Requirements of the L-1 Visa

L-1 visas may be available for foreign nationals who are seeking an intracompany transfer from a qualifying organization outside the United States to one within the U.S. You can learn more about the benefits of the L-1 visa here. 

Here are the key requirements of the L-1 visa category and how ImLaw can guide you to a successful case:

• Qualifying Organizations

USCIS requires that the U.S. and foreign entities in question are “qualifying organizations”.  Qualifying organizations have common ownership, which is either the same ownership of the U.S. and foreign entities or no less than 50% common ownership of the entities in question. For example, one organization may be the corporate parent, subsidiary, or affiliate of the other organization. ImLaw will request copies of articles of incorporation or organization for the U.S. and foreign entity in question, stock certificates, agreements or other evidence proving common ownership and percentages of ownership of the entities in question, evidence of the U.S. and foreign entities doing business such as annual reports, financial statements, and tax filings

• One Year of Employment Abroad

The foreign national must have been employed for at least one year on a full-time basis with the qualifying organization abroad. This one-year, full-time employment requirement is quite exact. The foreign national must have actually been on payroll of the foreign entity for one year continuously and on a full-time basis. Working for one year as a contractor to the foreign entity will not suffice. ImLaw will request evidence that this one-year employment requirement has been met in the form of tax filings, payroll records, and an employment verification letter from the foreign entity employer. Also, the one-year employment must have been in managerial, executive, or specialized knowledge capacity.

• Managerial or Executive Capacity

For L-1A visa status, the foreign national must be offered a position in the U.S. that is managerial or executive in nature.

L-1A managers must primarily be responsible for the following (“primarily” defined as more than 50% of the individual’s time):

• Managing the organization, department, subdivision, function, or component of the organization; 

• Supervising and controlling the work of other supervisory, professional or managerial employees or managing an essential function within the organization, department, or subdivision of the organization. Note, first-line supervisors are not considered managers unless the employees they supervise are professionals.

• Possessing authority to hire and fire or recommending personnel actions or functions at a senior level within the hierarchy or as to the function that is managed; and 

• Exercising discretion over day-to-day operations of the activity or function.   

L-1A executives must primarily be responsible for the following:

• Directing the management of the organization or a major component or function;

• Establishing goals and policies;

• Exercising wide latitude in discretionary decision making; and

• Receiving only general supervision or direction from higher level executives, board of directors or stockholders.

To prove managerial or executive capacity, we will request a number of documents including, but not limited to, detailed description of job duties abroad and in the U.S. with assigned percentages for each duty; organizational charts showing where the offered L-1A position falls within the company hierarchy both abroad and in the U.S., organizational charts showing current managerial hierarchy and staffing levels including current names of all managers, executives, and supervisors as well as the number of employees within each department or subdivision; evidence of hire/fire authority and the ability to make personnel actions such as performance evaluations.

• Specialized Knowledge

For L-1B visa status, the foreign national must be offered a position in the U.S. that is in a specialized knowledge capacity. Specialized knowledge is defined as either special knowledge of the company product and its application in international markets or an advanced level of knowledge of processes and procedures of the company. 

Proving specialized knowledge has historically received much scrutiny from USCIS. ImLaw proactively works with clients to develop and document the specialized knowledge capacity argument.

We may ask questions like, “How difficult is it to find someone to do this job in the U.S.? Have you conducted any previous recruitment in the U.S.? Are there other individuals in your organization worldwide that have the necessary expertise and experience to do this job and, if so, how many? What unique, in-depth knowledge of your company’s products, technology, software, equipment, or processes is needed? Has the foreign national candidate undergone any specific training or certification programs to perform this job (or a similar role) abroad? Would any U.S. jobs be in jeopardy if this position could not be filled by your employee? If you had to quantify the loss of revenue to the U.S. company if this candidate is not allowed to come to the U.S., what is that estimated figure?”

ImLaw will request evidence to support the specialized knowledge argument including, but not limited to, a detailed definition of the “specialized knowledge” in question and how the product, system, technology, equipment, etc. is special and unique, description of the job duties abroad and in the U.S. with an explanation of the specialized knowledge required to perform the position and assigned percentages of time spent on each duty, explanation of how the required knowledge is different than that for similar positions in the industry, if “advanced knowledge” is required, a detailed description of the organization’s processes and procedures, an explanation why someone else in this field cannot perform the duties and how long it would take to train someone else and the difficulty imparting the specialized knowledge to such individual, evidence of any recruitment efforts by the U.S. entity for the offered position, evidence of the foreign national’s relevant training and expertise such as certificates of training, patents, and performance evaluations, and evidence of the special knowledge itself such as training manuals/guides, product brochures and instructions, media and press releases, and other resources.

Timing

Regular processing of an L-1 petition with USCIS is typically a few to several months. Clients can pay for USCIS Premium Processing, which requires an additional $2,500 fee to the government, in addition to the normal filing fees. Premium Processing can provide for 15-day processing of an L-1 petition with USCIS, if a Request for Evidence (RFE) is not issued. If an RFE is issued by USCIS, the petition processing time will be closer to 30-60 days or longer, depending on the nature of the requests in the RFE.  

Moreover, for foreign nationals located outside the U.S., once the L-1 petition is approved by USCIS, they must schedule and attend an L-1 visa appointment at a U.S. consulate abroad. The wait time for a required visa appointment at a specific U.S. consulate abroad depends on the backlogs and conditions at that consulate, however, a general estimate can usually be found here: Visa Appointment Wait Times (state.gov).

Get in touch with the ImLaw team to learn more about the L-1 visa process and how we can help.