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L-1 Visa(Intra Company Transfer)

 

The Law Firm has a proven track record for filing of L-1 Visa Petition through the associated law offices in United States Of America.
The Law Firm before filing the L-1 Visa Petition works extensively with the client for the evaluating the client’s case. On getting a positive evaluation report by the experience business attorney and immigration attorney, the case is filed.

You can schedule a consultation by calling 91 – 94260 22879, email: info@thelawfirm.in or with our online consultation form.

Introduction

The L-1 visa is a temporary non-immigrant visa which allows companies to relocate foreign qualified employees to its U.S. subsidiary or parent company. The qualified employee must have worked for a subsidiary, parent, affiliate or branch office of the company for at least one year out of the last three years. The U.S. company must be a parent company, child company, or sister company to the foreign company. The L1 visa may also include non-profit, religious, or charitable organizations.

The L1 visa is a good way for small or start-up overseas companies to expand their business and services to the United States. This is advantageous to smaller companies because it allows for the transfer of a highly proficient manager or executive who has direct knowledge of operations, allowing the setup of a new branch in compliance with the goals and objectives of the company’s main office. However, since the USCIS will scrutinize L visa petitions filed by lesser-known companies more closely, professional consultation with an experienced immigration lawyer is strongly recommended for these types of small businesses.

L1 visas can also be used by multi-national companies. When a multi-national company is developing a new market in another country, it may become necessary to have some employees with specialized knowledge work in the newly established office. Furthermore, such companies may have policies of international rotation of managerial level personnel to assure that all key personnel within a company have equal opportunity for career advancement when an appropriate position becomes open in any location around the world. Cross-fertilization of ideas among high level employees and executives enhances a company’s competitiveness; this exchange often results in innovation essential to a company reputation and development. A regular rotation of key personnel improves and ensures uniformity of service and procedure within the company at a global level.

Whatever the case may be, the L visa is specifically designed to facilitate the needs of intra-company transfers by companies. There are two different L1 visa classifications: L1A and L1B.

L-1A visas – Intra company Transferee Executive or Manager

L1A visas are designed for intra-company executive transferees coming to work in the United States. The L1A visa holders must have been employed in an executive or managerial capacity for the foreign company at an overseas location continuously for at least one year out of the past three years. In addition, the L1A visa allows a company which does not currently have a U.S. office to send an executive or manager to the United States in order to establish one. L1A visa is granted initially for one year for a new company in the US or three years for a US company with more than one year in existence, with extensions available in two-year increments, with a total stay not to exceed seven years.

L-1B visas – Intra company Transferee Specialized Knowledge

L1B are designed for professional employees with specialized knowledge. An example of specialized knowledge personnel would be an individual who possesses proprietary knowledge about a company product and who travels to the U.S. to impart his or her specialized knowledge to new U.S. employees. In addition, companies who currently do not have an office in the United States can use the L1B visa to send over an employee with specialized knowledge to help establish one. An L1B visa is issued initially for three years with one two-year extension for a maximum of five years stay.

In both cases, the U.S. company and foreign company must be related in a specific way such through a parent/subsidiary relationship or through an affiliated employer.

L-1 Blanket Visa

The USCIS has provided a special set of procedures to be used by companies that are frequent users of the L1 visa category and are large multi-national organizations. This is called the "L-1 Blanket Petition Program". Under this program, the approved company need only receive one approval from the USCIS to transfer a certain number of managerial, executive and professional employees.

On completing the maximum allowable period, the L1 holder must leave the United States for minimum of one year and must work for foreign operation of the U.S. Company before becoming eligible to reapply for an L visa.

Full-time employment is not required to maintain L visa status, but the employee “must dedicate a significant portion of time on a regular and systematic basis” to the company while in the U.S. Even though the L1 visa holder must be employed on a full-time basis with the company, foreign worker does not necessarily have to be working in the U.S. on a full-time basis. Foreign worker is allowed to divide work between the U.S. and home country. In other words, the foreign worker can be principally employed outside the U.S. and still receive L1 visa for coming to the U.S. to work on a short-term basis.

If the alien is coming to the U.S. for conferring with officials, attending meetings and conferences, and participating in training, such activities are not considered a regular and systematic basis and the alien should apply for business visa instead.

Spouses of L-1 visa holders may apply for work authorization with USCIS to work in US without restriction.

One of the privileges of the L1 visa, as opposed to many other nonimmigrant visas, is that it is a ‘dual intent’ visa. In other words, under the terms of the L-1 visa, the L-1 visa holder may apply for a Green Card and become a permanent resident without jeopardizing his/her L-1 visa status or their visa applications from a U.S. consular office abroad. Another advantage is that visa numbers are almost always current if apply for Green card through EB-1C category. This means that the L1 visa holder will not have to wait for visa numbers to become available before applying Adjustment of Status (I-485) and receiving a Green Card.

Benefits Of L-1 Visa

The L non-immigrant visa category is one of the most useful tools available to international companies who need to bring qualified foreign employees to the United States. L visa holders do not have to maintain a foreign residence during their U.S. stay and are eligible to seek permanent residency status if they wish. Since the L visa is a dual intent visa, L status holders may file a petition for permanent residency status without jeopardizing their L status or their L-1 visa applications from a US Consular Office abroad.

