ONBOARDING GUIDE
WELCOME TO ENVOY As your partner in the immigration process, we are here to help make the visa application process as easy as possible for you, your sponsored employees and your team. This onboarding guide will walk you through the Envoy web application and immigration process. TABLE OF CONTENTS 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 QUICK OVERVIEW ACCOUNT SETUP OPENING A CASE APPLICATION PROCESS SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS MAKING A PAYMENT POST-FILING INFORMATION COMMUNICATION CENTER YOUR SUPPORT TEAM 3 4 6 7 9 10 11 12 13 ENVOY ONBOARDING GUIDE 2
QUICK OVERVIEW: YOUR IMMIGRATION MANAGEMENT PLATFORM Answer a Few Questions We replaced the traditional attorney interview with a quick questionnaire. Get Reponses Quickly Attorneys answer questions within an hour. Track Your Case See the status of each application. Send Docs in a Few Clicks Uploading documents is as simple as drag and drop. Always Know What to Do Next Easily see what s on deck or create your own action item. Stay in the Loop All notifications are only a click away. ENVOY ONBOARDING GUIDE 3
01 ACCOUNT SETUP Once your account is created, click Settings on the left-hand menu to enter your company information and choose your account preferences. COMPANY INFORMATION AND SETTINGS 1. Edit Division Information and Profile Enter your company information, including name, address and website in the empty fields. If you ve already completed the Questionnaire, your company information will autopopulate into the corresponding fields. This information will help us fill out the forms required by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), U.S. Department of State (DOS) and/or U.S. Department of Labor (DOL). 2. Edit Preferences As progress is made throughout the application process, your employees will receive email notifications about action items. To customize your employees email notification settings, choose form the notification list provided. In this section, you may also revise your shipping account information and stored credit cards. You may also grant account access to additional employees and colleagues by clicking Manage Users on the left-hand menu. ENVOY ONBOARDING GUIDE 4
01 ACCOUNT SETUP EMPLOYEE ACCOUNTS Creating an account for your sponsored employee is optional, but it typically makes the process more efficient. If you would like to create an account for your employee to use, provide your customer relationship manager with the person s full name, email address, phone number, resume and the U.S. job description. (If you open an L-1 visa, we ll need the foreign job description as well.) Giving your employee access to his or her own account helps the attorneys determine which visa type is the best fit, and allows us to correspond directly with your employee to gather documents. Plus, you can control which account information the employee can access, such as marking select Communication Center messages as private. After the employee s account is open, he or she will receive an email with his or her Envoy account login credentials and a brief introduction to the web application. ENVOY ONBOARDING GUIDE 5
02 OPENING A CASE GETTING STARTED 1. Click ADD NEW From Any Page. It s positioned on the far right side of the main navigation menu. From there choose Create a Case. 2. Select an Employee Name. 3. Click Start a New Application. If you aren t sure which visa category your employee needs, use the Communication Center to discuss visa options with an Envoyaffiliated attorney. Use the search field to filter the results or select from the available visas below the search bar. 4. Tell Us More. There are multiple variations of each visa type. Answer a few short questions to open the variation needed for the person s specific situation. Select Payment Option: Choose whether your company will pay the fees associated with the case or if the fees will be the employee s responsibility. Note: Depending on government regulations, you may not be able to assign fees to the employee. 5. Review Service Fees. Next, you ll see an itemized list of fees associated with the case preparation. Case fee: Envoy s flat fee for preparing the case. Filing fee: The government s fee for filing certain forms. Shipping fee: The cost associated with shipping the completed visa application and approval notice, if applicable. 6. Agree to the Fees and the Terms and Conditions, Then Open Your New Visa Case. Special note: Envoy charges flat fees, which means we won t charge you more than the price listed for each case (unless you choose add-ons later, like premium processing). Please note that if your employee is required to go to a U.S. consulate for an interview, the consulate may charge an additional interview fee. ENVOY ONBOARDING GUIDE 6
03 APPLICATION PROCESS 1 STARTING AN APPLICATION 2 1. Complete the Questionnaire and Upload Supporting Documents We ve created a list of questions that will help the Envoy-affiliated attorneys prepare your case. Be sure to answer the questions about your company and the job description. The rest of the Questionnaire may be completed by the employee. You can filter the list based on which questions are assigned to you or the employee. Throughout the Questionnaire, you ll be prompted to upload documents that pertain to the case. Either click Attach to search your computer or simply drag and drop them into the corresponding field. 2. Make a Payment Click Billings & Payments to see outstanding invoices. You can assign select fees to your employee; however, government agencies require some fees to be paid by the employer. The case will progress to attorney review after the payment is received. Once an attorney has reviewed the Questionnaire, he or she will update the list of documents that are required to support your employee s visa application. ENVOY ONBOARDING GUIDE 7
03 APPLICATION PROCESS DID YOU KNOW ABOUT THE JOB LIBRARY? You can easily save job descriptions for future use. Just click the Job Library on the left-hand menu, enter in the pertinent information such as title, duties and degree requirements and you can input that info on any future application in a few clicks. 3. Envoy-Affiliated Attorney Review After the case is paid in full, the attorneys will review the Questionnaire and prepare the forms and letters. 4. Review Forms and Letters Once the forms are prepared, you ll review them to confirm the information is accurate. If any information needs to be updated, you can make changes. The attorneys may also prepare letters to accompany your petition, which provide further evidence to support your employee s petition for a work visa. If changes are made, click save. If no changes are made, click approve. When all forms and letters are reviewed, be sure to click the send for attorney review button to submit the case back to the attorneys. ENVOY ONBOARDING GUIDE 8
