• In the event of a layoff, H-1B holders have 60 days to find new companies to sponsor their visas. If they can’t, they can try switching to a different kind of work visa or look into non-work visas, such as a self-sponsored green card. But for some leaving the country may be the best or only course of action.
• While the actual number is unknown, some experts believe H-1B visa holders account for between 10%–30% of those who have lost their jobs. Amazon and Meta have cut the most number of people year-to-date. Those two companies are among the top sponsors of H-1B petitions in 2021: roughly 17,000 and 4,400, respectively.
• 60-day grace period is not enough for workers to find new jobs, Sophie Alcorn, CEO of Alcorn Immigration Law, estimates. It’s already challenging to find a job during the holiday season and to get an H-1B visa. Workers in this situation may be forced to leave their homes for an indefinite period of time as certain U.S. Consulates or embassies around the world often have wait times of 3-plus years for new visa interviews.
• On the other hand, for employers looking to hire, this is a good opportunity to retain brilliant, experienced workers who will be grateful for the opportunity to stay in the country.

What has happened

The government approved the relevant initiative on August 19. Having simplified the procedure for issuing visas, the Foreign Ministry plans to attract tourists and foreign investments to Ukraine.

“For many foreigners, an acquaintance with our country begins with obtaining a Ukrainian visa. This first impression should be positive. Foreigners should associate Ukraine with convenient and fast electronic services. In this way, we will not only relaunch the tourism industry, but also stimulate foreign investment in Ukraine, develop trade, strengthen contacts between people, and generally make the brand “Ukraine” more modern and attractive,” said Dmytro Kuleba, the Minister for Foreign Affairs.

What will change

• The applicant will be able to choose the preferred procedure for issuing an electronic visa: regular or expedited (with double tariff rate in case of an expedited one),
• e-Visas will be issued much faster: expedited processing will take 1 working day, and the usual processing procedure will be 3 working days (so far, the processing time for visa applications has reached 9 days),
• in addition to the existing single-entry e-visa, a new type of visa will appear: double-entry e-Visa;
• the consular fees will be significantly reduced: the consular fee for a single-entry e-Visa will be $20 instead of $85, for a double-entry visa – $30.

The H-1B visa allows foreign professionals to work and reside legally in the United States. It is applied for three years and may be extended for the same period. Besides, an H-1B holder may stay in the U.S. even after this term has expired if he or she has applied for a green card and is awaiting a decision.

Such a decision is explained by the risk to the U.S. labor market, which foreign workers present due to the coronavirus outbreak.

“During this same period [between February and May of 2020 – ed.], more than 20 million United States workers lost their jobs in key industries where employers are currently requesting H-1B and L workers to fill positions,” the proclamation says.

Entrepreneurs often travel to the United States using L-1 visas. This decision will also have an impact on the country’s innovation industry. For example, SEOs of startups enter the country through this nonimmigrant visa program.

J-1 visas are also suspended until the end of the year (sometimes H-1B visas are used as temporary replacements of J-1 ones). Such visas are issued to research scholars, professors, and exchange visitors participating in programs that promote cultural exchange, especially to obtain medical or business training within the U.S.

The officials believe that ban on worker visas will provide Americans with an additional 525,000 job positions.

Many representatives of the U.S. high-tech industry criticize such a decision. Sundar Pichai, CEO of Alphabet, Google’s parent company, said that he was disappointed with the president’s decision:

Gustav Alstromer, Partner at Y Combinator, said that he came to the United States on an H-1B visa:

“The suspension of the H1B visa program is bad for the US, bad for innovation, and will shatter dreams and disrupt lives. As a former H1B visa holder, my heart goes out to all the families affected,” writes Andrew Ng, co-founder of Coursera.

• Estonia exempted Ukrainians from the payment of state fee (visa application fee) in January 2010.
• According to the ministers, today the privileges for the citizens of Ukraine and Belarus have created a situation of inequality in the Estonian labor market.
• 90% of migrants come to the country to earn money. This brings down the already established labor rates in Estonia and deprives Estonians of their jobs. The decision was made in order to set equal terms for migrant workers and boost the coffers.
• The state fee will be 80 euros, and from January 1, 2020, it will increase to 100 euros.
• The decision applies only to the national D type visa for more than 90 days and up to one year.
• The decision will come into force on 1 November 2019.

This information does not concern the citizens of Ukraine, who come to Estonia with a tourist visa.

How to win a ticket to WWDC?

Apple holds WWDC every year. The number of conference participants is limited, whereas the number of applicants is huge. That is why the company holds a lottery among potential participants. If a developer has been selected, his/her account is charged the cost of the ticket ($1,599) and he/she receives an invite. This year’s registration began on March 14, 2019. A week later Apple determined the winners and sent the invites. Vladislav was one of the few lucky to get the ticket, and on March 27 he received a letter from the company.

