How can a company sponsor an employment visa without first seeking qualified US-citizen applicants?
<p>My company is a Delaware C-Corp, though our office is in Florida.</p>

<p>I have been working with 3 talented freelance developers over the past 18 months, during which time they've been in a work-for-hire arrangement. At some point in the near future, I want bring them to the US to work as FT employees for our company. </p>

<p>One is in Egypt, one is in Scotland, another is in India. </p>

<p>This article seems to provide information on the procedure for sponsoring an employment visa: <a href="http://smallbusiness.chron.com/sponsor-employment-visa-10445.html" rel="nofollow">http://smallbusiness.chron.com/sponsor-employment-visa-10445.html</a></p>

<p>Excerpt:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>Launch a recruiting campaign for U.S. workers to fill the position, as directed by the SWA. You must advertise for the employee's position in a local newspaper and interview any interested U.S. applicants. If you find a qualified U.S. applicant, you must abandon the employment visa application process. The purpose of seeking U.S. workers is to ensure that foreign nationals do not take jobs that U.S. workers could perform.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>I could undoubtedly find qualified US applicants to fill the positions we would be offering. But applicants:</p>

<ul>
<li><p>don't have the working relationship I've established with these foreign freelancers over the past 18 months</p></li>
<li><p>may not actually possess the same competence and dedication that my current team has demonstrated over the course of our working relationship</p></li>
<li><p>cannot reasonably be expected to work efficiently with what is now 50,000+ lines of code they didn't write</p></li>
</ul>

<p>Is there any way to bypass this particular requirement, in light of my longstanding working relationships with these developers?</p>

<p>You need an attorney to advise you.</p>

<p>When you speak with your attorney, make sure you are clear and ask her to advise you for the best way to comply with the law and not how to circumvent it.</p>

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