| H-3 Trainees
This category
is generally referred to as the Principal Trainee Category.
It permits training in a wide variety of activities provided
that the following four conditions are met:
(1) The proposed training is not available in the alien's
own country;
(2) 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;
(3) The beneficiary will not engage in productive employment
unless such employment is incidental and necessary to the
training; and
(4) The training will benefit the beneficiary in pursuing
a career outside the United States.
The following restrictions test whether these four conditions
have been met:
- The program may not result in productive employment beyond
the need to train;
- The program must not be designed to enlist aliens for
the petitioner's regular U.S. staff;
- The program must have a fixed schedule, objectives, and
means of evaluation;
- The program must not be incompatible with the petitioner's
business;
- It must be possible to clearly accomplish the program
with the petitioner’s plant and staff;
- The program must not seek to teach skills that the trainee
already has or is unlikely to use outside the United States;
- The program may not extend the total allowable period
of practical training previously authorized the trainee
as a nonimmigrant student.
The H-3 petition must be supported by a statement including
a breakdown of hours for any classroom instruction or on-the-job
training; the proportion of time devoted to productive employment;
the career abroad for which the training will prepare the trainee
and why the trainee needs be trained in the United States. The
statement must also indicate the source of any compensation
to the trainee and what benefit the petitioner will derive.
The maximum validity of the H-3 visa is two (2) years. The
spouse and minor children of the H-3 trainee may accompany
the H-3 trainee in H-4 status. They may not accept employment
in the United States unless they have some independent eligibility
for employment authorization.
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