“For me, being a developer, attending the conference is a dream come true, but the U.S. Embassy had its own plans,” Vladislav laments.

Visa problem

After getting the invitation, the developer began collecting all the necessary documents to apply for a visa, paid the visa fee and made an appointment with the embassy. On April 15, he came to Kyiv to have an interview at the U.S. Embassy.

According to him, he had all the required documents, including the invitation from Apple, payment slip for participation in the event, air tickets, accommodation details in the U.S., account statements, the letter from employer Grid Dynamics, and copies of property titles. He also included this information in DS-160 (visa application form).

However, the embassy’s officer did not ask him to show any of the said documents. Instead, the officer inquired about the purpose of the visit and whether the applicant covered the trip expenses himself.

“I said that I paid from my own pocket, and then I was asked, “Why did you pay but not your company?” I answered honestly “Because that was my decision, I planned beforehand to spend money on this event.” No other questions were asked. 30 seconds later he handed me a paper and said: “You are denied to enter the U.S.” Those were the most unpleasant words that I have heard recently,” Kornieiev says.

The official letter states that the reason for ineligibility is article 214 b of the U.S. Immigration and Nationality Act – i.e. there are doubts that the applicant will leave the U.S. According to the developer, in the past couple of years he has visited Europe multiple times, he has no violations and he does not understand why he was denied. The set of documents also contained papers confirming his employment and property ownership in Ukraine, but as we pointed out above, the embassy did not take them under consideration.

What’s next

The developer’s chances to attend the conference are very low now. You cannot appeal the decision of the embassy; you can only apply for a visa again. However, when he tried to go this way, his interview was appointed on June 11, whereas the conference ends on June 7.

“There’s no point for me to go to the embassy because by that time the conference will be over. The only way out is a request to expedite the visa issue, but you cannot do it without a valid reason (for example, health issues), and I don’t want to deceit anyone… But the hope springs eternal,” Kornieiev says.

Oleg Draiman from the previous year’s visa story got lucky. He managed to get the visa and attend WWDC-2018 after his story was published.

Update: at least one more user has reported having the same troubles with WDC-2019:

https://twitter.com/yahenskyi/status/1120590649307336704?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1120590649307336704&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fain.ua%2F2019%2F04%2F23%2Fwwdc-i-problemy-s-visoj%2F

What is a D-type visa?

D-type visas are long-term visas that give the right to stay or reside in Ukraine for a period that exceeds 90 days. Long-term visas are issued as multiple entry visas for the period of 90 days.

What has changed?

Previously, to extend such a visa, a foreigner had to leave the country. This issue complicated life, including those professionals who were going to work for the Ukrainian IT-companies. Now foreigners can get long-term visas in the consular department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs without leaving Ukraine.

“The essence of the problem is that in order to find a job in Ukraine, a US citizen was traveling to Poland from Ukraine for a week, and there he/she received a D-type visa, and then returned to Ukraine,” explains Igor Samohodsky, an IT BRDO expert.

About 30,000 visas of this type are issued per year.

“This will make it easier to attract highly qualified specialists both to the private sector and to the supervisory boards of state-owned enterprises,” said Stepan Kubiv, the head of the department.

Upon request of our editorial team, Semen Gladin, US Immigration Attorney from White Summers Caffee & James, who also assisted Ukrainian entrepreneurs with relocation, commented the trends in issue of permits to enter the United States. He told about the most popular types of visas, as follows:

• В1/В2 (business/tourism). This visa does not allow working in the USA and, in general, the Lawyer dealt with small number of such visas. However, according to the Lawyer, at the level of unofficial monitoring, policy and practice of this visa issue have been tightened. The Lawyer says, “This is so much the case that they revoke В1/В2 В1/В2 visas, which already have been issued. I’ve heard about one guy, who was summoned to appear in the embassy where they asked to give his passport and cancelled his visa, because Pension Fund of Ukraine had not confirmed the receipt of payments to his account from the declared employer in Ukraine – it was interpreted as initial deception and absence of relationships, holding him in the homeland.”
• О1 (visa for very gifted people). The Lawyer often deals with this type of visa. According to him, if you get approval from local department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (US Dept. of Homeland Security/US Citizenship and Immigration Services), based on statistics, you will probably have 100% success.
• Е2 (visa for investors from the countries, which signed trade agreements with the USA). According to Semen Gladin, in contrast to other visas, this one can be obtained without approval from “local department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs” or change the status within the USA. However, as distinct from other working visas, this will not be a landmark decision for the embassy, therefore, even after getting approval to change the status into Е2, if it is necessary to cross the border, you anyway have to obtain direct approval of the embassy/State Department. The statistics on this type of visas is disappointing. The Lawyer says, “Problems with Е2 consist in the necessity to show that the funds to be spent on investment were honestly earned (most often, providing the evidence of tax payment) – that can be quite difficult in Ukraine for obvious reasons. Therefore, we prefer to change the status within the USA without further cross-board travelling. Statistics on change of status in the USA is 100% success.”

