L Visa
L1 visa classification enables a U.S. employer to transfer an executive or manager (L-1A) or a professional employee with specialized knowledge relating to the organization’s interests(L-1B) from one of its affiliated foreign offices to one of its offices in the United States. This classification also enables a foreign company which does not yet have an affiliated U.S. office to send an executive or manager to the United States with the purpose of establishing one.
Requirements:
L-1A:
The L-1A nonimmigrant classification enables a U.S. employer to transfer an executive or manager from one of its affiliated foreign offices to one of its offices in the United States. This classification also enables a foreign company which does not yet have an affiliated U.S. office to send an executive or manager to the United States with the purpose of establishing one.
General Qualifications of the Employer and Employee:
To qualify for L-1 classification in this category, the employer must:
- Have a qualifying relationship with a foreign company (parent company, branch, subsidiary, or affiliate, collectively referred to as qualifying organizations); and
- Currently be, or will be, doing business as an employer in the United States and in at least one other country directly or through a qualifying organization for the duration of the beneficiary’s stay in the United States as an L-1. While the business must be viable, there is no requirement that it be engaged in international trade.
Doing business means the regular, systematic, and continuous provision of goods and/or services by a qualifying organization and does not include the mere presence of an agent or office of the qualifying organization in the United States and abroad.
To qualify, the named employee must also:
- Generally have been working for a qualifying organization abroad for one continuous year within the three years immediately preceding his or her admission to the United States; and
- Be seeking to enter the United States to provide 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 the employee’s ability to make decisions of wide latitude without much oversight.
Managerial capacity generally refers to the ability of the employee to supervise and control the work of professional employees and to manage the organization, or a department, subdivision, function, or component of the organization. It may also refer to the employee’s ability to manage an essential function of the organization at a high level, without direct supervision of others.
New Offices:
For foreign employers seeking to send an employee to the United States as an executive or manager to establish a new office, the employer must also show that:
- The employer has secured sufficient physical premises to house the new office;
- The employee has been employed as an executive or manager for one continuous year in the three years preceding the filing of the petition; and
- The intended U.S. office will support an executive or managerial position within one year of the approval of the petition.
L-1B:
The L-1B nonimmigrant classification enables a U.S. employer to transfer a professional employee with specialized knowledge relating to the organization’s interests from one of its affiliated foreign offices to one of its offices in the United States. This classification also enables a foreign company which does not yet have an affiliated U.S. office to send a specialized knowledge employee to the United States to help establish one.
General Qualifications of the Employer and Employee:
To qualify for L-1 classification in this category, the employer must:
- Have a qualifying relationship with a foreign company (parent company, branch, subsidiary, or affiliate, collectively referred to as qualifying organizations); and
- Currently be, or will be, doing business as an employer in the United States and in at least one other country directly or through a qualifying organization for the duration of the beneficiary’s stay in the United States as an L-1. While the business must be viable, there is no requirement that it be engaged in international trade.
Doing business means the regular, systematic, and continuous provision of goods and/or services by a qualifying organization and does not include the mere presence of an agent or office of the qualifying organization in the United States and abroad.
To qualify, the named employee must also:
- Generally, have been working for a qualifying organization abroad for one continuous year within the three years immediately preceding his or her admission to the United States; and
- Be seeking to enter the United States to provide services in a specialized knowledge capacity to a branch of the same employer or one of its qualifying organizations.
Specialized knowledge means either 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, or an advanced level of knowledge or expertise in the organization’s processes and procedures.
L-1 Visa Reform Act of 2004:
The L-1 Visa Reform Act of 2004 applies to all petitions filed on or after June 6, 2005, and is directed particularly to those filed on behalf of L-1B employees who will be stationed primarily at the worksite of an of an employer other than the petitioning employer or its affiliate, subsidiary, or parent. In order for the employee to qualify for L-1B classification in this situation, the petitioning employer must show that:
- The employee will not be principally controlled or supervised by such an unaffiliated employer; and
- The work being provided by the employee is not considered to be labor for hire by such an unaffiliated employer.
New Offices:
For foreign employers seeking to send an employee with specialized knowledge to the United States to be employed in a qualifying new office, the employer must show that:
- The employer has secured sufficient physical premises to house the new office; and
- The employer has the financial ability to compensate the employee and begin doing business in the United States.
Duration:
All L-1A 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 of seven years.
All L-1B employees has a maximum limit of 5 years.
Qualified employees entering the United States to establish a new office will be allowed a maximum initial stay of one year. If more time is needed, the employer will need to file for an extension.
Dependents:
The spouse and unmarried children (under 21 years of age) of transferring employee may seek admission in the L-2 nonimmigrant classification.
Spouses of L-1 workers may apply for work authorization. If approved, there is no specific restriction as to where the L-2 spouse may work.
Blanket Petitions:
Some companies choose to establish an intracompany relationship in place of filing individual L-1 petitions. The benefit of the L Blanket is that the employee can apply for the L visa directly at the U.S. Consulate. Nothing needs to be filed in the United States, which saves time and cost.
L Blanket certification may be established if:
- All parties involved are engaged in commercial trade or services.
- The petitioner has a U.S. office that’s been operational for one year.
- There are three or more domestic and foreign branches, subsidiaries and affiliates.
- All parties have met one of the following:
- Obtained at least 10 L-1 approvals during the previous 12-month period.
- Have U.S. subsidiaries or affiliates with combined annual sales of at least $25 million.
- Have a U.S. workforce of at least 1,000 employees.