Moving to the U.S. for work: your first 30 days

Step 1 — Check your I-94 in your first days

When a U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officer admits you, your Form I-94 is created. It shows your entry date, visa type and the date by which you must leave (State Department — Rights and Protections for Temporary Workers). If you need it to prove your status or permission to work, CBP encourages you to get your I-94 number from the I-94 website or the CBP Link app (CBP — I-94).

• You’ll need it at work. Form I-9 asks a noncitizen authorized to work for a USCIS number, an I-94 admission number or a foreign passport number (USCIS — Form I-9 instructions).
• Check it now. Compare your class of admission (for example, H-1B) and your “Admit Until Date” with your passport, visa and approval notice. Our I-94 guide shows how, and which office fixes errors.
• Check your family’s records too. Since January 30, 2022, USCIS and CBP have issued I-94s with the codes E-1S, E-2S, E-3S and L-2S for certain E and L spouses (USCIS — Temporary Workers).

Step 2 — Know what your status depends on

To work here temporarily, your employer must generally file a petition for you with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS); E-1, E-2, E-3 and TN are among the few categories that allow work without one filed first (USCIS — Temporary Workers). Each category has its own USCIS page and conditions, linked from USCIS’s list of temporary worker categories.

For Form I-9, USCIS describes the I-94 that many of these workers show as an endorsement of their status and “authorization to work for a specific employer based on this status” (USCIS — Acceptable Documents). For H-1B workers, USCIS says the employer’s petition, Form I-129, is also used to request new employment or a change of employment with the same employer (USCIS — H-1B). Before any change to your job, ask your employer whether anything must be filed first.

If your job ends or changes. There are rules for this, including time limits; for H-1B, USCIS explains them under “Changing Employers or Employment Terms with the Same Employer” (USCIS — H-1B). For other categories, check the USCIS page for your category. Don’t rely on USCIS’s older page “Options for Nonimmigrant Workers Following Termination of Employment”: USCIS has archived it with the warning that “the information on this page is out of date” (USCIS — archived page). Our guide to changing or losing a job on a work visa lists the official options and where each one is explained. As soon as you learn your job may end, get authorized legal help.

H-1B and L-1 rules changed in 2025–2026. USCIS’s H-1B page has alerts about a presidential proclamation of September 19, 2025, on certain new H-1B petitions, court orders about it dated June 8 and July 24, 2026, and a fee rule for some employers effective September 9, 2026 (USCIS — H-1B). Check the current alerts there.

Step 3 — Your first day at work: Form I-9

You complete Section 1 of Form I-9 no later than your first day of work, but not before you accept the job offer. Within three business days after your first day (start on Monday, show them by Thursday), you present original, unexpired documents that you choose: one from List A, or one from List B plus one from List C (USCIS — Form I-9 instructions).

Common choices for temporary workers (USCIS — Acceptable Documents):

• List A: a foreign passport with an I-94 in the same name, endorsed with your status and authorization to work for a specific employer, while the endorsement is unexpired and the job fits its restrictions.
• List C: an I-94 issued to work-authorized nonimmigrants, such as H-1B workers, plus a List B identity document such as a state driver’s license.

Your employer can’t tell you which documents to choose, or ask for a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) document because you aren’t a U.S. citizen (USCIS — Employee Rights).

No Social Security number yet? The Social Security Administration (SSA) doesn’t require one before you start working; while you wait, your immigration documents can prove you may work (SSA — Foreign Workers). For E-Verify and your rights, see finding a job.

Step 4 — Apply for your Social Security number

Your employer will ask for your Social Security number (SSN) to report your wages (SSA — Foreign Workers). If you apply directly with SSA, it recommends waiting 10 days after you arrive, so it can verify your DHS documents online more easily (SSA — Noncitizens). You start online, then visit a Social Security office or card center with originals: your unexpired foreign passport and your U.S. immigration documents, such as an admission stamp showing a class of admission that permits work, or an I-94 showing DHS work authorization. SSA doesn’t accept photocopies, notarized copies or receipts (SSA — Foreign Workers). See our SSN guide and protecting your SSN.

Step 5 — Set up your money and a home

• Money: see opening a bank account, building U.S. credit from zero and sending money home.
• Housing: HUD’s housing counselor training advises against a lease that runs beyond your term of guaranteed employment (HUD). See renting your first apartment, setting up utilities and phone and internet.

Step 6 — Ask about health insurance through your job

Ask your employer early when coverage starts, when to enroll and whether your family can join. Job-based plans may have their own open enrollment periods, so check with your employer (HealthCare.gov — Open Enrollment Period). See health insurance for newcomers and where to get medical care.

Step 7 — Read your first pay stub and Form W-4

• Form W-4 lets your employer withhold the correct federal income tax. If the IRS treats you as a “nonresident alien” (its term), the 2026 form says to see IRS Notice 1392 before you complete it (IRS — Form W-4 (2026)). That comes from IRS tests, not your visa: it means you haven’t passed the green card test or the substantial presence test (IRS — Taxation of nonresident aliens). See tax residency for newcomers and your paycheck and withholding.
• Your pay stub must show each deduction (State Department).
• H-1B workers: the Department of Labor says you can never be required to pay any part of the USCIS training and processing fee or the fraud protection and detection fee, or a penalty (as defined by state law) for not completing the full employment period (DOL — Fact Sheet 62H). Your employer must pay the required wage for nonproductive time caused by work-related conditions, such as no assigned work, starting no later than 30 days after you were first admitted on the H-1B petition (DOL — Fact Sheet 62I).

Step 8 — Report your address within 10 days of each move

USCIS says all noncitizens in the U.S. must report a change of address within 10 days of moving, except A and G visa holders and visa waiver visitors, and that changing your address with the U.S. Postal Service doesn’t change it with USCIS (USCIS — Change Your Address). Moving from temporary housing into an apartment counts too. See changing your address.

Step 9 — If your family came with you

The spouse and unmarried children under 21 of an H-1B worker may seek H-4 status (USCIS — H-1B); those of an L-1 worker, L-2 status (USCIS — L-1A). Whether a spouse may work depends on the category. Certain E and L spouses are employment authorized because of their status (USCIS — Temporary Workers), while certain H-4 spouses can apply for a work permit once the H-1B worker has started the employment-based green card process (USCIS — H-1B). See spouses of visa holders, enrolling your child in school and families’ first steps.