• H-1B (visa for professionals, going to the USA with the purpose of professional work). According to Semen Gladin, in principle, there are many problems with this visa, but almost no disapprovals by State Department in Ukraine.
• J-1 (exchange visitor) – is often used as temporary substitute for H-1B visa – statistics on this type of visa is negative.

It depends on the purpose of entry and stay how impressive will be the set of documents that needs to be collected. There are three types of Ukrainian visas:

• transit (type B) – issued in the case of transit through the territory of Ukraine to other countries. It gives the right to stay in Ukraine for only five days.
• short-term (type C) – as a rule, it is opened on the condition of entry into Ukraine for a period that does not exceed a total of 90 days within 180 days total. However, there are exceptions. For example, for Serbian citizens, the above figures are tree times less: they can only enter the country for 30 days during the period of 60 days.
• a long-term (type D) visa is accordingly issued for entry into Ukraine for more than 90 days with the purpose of issuing documents that give the right of residence or a long stay here.

Step 2. Do I need a visa?

After the purpose of the trip is figured out, it is worth checking on the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine whether citizens of your country need to first open a visa.

In the Ukrainian visa policy there is such a thing as a full visa-free regime, and 8 countries fall under it. Thus, it will be enough for the citizens of Belarus to have only an internal passport at the entrance. For Georgia, Moldova, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan, you will need to provide a foreign passport, citizens of Mongolia will be asked for a document confirming the purpose of their arrival, and Russian citizens, in addition to providing the above documents, are required to undergo a process of recording biometric data. Recall that Ukraine has closed entry for male Russians of 16-60 years old due to the imposition of martial law.

The full visa-free regime implies that residents of these countries do not need to get any of the three types of visas.

There is also another type of visa-free regime, which implies that a foreigner can stay on the territory of Ukraine for a total of 90 days for six months. It includes citizens of the countries of the European Union, some countries of South America, the USA, Canada, Japan and many others (more than 50 countries in total). If the trip is planned for more than 90 days, then it will be necessary to issue a visa of type D.

And, of course, there is the visa regime, which obliges foreigners from more than 100 countries to work hard to collect all the necessary documents. Among them are Australia, Indonesia, India, Nepal, African countries and others.

Step 3. Documents

According to the “Rules for issuing visas for entry into Ukraine and transit through its territory” dated March 1, 2017, for all types of visas there is a minimum set that one way or another will have to be provided to the diplomatic institution of Ukraine or another authority authorized to receive documents:

• passport document with at least two blank pages, and which will be valid for at least 3 months after departure to Ukraine;
• completed visa application form;
• health insurance policy with a cost of at least 30,000 euros;
• color photograph 35×45 mm;
• documents confirming the presence of sufficient financial security for the period of the planned stay on the territory of Ukraine (or confirmation of the possibility of obtaining sufficient security in a legal way on the territory of Ukraine);
• confirmation of payment of the consular fee.

Next you need to start preparing basing on the type of visa. Depending on it, the variety of additional documents will vary.

Step 4. Submission of documents

When all documents are checked and prepared, there is a little thing left to do – you need to submit them to the consular office, the diplomatic mission of Ukraine in your country or the visa center.

If you do not like to wait in line, and have citizenship of Australia, Dominican Republic, Jamaica or any of these 43 countries, there is some good news for you. Since April 4 of this year, it has been possible to save your time and open an e-Visa. True, it has its limitations, since it is issued for a single entry into Ukraine with a business or tourist purpose for up to 30 days.

To do this, you first need to register on the platform, fill out an application form, download basic documents and pay the consular fee of $85 online.

There is another option for obtaining a short-term visa for single entry for up to 15 days with the same purpose for e-Visa, namely, to issue it directly at the airport. Branches of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine are at the airport “Boryspil”, “Zhulyany” and “Odessa”. This service can be used by citizens of Australia, India, Indonesia, China and another 26 countries. The consular fee in this case amounts to UAH 2,550, and the decision to issue a visa is made on the same day, according to information from the MFA website. We note that on the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine there is information about a possibility of issuing a visa at the airports, however, in a recent interview, the head of the government agency, Andriy Zayats, said that starting from January 1 this option will no longer be available.

***

The fact that you have a visa does not guarantee entry into the territory of Ukraine. Refusal is possible during border control at the border checkpoint if, for example, you do not have convincing documents confirming the purpose of the trip.