L-1 Visa Helps Foreign Companies Expand to the US

L-1 Visa helps foreign companies expand to the US
Most people think the L-1 Intracompany Transferee visa can only be used by foreign senior executives of established multinational companies to obtain work visa in their U.S. entities. It is not always the case. They overlooked what L-1 can do for less visible or smaller overseas businesses. If you are a manager, executive or an employee with specialized knowledge of an overseas company that seeks to expand your presence to the U.S., you may want to consider L-1 as a visa option allowing the company to establish its U.S. presence and permitting you to continue working for the same company in the US.

The L-1 applicant has to be employed by the overseas company continuously for one year during the three years prior to entering the U.S. The U.S. entity has to be the parent, subsidiary, branch or affiliated entity with the overseas company. U.S. Immigration Law sets specific definitions for "subsidiary" and "affiliate". If the U.S. company is a new entity, more documentation is required to demonstrate the validity of the U.S. extension and only one year will be granted as initial approval subject to renewal.

L-1A applicant is a manager or executive who manages an organization, department or a business unit. He must be in a supervisory role and has the authority to evaluate subordinates' performance, hire or fire them. If he does not supervise any employee, he has to occupy a very high position in the organization chart. Duration of L-1A is seven consecutive years.

L-1B applicant is an employee with specialized knowledge, which is an advanced level of knowledge or expertise with regard to the business, service, products, procedure, management, technology, or research. The knowledge cannot be general, but has to be special to the company. Duration is five years.

Unlike spouses for F-1 international students and H-1B specialty worker, spouses of L-1 may apply for work authorization. L-1 application can file green card petition. Unlike H-1B which has a 65,000 limit, there is no limited number of L-1 visas that can be approved every year. Most importantly, for India and China born applicants, little time will be spent on waiting for the visa number to be available, as opposed to roughly 5 years and more for other green card petition categories.