Is this a requirement in the US just for the initial hire, or do you also need to do the same when turning temporary position into a permanent one so your employee has a reason to apply for permanent residence, too?
For most people coming from abroad, they're either being hired initially on an H-1B and then - usually after their time on that visa is up - their employer might sponsor them for the immigrant visa.
Others come via the intracompany transferee visa, the L-1. In certain categories, e.g. L-1A, for executives/managers, that visa allows an application for an immigrant visa without the LC process.
The other way companies do this: creating job ads that look impossible to fill by requiring 5 years of experience in a technology that's only been around for 2 years.
Surprised Facebook does this as they certainly have no issue paying domestic employees top dollar.
What do you mean H1 transfers?
You need to prove that there are no US citizens able to fill the role before you sponsor a H1 visa. You also need to do the same thing again (only much more detailed, including prevailing wage determination yada yada) before you can sponsor for permanent residency.
L1 (intra-company transfers) also require proving that there are no better candidates (in the US company) that can do the same job. Including specifying all the skills and how many people you employ in the US that have those skills.
> The other way companies do this: creating job ads that look impossible to fill by requiring 5 years of experience in a technology that's only been around for 2 years.
If this is true (it probably isn't) why haven't you notified the Department of Labor and USCIS? They will be very interested.
Pretty sure that's wrong; the requirement for an H1 is a LCA (Labor Condition Application) which is primarily a prevailing-wages thing along with some other labor condition items (e.g. there's not a strike ongoing at the location where you're trying to hire).
Only companies flagged as H1 dependent or 'willful violators' need to certify that they've attempted to hire locally.
Ok, maybe I'm wrong – I understand the initial process for L1B a bit better than H1B.
Blanket L1 app, there was an _absolutely enormous_ document stack with all sorts of things(for a blanket L1). Including all the skills, and how many people satisfied those skills in the US. Also information how the company would be able to afford the wages (Fortune 100).
How much of this was absolutely required and how much was the law firm anticipating requests I do not know. The information about skill availability in the US headquarters was absolutely mandatory though.
If both incoming and outgoing positions are in the same geography and have the same responsibilities (e.g. a software engineer moving between Bay Area companies), the positions are considered equivalent.
> prevailing wage determination
You need to do this for H1 positions as well. You also need to file an LCA to prove the occupation is a "specialty" occupation. The process is in general quite similar.