L-1 VISA – Intra-Company Transfers – Managers, Executives and Specialized Knowledge Employees
An L-1 visa is a non immigrant visa, and is valid for a relatively short amount of time - generally three years. L-1 visas are available to employees of an international company with offices in both a home country and the United States, or which intend to open a new office in the United States while maintaining their home country interests. The visa allows such foreign workers to relocate to the corporation's US office after having worked abroad for the company for at least one year prior to being granted L-1 status. The US office must be a parent company, child company, or sister company to the foreign company.
Spouses of L-1 visa holders are allowed to work, without restriction, in the US.
The L-1 visa has two subcategories: L-1A for executives and managers, and L-1B for workers with specialized knowledge. L-1A status is valid for up to 7 years, L-1B for 5. After the expiration of the 7 or 5 years respectively, the alien must leave the United States for an aggregate of 365 days, and must work for a parent, subsidiary, affiliate or branch of the U.S. company during that time before becoming eligible to reapply for an L-1 visa.
There are two types of L-1 procedures:
- Regular L-1 visas, which must be applied for and approved for each individual by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS); and
- Blanket L-1 visas which are available to employers who hire large numbers of Intracompany Transferees every year.
For a regular L-1 visa, the company must file a petition with the USCIS and each petition is evaluated on its own merits.
In the case of a blanket L-1 visa petition, it has already been determined by USCIS that the company qualifies for the issuance of Intracompany Transferee visa, so the individual visa applicant need only file a copy of the approved blanket petition, along with documents supporting their personal qualifications, with the U.S. consulate or embassy having jurisdiction over their place of residence proving the applicant's qualification
The L-1 visa is a temporary (non-immigrant) type of visa which is intended for:
- Foreign national executives being transferred to the U.S. to manage an organization or a major function or division of an organization
- Foreign national managers being transferred to the U.S. to supervise work of other supervisory, professional or managerial employees, or who manages an essential function, department or subdivision
- Specialized Knowledge employees of companies outside U.S. that have related U.S. branches, subsidiaries, affiliates or joint venture partners
- Employees and partners of international accounting firms
- Multinational companies to transfer foreign national executives to manage an organization or a major function or division of an organization in the U.S.
- Multinational companies to transfer foreign national managers to supervise work of other supervisory, professional or managerial employees, or who manages an essential function, department or subdivision in the U.S.
- Multinational companies to transfer employees with specialized knowledge such as, its products, research methods and marketing techniques
Visa processing can be difficult and confusing. If you would like the assistance of an experienced immigration lawyer, please contact us or call our office at 1-415-601-0210 to schedule a consultation today.
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Content on this site is intended for generalized information reasons. It may become out of date at any time due to changes in the law. It is not intended to offer case-specific legal advice nor should it be deemed valid or accurate for that reason. If in fact you have an exact immigration related legal issue, we recommend you consult with an experienced immigration attorney or immigration lawyer. There exists disclaimers throughout our website stating that we are not an official U.S. Government website.
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