L-1 Visa (Intra-company Transferee)

Introduction:

  • L-1 is a nonimmigrant visa which allows a foreign qualified employee of a multinational company to enter the U.S. as a temporary nonimmigrant to work for the company’s U.S. parent, branch, affiliate, or subsidiary, or to establish a new U.S. office.
  • The petitioner must be a qualifying organization that is seeking to temporarily transfer a foreign employee at one of its foreign operations to the U.S. The petitioner may be the U.S. employer or the foreign employer.
  • Beneficiaries may file petition for permanent residence (“dual intent”) without jeopardizing their status or visa petitions at U.S. consular offices abroad.
  • The L-1 visa nonimmigrant classification has two subcategories:

L-1A: intra-company transferee executives or managers

L-1B: professional employees with specialized knowledge

 

Criteria:

  • The alien must demonstrate that he or she is coming to the United States to perform temporary services for qualifying organization.
  • The alien must qualify in an executive or managerial capacity, or in a specialized knowledge capacity.

 

Requirements for the Employer:

  • Have a relationship with a foreign company as parent, subsidiary, affiliate, or branch of the company; and
  • Currently or prospectively be actively engaged in providing goods and/or services in both the U.S. and abroad with employees in both countries, and this engagement must be direct or through a parent, branch, subsidiary, or affiliate for the duration of the beneficiary’s stay.
  • Additional requirements for new offices:

1)   The employer has secured sufficient physical premises to house the new office; and

2)   The employer has the financial ability to support the executive, managerial or specialized knowledge position within one year of the  approval of the petition.

 

Requirements for L-1A:

  • The named employee must generally have been working for a qualifying organization abroad for 1 continuous year within the 3 years immediately preceding his or her admission to the U.S.; and
  • Be seeking to enter the U.S for the purpose of providing service in an executive or managerial capacity for a branch of the same employer or one of its qualifying organizations.

   Executive capacity generally refers to:

    • Make decisions of wide latitude without much oversight.

   Managerial capacity generally refers to:

    • Supervise and control the work of professional employees;
    • Manage the organization, or a department, subdivision, function, or component of the organization;
    • Run an essential function of the organization at a high level, without direct supervision of others.

 

Requirements for L-1B:

  • The employee must generally have been working for a qualifying organization abroad for 1 continuous year within the 3 years immediately preceding his or her admission to the U.S.; and
  • Be seeking to enter the U.S. to provide services in a specialized knowledge capacity to a branch of the same employer or one of its qualifying organizations.

 

Specialized knowledge means:

  • Special knowledge possessed by an individual of the petitioning organization’s product, service, research, equipment, techniques, management, or other interests and its application in international markets;
  • Advanced level of knowledge or expertise in the organization’s processes and procedures.

 

Period of Stay:

  • Qualified employees entering the United States to establish a new office will be allowed a maximum initial stay of one year.  All other qualified employees will be allowed a maximum initial stay of three years.
  • Requests for extension of stay may be granted in increments of up to an additional two years, until the employee has reached the maximum limit (7 years for L-1A and 5 years for L-1B).

 

Change of Employment:

  • Change of Employment is allowed.
  • If there is a material change in the terms of conditions of employment (including an employer), a new nonimmigrant worker petition must be filed with the USCIS requesting an approval of the change.

 

Family of L-1 visa holder:

  • L-1 visa holders’ spouses and unmarried children who are under 21 years of age qualify for L-2 visas.
  • During their stay in the U.S., the family members may engage in employment.