L-1A & L-1B Visa for Intracompany Transferees
L-1 employees are sometimes sent to the US for the purpose of establishing an international company’s branch, affiliate or subsidiary. The L-1 category applies to foreign nationals who work for a foreign company with a parent, subsidiary, branch, or affiliate in the U.S. These workers come to the U.S. as intracompany transferees who are coming temporarily to perform services either
- in a managerial or executive capacity (L-1A) or
- which entail specialized knowledge (L-1B)
for a parent, branch, subsidiary or affiliate of the same employer that employed the professional abroad. Currently there are no numerical limits on L-1 visas
(Links to headings below)
What are the Requirements for obtaining the L-1 Visa?
Manager or Executive (L-1A) to Open or to be Employed in a New Office
Specialized Knowledge Employee (L-1B) to Open or to be Employed in a New Office
Difference Between Managers/Executives and Specialized Knowledge Employees
Blanket L Petition
Requirements for the Blanket L Petition
Duration of Stay
Dependents
What are the Requirements for obtaining the L-1 Visa?
The employee must have been employed abroad for the corporation, firm, or other legal entity (or an affiliate or subsidiary thereof) on a full-time basis for at least one continuous year out of the last three-year period to qualify.
Compensation level is not prescribed, but U.S. income must be sufficient to prevent the alien from becoming a public charge.
Manager or Executive (L-1A) to Open or to be Employed in a New Office
If the foreign national is coming to the U.S. as a manager or executive (L-1A) to open or to be employed in a new office, the petition must be filed with evidence that:
- Sufficient premises to house the new office have been secured;
- The beneficiary has, or upon establishment will have, the qualifying relationship to the foreign employer and the qualifying position; and
- The intended U.S. operation will be able to support the executive or managerial position within one year of the approval of the petition.
Specialized Knowledge Employee (L-1B) to Open or to be Employed in a New Office
If the foreign national is coming to the U.S. in a specialized knowledge capacity (L-1B) to open or to be employed in a new office, also file the petition with evidence that:
- Sufficient premises to house the new office have been secured;
- The business entity in the U.S is or will be a qualifying organization
- The petitioner has the financial ability to compensate the alien beneficiary and to begin doing business in the U.S.
Difference Between Managers/Executives and Specialized Knowledge Employees
The L-1A visa is for managers and executives. An executive or manager is someone who directs the organization or a major component or essential function of the organization. They normally supervise and control the work of other supervisory, professional, or managerial employees. Typical executive positions are presidents, vice-presidents and controllers.
The L-1B visa is for key employees that have a specialized knowledge of the company’s products or procedures. They will typically have an advanced or proprietary knowledge of the company’s processes or procedures. Typical key employees are product specialists, accountants, or computer related personnel.
Blanket L Petition
Employers who regularly file L petitions may wish to consider filing for a blanket L petition in order to obtain continuing approval for itself (and some or all of its parents, branches, subsidiaries and affiliates in the U.S.). This simplifies the process of approving and admitting additional individual L-1A and L-1B workers.
Requirements for the Blanket L Petition
- Employer and its branches, subsidiaries, and affiliates are engaged in commercial trade or services;
- Employer has an office in the United States that has been doing business for one year or more;
- Employer has 3 or more domestic and foreign branches, subsidiaries, or affiliates;
- Employer and its qualifying organizations have obtained approved petitions for at least ten L-1 professionals during the previous year or have U.S. subsidiaries or affiliates with combined annual sales of at least 25 million dollars, or have a U.S. work force of at least 1,000 employees.
After approval of a blanket petition, the petitioner may file for individual employees to enter as L-1 professionals under the blanket petition.
Duration of Stay
Executives and managers (L-1A) are initially granted approval for up to 3 years but may stay in L-1 status for up to 7 years with 2-year extensions. Specialized knowledge employees (L-1B) are initially granted approval for up to 3 years but may stay in L-1 status for up to 5 years with a 2-year extension. A petitioner may apply for an extension of an individual L-1 petition.
Dependents
Dependents (spouses and unmarried children under 21 years of age) are eligible for L-2 status with the same restrictions as the principal. Dependent spouses (not children) may be employed under the L-2 classification; however, they must first obtain employment authorization from the USCIS. Dependents may also be students in the U.S. while remaining in L-2 status.
