[declandewet]

He could apply for an H-1B visa - this is a work permit. Getting one is a challenge, as only 65,000 are awarded each year (and they disappear fast, 63,000 of the 65,000 for 2013 were gone by November 2012).

The requirements for obtaining one involve having an industry-relevant qualification from a U.S. college or the international equivalent (which is a qualification + work experience) and the company needs to offer proof of sponsorship for the applicant (which means they kind of need to prove that hiring you over a U.S. citizen with the same qualifications is the only way forward).

A good way to go about this is to find a company that is active on Github with open source who have created any kind of framework that they use internally. Get your friend to learn the framework and he will then have a huge advantage over any equally-qualified person who does not have knowledge in the framework.