L-1 Nonimmigrant Visas

If you want us to process your L-1 petition, please submit information as per format below:

• The L-1 visa is a useful vehicle for multi-national companies seeking to transfer high-level Managers, Executives and other employees with specialized knowledge from overseas to provide services to a related entity in the U.S. or to establish business in United States. L-1 status is available to persons who have worked abroad for one continuous year within the preceding three years. The employment abroad must have been in an executive, management, or specialized knowledge capacity.
  
  This visa allows an Intracompany Executive or Manager to come to the U.S. in order to establish a new business.
  
  Brief visits to the United States for business or pleasure do not interrupt the one year of employment abroad, but they do not count toward the fulfillment of the one year (12 months) requirement.
  
  Specialized knowledge means either special knowledge possessed by an individual of the petitioning organization’s product, service, research, equipment, techniques, management, or other interests and its application in international markets, or an advanced level of knowledge or expertise in the organization’s processes and procedures.
• Who Files the Petition?
  The L-1 classification is petition based. The U.S. employer must file the petition on form I-129 with the “L” Supplement and be approved by the USCIS before the foreign national can obtain an L-1 visa. Employers may utilize the premium processing program to expedite USCIS action on an L-1 petition. Individual petitions may be granted for up to three years, with a possible two-year extension for all L employees and two-year extension beyond that for Managers and Executives.
• L-1 Blanket Petition
  The L-1 blanket petition provisions permit intracompany employees to apply for L-1 visas directly at the U.S. Embassies abroad without the prior approval by USCIS of an individual petition. This is possible only when the following prescribed requirements are met with:
  
  1. The petitioner and each of the qualifying organizations are engaged in commercial trade or services;
  2. The petitioner has an office in the United States which has been doing business for one year or more;
  3. The petitioner has three or more domestic and foreign branches, subsidiaries, and affiliates; and
  4. The petitioner along with the other qualifying organizations, collectively, meet one of the following criteria:
     1. Have obtained at least 10 L-1 approvals during the previous 12-month period;
     2. Have U.S. subsidiaries or affiliates with combined annual sales of at least $25 million; or
     3. Have a U.S. work force of at least 1,000 employees.
• Spouses and Dependents
  

  Spouses and minor children of L-1 nonimmigrant may enter the U.S. on L-2 status. Only spouses on L-2 status, and not children, are eligible for employment in the U.S. After being admitted in L-2 status, the spouse of an L-1 nonimmigrant must apply to the USCIS for an Employment Authorization Document (EAD). The status of an L-2 dependent is subject to the same period of admission and limitations as the principal L-1 alien.

L-1 visa Frequently Asked Questions

L-1 Visas and Its Critical Importance for Businesses in the U.S.

Ramesh Khurana Immigration Attorney L-1 Visas

Intracompany transfer Visas (L-1 A and L-1B )