What is a visa renewal

Visa renewal refers to the process of extending a visa’s validity. A visa renewal revalidates the visa so that the holder can maintain their current immigration status.

Every nonimmigrant visa has a validity period during which visa holders can legally stay or work in a country. When this validity expires, they must leave the country.

Renewing visa validity is a crucial HR role for businesses with international employees. Expired visas can prevent visa holders from remaining in their host country, disrupting business, affecting productivity, and creating compliance issues.

Who is responsible for renewing a work visa?

In most cases, especially in the US, employers are responsible for applying for and renewing nonimmigrant work visas for foreign talent unless the visa allows for self-petition.

In the UK, employers are mandated to ensure their foreign employees maintain the legal right to work in the country. This duty includes both the initial visa application and subsequent visa extensions.

How does visa renewal impact global hiring?

Visa renewals allow you to hire and retain foreign talent. If you regularly employ global teams, renewing your employees’ visas allows them to keep working in your home country.

Visa renewals also allow you to maintain international assignments. An international assignee may get ejected from their host country if their visa expires, derailing their assignment.

This ability to hire, retain, and relocate employees offers location flexibility to your workers who may wish to travel for work. If you plan to expand your company globally, visa renewals also allow you to move with your team and relocate key company players.

Deel can help you expand into these new markets by handling onboarding, offboarding, global payroll, and visas. See How Bitpanda expanded from 3 office hubs to 20+ jurisdictions with Deel and How Deel helped Quantium hire and retain employees in 3+ countries.

"Deel has been helpful in ensuring we didn't lose key staff and the deep corporate knowledge and skills that are hugely beneficial to our business." —Lysette Randall, Executive, HR Performance & Partnering at Quantium

Is visa renewal crucial to retaining a global workforce?

Yes. The most obvious way visa renewals impact employee retention is by allowing your current workers to remain in the country legally.

Most importantly, however, timely visa renewals build your reputation as a dependable employer. Foreign workers and international contractors who see you proactively supporting this process will be drawn to your company and the immigration security you offer.

Once these workers join your company, the continued visa support cultivates job satisfaction and loyalty, increasing retention rates and making you an even more attractive global employer.

Deel can help you leverage this attractiveness to find and secure the right global talent for your company. Our immigration experts help you determine the type of visas you need for global hires, apply for, and renew them compliantly. Learn more about Deel Immigration here.

Does visa renewal impact remote teams?

Yes. Although many remote jobs are fully remote (do not require employees to appear on-site), some are hybrid. Some companies require remote workers to travel for in-person meetings, site tours, or long-term projects. These employees must have the correct visas, which must subsequently be renewed.

Keeping your remote teams’ visas valid allows you to have them on site when it is crucial to a project. It saves time and eliminates the need to hire a stand-in for remote employees who cannot travel.

See also: A guide to moving to Germany for expats and digital nomads

How do you renew a visa?

You renew a visa almost the same way you apply for it. In the US, for instance, every renewal application is considered an independent application with virtually the same steps as an initial application.

The embassy or consulate in the foreign worker’s home country processes the application. To initiate the process, you update the worker’s international employment contract. You then:

• File Form DS-160 (Online Nonimmigrant Visa Application) with the Department of State
• Pay the required visa processing fee
• Upload the foreign worker’s digital photo and relevant documents
• Notify the worker to schedule and attend a visa interview at the embassy or consulate

While this process is specific to the US, it holds for most countries. Visit your home country’s official government website for instructions specific to your situation.

See also: 4 steps to easy visa renewals for enterprise employees

Are there legal repercussions to not renewing a visa?

Indeed. When a visa expires, its holder is technically staying in the host country illegally. This is an immigration law violation that often carries severe repercussions.

In the US, remaining in the country on an expired visa can trigger deportation proceedings. Deported individuals may be barred from returning to the country for a given period or even permanently. A record of deportation may also limit an applicant’s ability to obtain another visa, including a tourist visa.

As an employer, a record of visa disputes can damage your reputation. Expired visas are also a compliance breach that could lead to penalties, audits, and sanctions.

Deel protects your company from these and other compliance issues by organizing your visa documents, notifying you of impending expiration dates, and initiating the renewal process on your behalf.

How often do you need to renew employee visas?

It depends on the visa type and the host country's regulations. H-1B visas in the US (used to employ foreign workers in specialty occupations) are typically valid for three years but can be extended for up to six years. Meanwhile, nonimmigrant self-employed workers and top executives may enjoy a visa validity period of up to 5 years.

In Hong Kong, work visas are often flexible, with validity periods that vary depending on the duration of a worker’s employment contract.

In the US, if the embassy or consulate approves your renewal application, it issues a Form I-94 (Arrival/Departure Record). A Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officer attaches this form to the foreign worker’s passport at a port of entry. The officer reviews the application and other documents, like the employment contract, and determines how long the visa status will be valid.

You must then renew the visa before it expires. Again, depending on the type of visa, this can be every two, three, four, or five years.

What are some challenges you might face while renewing employee visas?

Visa renewals are not automatic. Simply because a host country approved an applicant’s application previously does not mean they will renew their visa every time.

This often means you must submit evidentiary documents to support every renewal bid. For some specialty visas, for instance, you must prove that the applicant is still valuable to the host country. Other visas require evidence of the applicant’s continued ties to their home country.

Visa renewals are also subject to changes in immigration law, which may alter the application process, processing time, fees, or required documents.

Other challenges you might face include long processing times and language and culture barriers. Deel can help circumnavigate all these issues by uploading your application documents, liaising consular communications, arranging interviews, and more.

How can HR improve the visa renewal process?

To help you avoid the challenges that visa renewals present, HR can maintain a database of all your employees’ visa-related information. This will allow you to track the applicant status and visa expiration dates of each foreign employee and international assignee and initiate renewals in advance.

Alternatively, HR can help employees renew their visa application status by connecting them to immigration services and guiding them on the required paperwork.

As immigration laws change or you expand into more countries, HR can monitor policy changes and adjust your records and application procedures. For maximum efficiency and continued compliance, they can automate all these actions through visa regulatory compliance management software.

When is a visa renewal management system considered effective?

A visa renewal management system is effective if it successfully:

• Records and stores all employee visa information
• Notifies you when visa expiration dates are upcoming
• Triggers visa renewals for nonimmigrant company employees
• Tracks visa renewal status and provides continuous feedback
• Updates your application procedures in line with regulatory changes

You can measure these metrics by the number of successful visa renewals your system delivers, their timelines, and your foreign employees' satisfaction and retention rates.

Can Deel streamline the visa renewal process?

Absolutely. Deel combines HR, global recruitment, compliance, and payroll on one platform to keep you and your company compliant and running smoothly around the clock.

Our immigration tools automate and streamline your visa renewal processes across 150+ countries to help you grow and maintain your global team. Our immigration experts are ready to take over the renewal process and file the proper documents for your global team.

Reach out to the team today to learn how we can help you streamline visa renewals or book a demo to get started.