L-1 Visa - Intra-company Transferees

L1 intra-company transfer visas are non-immigrant work visas available to persons who work for an overseas company with a parent, subsidiary, branch, or affiliate in the U.S. The worker comes to the U.S. to temporarily perform services in a managerial or executive position (L1A) or, a position which entails specialized knowledge (L1B) for a parent, subsidiary, branch, or affiliate company of the employer/company abroad. There is currently no annual cap on L-1 visas.

There are a few important requirements in order to obtain a L1 visa:
The employee must have been employed continuously abroad by the parent, subsidiary, branch, or affiliate of the U.S. company for one of the past three years preceding the filing of the L-1 visa petition.
The employee must continue to work in a capacity that is managerial or executive (L1A) or a position that involves specialized knowledge (L1B).
The foreign employer and the U.S. employer must have a qualifying relationship. Both must have common majority ownership, or, where there is less than majority ownership, common control by the same person or entity. Ownership by a common group of owners where no owner has control or a majority interest can cause a problem if each individual owner does not own approximately the same amount of both the US and the foreign company. This problem can sometimes be worked around if the owners have set up a voting agreement to ensure that there are not different groups controlling the foreign firm and the US firm.

The employee must intend to depart the U.S. when his or her stay is over. However, the employee may also pursue permanent residency simultaneously without a negative impact on the ability to keep or extend an L visa. This is because the doctrine of dual intent applies to L1 visas (just like H1B visas). This makes the L visa a popular option for multinational firms.

L1A visa holders (managers and executives) may stay in L1 status for up to seven years. In most cases, the visas will be granted in three year increments. L1B visa holders (specialized knowledge employees) may stay in L1 status for up to five years. The first petition will be granted for up to three years.

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