04 SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS Below is a general list of documents you ll need to upload to your Envoy account supporting your sponsored employee s case for a work visa. Please keep in mind: More is usually better. FINANCIAL STATEMENTS, WHICH MAY INCLUDE ANY OR ALL OF THE FOLLOWING: fein Annual reports Prospectus Bank statements Certified accounting report Financial ledger Filed income tax return Stockholder annual report IRS FEIN issuance letter SIGNATURE CARD In order to sign forms electronically, you ll need to print, sign and upload a scanned copy of the signature card. The card gives Envoy-affiliated attorneys official authorization to sign forms on your behalf after you ve approved them electronically. CATALOGS, BROCHURES OR OTHER TYPES OF MARKETING LITERATURE Marketing literature will help the attorneys describe your company and its mission to USCIS or DOS. You can upload relevant screenshots from your company s website. If you have other marketing literature such as pamphlets or brochures, you may also upload scanned copies. Note: The attorneys will customize your documents based on your company and employees unique circumstances. DOCUMENT LIBRARY Once you upload documents, we ll automatically save them to your Document Library. On future cases, you can select a saved document as supporting evidence. ENVOY ONBOARDING GUIDE 9
05 MAKING A PAYMENT The Billing & Payments section is your one-stop shop for setting up payments and viewing billing summaries for your company and employees. It s accessible via the left-hand side menu. IT FEATURES FOUR SECTIONS: 1. Balances & Bills: Lists outstanding bills and allows you to make payments. 2. Payment History: Provides a summarized view of each payment on your account and includes information relating to visa types and credit card records. 3. Invoices & Credit Memos: Shows a history of all invoices and memos, which you can download for your records. 4. Account Funds: Shows all funds available in your account, and may include credits and/or retainer funds, if available. ENVOY ONBOARDING GUIDE 10
04 POST-FILING INFORMATION APPLICATION PROCESSING TIME The government processing time for each visa varies by USCIS office, time of year and number of applications already in progress. Ask the Envoy-affiliated attorneys about the average processing time for a particular visa category or check timeframes at: https://egov.uscis.gov/cris/processtimesdisplayinit.do. PROCESS TIME Track Your Cases With the Visa Organizer You can log in to your Envoy account periodically to check the progress of your case. View open action items via the dashboard, and track case progress through the Visa Organizer. This feature is especially helpful if you re sponsoring more than one employee at a time. In addition to the card view, you can also view the organizer in a list form (by toggling the buttons on the right side of the page), which highlights account number, visa type, case progress and expiration dates. Click the icon in the corner of the table to choose which fields you d like to see. Application Statuses Approval: The visa application meets all requirements. Request for Evidence: USCIS can t determine whether the visa application meets the requirements for approval, so they ask for additional information. Visa Denial: USCIS has determined that the visa application has not met the requirements and will not be approved. VISA EXTENSIONS When the time comes, Envoy can help you file an extension. The renewal application process will be quick, as most of the documents and information are already saved in our system. You will receive email notifications prompting you to open a new case for an extension application before your employee s visa status expires. ENVOY ONBOARDING GUIDE 11
07 COMMUNICATION CENTER You may contact a Envoy-affiliated attorney (or customer relationship manager for general questions) directly through the online Communication Center. You can mark employees Private if you want them to only be seen by you, your customer relationship manager or the attorneys. When you post a question, you ll receive an answer in one hour, on average. ENVOY ONBOARDING GUIDE 12
08 YOUR SUPPORT TEAM CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGER At Envoy, an customer relationship manager will serve as your primary point of contact, assisting you as you work with Envoy-affiliated attorneys to obtain visas or green cards for your employees. You can view your customer relationship manager s contact information on your dashboard. Web Application Training Once your account is created, your customer relationship manager will set up an onboarding call to walk you through your online account. You ll learn how to use the Communication Center, complete the Questionnaire and upload documents. Ongoing Support Throughout your first case, your customer relationship manager will show you how to complete action items such as uploading documents and reviewing forms. After your first case, your customer relationship manager will continue to support you and can answer any of your non-legal questions. CUSTOMER SUPPORT TEAM During business hours, Envoy has a team of customer support professionals ready to field non-legal questions from you or your sponsored employees by phone, email or through our live chat feature. Email: customersupport@envoyglobal.com Phone: 855-847-2669 International callers: 312-964-6300 Live chat: Accessible via the web application Hours of operation: Monday-Friday, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Central (except U.S. holidays) ENVOY ONBOARDING GUIDE 13
QUESTIONS? CONTACT US AT CUSTOMERSUPPORT@ENVOYGLOBAL.COM (312) 964-6300 WWW.ENVOYGLOBAL.COM Content in this publication is not intended as legal advice, nor should it be relied upon as such. For additional information on the issues discussed, consult an Envoy-retained attorney or another qualified professional. Website, technology platform and administrative services provided by Envoy Global, Inc., a Delaware corporation. Legal services provided by Envoy-retained attorneys. 2017, Envoy Global Inc., All Rights Reserved.