L-1A and L-1B Visa: Intracompany Transferee Executive, Manager, or Specialized Knowledge

After a thorough review, we will then submit the application to USCIS. Our fee structure is unique to us as we strive to tailor our services for each client individually. We adapt price standards that are capable of fluctuating for each client depending on their unique needs. Clients may retain us for one or all of the above steps/services. A perfect example of an L-1B application would be a software engineer of Samsung in Seoul being transferred to the company’s office in Los Angeles to develop a new smartphone app.
Dual intent means that the foreign worker doesn’t have to show ties to his home country. As well, the visa holder doesn’t jeopardize their visa status if they apply for a green card. The green card application will also not affect future status extensions or visa stampings. L-1B visa holders can apply for permanent residency in the U.S. Unlike with an L-1A visa, an L-1B visa holder must apply for permanent residency with the labor certification. This falls under the EB2 category and can take several years for the employee to receive their green card.
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 with the purpose of establishing one. The transferring employee may be accompanied or followed by his or her spouse and unmarried children who are under 21 years of age. Such family members may seek admission in L-2 nonimmigrant classification and, if approved, generally will be granted the same period of stay as the employee. If these family members are already in the United States and seeking change of status to or extension of stay in L-2 classification, they may apply collectively, with fee, on Form I-539.
❖ The applicant must transfer to a U.S. company affiliated with the overseas company. ❖ The applicant must have been employed with the overseas company for at least one year within the three years preceding the application. After l1a visa , a three-year visa may be approved if the company can show it was successful. The USCIS will use the number of jobs added and financial statements of the company to decide if the company was successful.
The L-1 visa allows the foreign worker to relocate to the U.S. after working for the company abroad for at least one full year within the previous three years before coming to the U.S. Where an employee with specialized knowledge will be employed in a qualifying new office, it must also be shown that the employer has the financial ability to remunerate the employee and begin doing business in the United States. 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.
However, for most others, there will be a waiting period of anywhere from a few months to several years. Now that you have a sponsoring employer, he or she will need to obtain a PERM Labor Certification on your behalf. This involves having your employer go through a recruitment process to ensure that no qualified U.S. workers are available to fill your position and that you are going to be paid the prevailing wage for your area.
USCIS has announced in that it will be allowable to “bundle” together L-1 petitions for multiple employees when filed for identical positions by the same employer. The L-1 petitions may be bundled in order to streamline and improve the adjudication process. It is helpful that the USCIS recognizes that businesses often need to transfer multiple employees with specialized knowledge to the U.S. for the same project at the same time. If the person has an L-1 visa based on an executive or managerial level position in the U.S. company, and the employer, or some other employer, wishes to sponsor the person for a U.S. Green Card, the law allows him or her to go ahead and pursue it.
However, there is no legal basis to require any specific limit on the number of employees that can be considered key. Persons in a “specialized knowledge professional” category can get an L1B visa. The initial petition will be approved for 3 years , and can be renewed once for 2 years for a total of 5 years. Among America’s temporary work visas, the H-1B and the L-1B visas are the most coveted. Both types attract workers with specialized knowledge in such areas as the sciences, arts, medicine, education and business specialties. But each visa is different in its features and requirements – and meeting the criteria often proves less straightforward than first meets the eye.