If you employ non-US citizens as specialists and need to bring them on-site to get the job done, we can work with the USCG to allow temporary access to the Outer Continental Shelf.

With the heightened security awareness that's become the order of the day in the contemporary environment, it's more challenging than ever to get approval for foreign national personnel.  We have developed a strong working relationship with the Coast Guard and a proven strategy for maximizing your personnel's opportunity to do their job without undue delay.

Compliance with the Outer Continental Shelf -- Lands Act (OCS-LA) citizenship requirements can be critical to the successful and timely completion of any project on the OCS.  The current law requires that US citizens (which includes aliens who are admitted for citizenship and have green cards) with few exceptions be employed on any fixed, floating platform or vessel engaged in OCS activities.  These include:

	Fixed platforms
	Floating production units
	Seismic vessels
	Pipe laying vessels and other industrial vessels
	Any vessel engaged in OCS activities

The exceptions to the citizenship requirements are few.  They include:

	Individual professionals going offshore on a temporary and intermittent basis, who are not part of the regular crew.
	Instances where a foreign company owns the unit and does not bestow control of its vessels to an US subsidiary may have the foreign right to control for foreign vessels operating on the US OCS from the US Coast Guard.
	Exemptions occur if US citizens are not available to perform the duties of a given position.

Individual rulings must be obtained from the USCG in each of these cases.  This issue has become far more important in this post-9/11 world.