The L-1 visa category also allows for intra-company transferees to bring their family to the United States with them. Family members of the L-1 alien, classified in the L-2 category, may be granted employment authorization to work in the United States after being granted an Employment Authorization Document (EAD). An EAD is a document that allows an alien to work in the United States for a specific time, usually one year. The primary L-1 visa holder does not need an EAD to legally work for their L-1 sponsoring employer in the U.S. because their visa is employment-based, whereas their dependent family members’ is not.

If the basic requirements for an L-1 visa are met, the company can gain access to the many advantages of the L visa category, which they might not have been able to utilize on another type of visa.

General Requirement For L-1 Visas:

The L-1 visa is a temporary, non-immigrant visa which allows qualified overseas companies to relocate foreign qualified employees to its U.S. parent, branch, affiliate, or subsidiary of that company. There are several different types of L1 visas. L-1A visa is specifically designed for intra-company executive or manager transferees. The L-1B visa is designed for intra-company transfers of employees with specialized knowledge. For more information on the L1 visa program requirements, please visit USCIS L1 visa rule or visit the USCIS web page.

Specific Requirements for the L-1 Employer

To qualify for L-1 visa application, the Petitioning Employer must:
The company must have a qualifying relationship with a foreign company, such as a parent company, branch office, subsidiary, or affiliate of the foreign company. These are collectively referred to as qualifying entities or qualifying organizations. The entities may include corporations, non-profits, religious or charitable organizations. For more information on qualifying entities, Please visit Qualifying Entities.

The company must also 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 refers to 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.

Some of these L1 employers requirements are easy to meet and do not require extensive documentation, especially if the employer is well known and a well-established company. However, when the company is small or just beginning, the employer should be prepared to provide extensive documentation to establish their eligibility for the L1 visa. We therefore strongly recommend in this case that they seek the professional services of an experienced immigration attorney.

Specific Requirements for the Employee: L-1A

The qualification for the L1A Beneficiary Employee are:
The alien employee must have worked abroad for the overseas company for a continuous period of one year within the three years immediately preceding his or her admission to the United States. Any time spent working in the United States will not count toward the one year of required employment. The employee must have been employed abroad in an executive or managerial position, otherwise known as a qualifying position. For more information on qualifying positions, Please visit qualifying positions.

The employee must be coming to the U.S. to provide service in an executive or managerial capacity for a branch of the same employer or one of its qualifying organizations. According to federal law, 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.

The employee must be qualified for the position by virtue of his or her prior education and experience.

The L-1 visa holder must intend to depart the United States upon completion of his or her authorized stay.

Specific Requirements for Employee: L-1B

The qualifications for the L1B Beneficiary Employee are:

The alien employee must have worked abroad for the overseas company for a continuous period of one year within the three years immediately preceding his or her admission to the United States. Any time spent working in the United States will not count toward the one year of required employment. The employee must be seeking to enter the United States to ender services in a specialized knowledge capacity to a branch of the same employer or one of its qualifying organizations.

Specialized Knowledge is beyond the ordinary and not commonplace within the industry or the petition organization. In other words, the employee must be more than simply skilled or familiar with the employer’s interests. This specialized knowledge can refer to the petitioning organization’s product, service, research, equipment, techniques, management, or other interests and its application in international markets. Or, it could refer to an expertise in the organization’s processes and procedures.

The L-1 visa holder must intend to depart the United States upon completion of his or her authorized stay.

Following the L1 Reform Act of 2004, an L1B non-immigrant will be in violation of status if they are “stationed primarily” at the worksite of an employer other than the petitioner, and if one of the following occurs:
The alien will be principally under the control and supervision of the unaffiliated employer, or The placement at the non-affiliated worksite is “essentially an arrangement to provide labor for hire for the unaffiliated employer,” rather than placement in connection with the provision of a product or service for which specialized knowledge specific to the petitioning employer is necessary.

For more information on these new guidelines, see the July 25, 2005 USCIS memo.

Additional Requirements for New Offices

One of the benefits of the L1 visa program is that it allows companies the opportunity to re-locate employees to the United States to expand their business and open up new offices. For foreign companies who want to send an L-1 visa employee to the United States for the purpose of establishing a new office, the following criteria must also be met: The company must have secured a sufficient physical premise 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 new U.S. office will support the said executive, managerial, or specialized knowledge position within one year of receiving petition approval.

L-2 Visa (Dependant Visa For L-1 Visa holder)

L-2 visas are issued to the L-1 holder’s spouse and unmarried children under twenty-one years of age who wish to accompany them to the United States. Holders of L-2 visas are considered to be the dependent of L-1 holders, as their duration of valid stay is the same as that of the L-1 holder. L-2 spouses are permitted to attend school and/or work either part time or full time legally on their status. In order to work, an L-2 spouse must obtain an Employment Authorization Document. An L-2 child, however, is not allowed to obtain an EAD. Just as an L-1 visa is a dual intent visa, L-2s may also apply for other non-immigrant statuses such as H-1, F-1, B-1, B-2, L-1. They are also eligible to apply for immigrant visas.

You can schedule a consultation by calling 91 – 94260 22879, email: info@thelawfirm.in or with our online consultation form.


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