L-1 visas: an overview

The L-1 visa category is designed to ease the transfer or rotation of foreign executives of an international company into the United States. The L-1 is popularly known as the intra-company transfer provision. It requires an alien to currently be employed with a domestic or foreign corporation. The L-1 is used to bring certain managerial employees to the United States to continue their work with the company. Because an L-1 alien is already employed by the company, the requirements for an L-1 visa are discussed generally.

Requirements for an L-1 visa:

1. The L-1 employee must have worked abroad in either (i) a managerial or executive position or (ii) in a position performing services entailing specialized knowledge; the employee must be coming to work in the U.S. in that capacity.

2. The employer for which the employee works abroad must be either the same company for which the employee will work for in the U.S., or a subsidiary / affiliate of that company.

3. The L-1 employee must have worked for the company for at least one continuous year within the three year period immediately preceding the filing of the petition for the L-1 visa.

4. The L-1 employee must be qualified, in terms of education and experience, for the position they are being transferred to.

5. The employee must intend to leave the United States after their L-1 visa expires.

6. The company in the U.S. and the related company abroad must continue doing business in the U.S. and in one foreign country during the entire period of the transfer.

Filing procedure:

Generally, there are two different ways a company can get an L-1 visa approved. First, the company may file a petition with USCIS. No labor certification is necessary; the employer only needs to demonstrate that the employee meets each of the requirements discussed above. Second, a company can apply for "blanket L-1 approval."

Blanket L-1 approval is a procedure that only a large company can use. Blanket L-1 approval allows an employer to pre-qualify to transfer L-1 employees. If approved, the company has the flexibility to transfer people to the U.S. quickly and on short notice without having to file a petition with INS. Blanket L-1 approval is only available to companies that meet one of the following requirements:

(a) The company has annual revenue in excess of $25 million

(b) The company has more than 1000 employees; or

(c) The company has had at least ten L-1 petitions approved in the past 12 months.

The experienced and skilled immigration attorneys at Shihab and Associates are prepared to assist you in transferring managerial staff with an L-1 intracompany transfer. We have assisted several Fortune 500 companies with all of their L-1 transfers. Shihab and Associates will ensure that everything is done right. To set up an initial consultation please contact us.