate questions. Authentication proves the document is genuine, and that is the apostille. Recognition proves the qualification is equivalent to a local one, and that is a credential evaluation or a professional body assessment. Skilled routes usually want both, and for regulated professions the second one can take a year.

What happens if I lose the job?

In most countries the permit is tied to the employer and a short grace period starts, often 30 to 60 days, to find a new sponsor or leave. A few systems are more generous. Know your number before you need it, because it is not negotiable once the clock starts.

Can my spouse work?

Increasingly yes on skilled routes, and it is a genuine differentiator between destinations. Some countries grant dependants full unrestricted work rights, others require a separate permit, and a few prohibit it. Check this before choosing between two offers in different countries.

Authoritative sources

Where this tool disagrees with one of these, the official source is right. Tell us and we will correct it.

Verified Sep 7, 2026 Primary sources: travel.state.gov, www.hcch.net

Verified Sep 7, 2026 Primary sources: travel.state.gov

This resource is provided free by Federal Apostille as an educational tool. It is not legal or immigration advice, and no attorney-client relationship is created by using it. Visa rules, fees, processing times and entry requirements change frequently and often without notice, and individual circumstances change the answer. Always confirm current requirements with the official government source and the specific embassy or consulate that has jurisdiction over your place of residence before you book travel or file an application. Every figure on this site carries the date we last verified it and a link to the primary source.

Planning to stay, not just visit

If this is a long stay rather than a trip, the retirement atlas covers what the visa paperwork does not: what living there costs, how far a US income goes, healthcare, and where American expats actually settle.

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