For new entrepreneurs that would like to consider hiring fresh non-US grad students out of school, what are the typical costs and process to “get them through the door”. I realize this is broad, but trying to understand at what startup stage does this start to make sense to do. (Ie is it so expensive/time consuming that a seed startup shouldn’t even bother?)
Assuming that they don't fall within exceptional visas for those from certain countries (such as Australian, Canadian, Chilean, Mexican, and Singaporean citizens), the typical options are the H-1B (via the annual cap/lottery) and the O-1. Although initially, F-1 students get 1 year of OPT (optional practical training) and 2 additional years of OPT if they are a STEM graduate and the employer is an "e-verify" company. And really any company can act as a sponsor, even a startup. The focus is on the offered job and the individual's background (less on the company) and if they're both strong, then I think that it's worth pursuing an H-1B. An O-1 - which is a much higher standard - requires a much closer analysis.
Who is best to work on this? Is there a firm that you'd recommend that specializes in this? We had a great person for a hard to fill position (blockchain skills needed) from a country that should be easy (Australia) but for various reasons this took us over 3 months to complete. Surely, we could do better than this for countries with exceptions such as Australia? Or is that the typical experience?
I'm not here to plug our skills because there are lot of really good immigration firms out there but the E-3 visa for Australians is generally super quick and easy to get and I'm not sure why it took 3 months. The turnaround really just depends on visa application appointment availability, which can be just weeks.