L1A Intra-company Transferee & L1B Specialized Knowledge Employee Visas
Attorney Barbara-Ann Williams and her team of immigration specialists have helped individuals and companies relocate to the United States for work or to open a new business.
L-1A – Multinational Manager/Executive Transferee – The L-1A work visa classification enables a U.S. employer to transfer an executive or manager from one of its affiliated foreign offices to an office in the U.S. or to a company establishing a U.S. office. The employer must file a petition on behalf of the employee.
An L-1 Visa:
- Is valid for a specific period of time, generally three years.
- Allows 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.
- Is granted to employees at U.S. offices that must be a parent company, subsidiary company, or related company to the foreign company.
- May be legally be used as a stepping stone to a green card under the doctrine of dual intent.
L-1B – Specialized Knowledge Employee – The L-1B work visa classification enables a U.S. employer to transfer a professional employee with specialized knowledge relating to the organization’s interests from one of its affiliated foreign offices to one of its offices in the U.S. The employer must file a petition with USCIS on behalf of the employee.
An L-1B Visa:
- Also enables a foreign company which does not yet have an affiliated U.S. office to send a specialized knowledge employee to the U.S. to help establish one.
- Is valid for up to three years, extendable to six.
- Can have an exception to a maximum length of stay for one-year extensions if a labor certification application has been filed and is pending for at least 365 days, and three-year extensions if an I-140 Immigration Petition has been approved.