General Requirements for L-1 Visas

The L-1 visa is a temporary, non-immigrant visa which allows companies to relocate foreign qualified employees to its U.S. offices from a subsidiary, parent, affiliate, or branch office of the company abroad. There are several different types of L-1 visas. L-1A visa is specifically designed for intra-company executive or manager transferees. The L-1B visa is designed for intra-company transfers of employees with specialized knowledge. For more information on the L-1 visa program, click here to see the Code of Federal Regulations or visit the USCIS web page.

Specific Requirements for the L-1 Employer

  • The company must have a qualifying relationship with a foreign company, such as a parent company, branch, subsidiary, or affiliate. These are collectively referred to as qualifying entities. For more information on qualifying entities, click here.
  • The company must also be, or will be, doing business as an employer in the United States and in at least one other country directly or through a qualifying organization for the duration of the beneficiary’s stay in the United States as an L-1. While the business must be viable, there is no requirement that it be engaged in international trade. Doing business refers to the regular, systematic, and continuous provision of goods and/or services by a qualifying organization and does not include the mere presence of an agent or office of the qualifying organization in the United States and abroad.

Some of these requirements are easy to meet and do not require extensive documentation, especially if the employer is well known and a well-established company. However, when the company is small or just beginning, the employer should be prepared to provide extensive documentation to establish their eligibility for the L-1visa. We therefore strongly recommend in this case that they seek the professional services of an experienced immigration attorney.

SpecificRequirements for the Employee: L-1A

  • The employee must have worked abroad for the overseas company for a continuous period of one year during the preceding three years before admission to the United States.
  • The employee must have been employed abroad in an executive or managerial position, otherwise known as a qualifying position. For more information on qualifying positions, click here.
  • The employee must be coming to the U.S. company to work in an executive or managerial position. According to federal law, executive capacity generally refers to the employee’s ability to make decisions of wide latitude without much oversight. Managerial capacity generally refers to the ability of the employee to supervise and control the work of professional employees and to manage the organization, or a department, subdivision, function, or component of the organization. It may also refer to the employee’s ability to manage an essential function of the organization at a high level, without direct supervision of others.
  • The employee must be qualified for the position by virtue of his or her prior education and experience.
  • The L-1 visa holder must intend to depart the United States upon completion of his or her authorized stay.

Specific Requirements for Employee: L-1B

  • The employee must have worked abroad for the overseas company for a continuous period of one year during the preceding three years before admission to the United States.
  • The employee must be seeking to enter the United States to ender services in a specialized knowledge capacity to a branch of the same employer or one of its qualifying organizations.
    • Specialized knowledge is beyond the ordinary and not commonplace within the industry or the petition organization. In other words, the employee must be more than simply skilled or familiar with the employer’s interests. This specialized knowledge can refer to the petitioning organization’s product, service, research, equipment, techniques, management, or other interests and its application in international markets. Or, it could refer to an expertise in the organization’s processes and procedures.
  • The L-1 visa holder must intend to depart the United States upon completion of his or her authorized stay.

Following the 2004 Visa Reform Act, an L-1B non-immigrant will be in violation of status if they are stationed primarily at the worksite of an employer other than the petitioner, and if one of the following occurs:

  • The alien will be principally under the control and supervision of the unaffiliated employer, or
  • The placement at the non-affiliated worksite is “essentially an arrangement to provide labor for hire for the unaffiliated employer,” rather than placement in connection with the provision of a product or service for which specialized knowledge specific to the petitioning employer is necessary.

For more information on these new guidelines, see the July 25, 2005 USCIS memo.

Additional Requirements for New Offices

One of the benefits of the L-1 visa program is that it allows companies the opportunity to re-locate employees to the United States to expand their business and open up new offices. For foreign employers who want to send an L-1 visa holder to the United States for the purpose of establishing a new office, the following criteria must also be met:

  • The company must have secured a sufficient physical premise to house the new office. The new U.S. office will support the said executive, managerial, or specialized knowledge position within one year of receiving petition approval.

For more information on L visa, please refer to the following links: