L-1A and L-1B Executive/Manager and Specialized Worker - Intra-Company Transferees
L-1A Executives or Managers
The L-1A nonimmigrant classification enables a U.S. employer to transfer an executive or manager from one of its affiliated foreign offices to one of its offices in the United States. This classification also enables a foreign company which does not yet have an affiliated U.S. office to send an executive or manager to the United States with the purpose of establishing one.
To qualify for L-1 classification in this category:
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.
New Offices - For foreign employers seeking to send an employee to the United States as an executive or manager to establish a new office, the employer must also show that: they have secured sufficient physical premises to house the new office, the employee has been employed as an executive or manager for one continuous year in the three years preceding the filing of the petition; and that the intended U.S. office will support an executive or managerial position within one year of the approval of the petition.
L-1A Executives or Managers
The L-1A nonimmigrant classification enables a U.S. employer to transfer an executive or manager from one of its affiliated foreign offices to one of its offices in the United States. This classification also enables a foreign company which does not yet have an affiliated U.S. office to send an executive or manager to the United States with the purpose of establishing one.
To qualify for L-1 classification in this category:
- The employer must have a qualifying relationship with a foreign company (parent company, branch, subsidiary, or affiliate, collectively referred to as qualifying organizations); and
- The employer must currently 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 means 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.
- The employee must have been working for a qualifying organization abroad for one continuous year within the three years immediately preceding his or her admission to the United States; and
- The employee must be seeking to enter the United States to provide service in an executive or managerial capacity for a branch of the same employer or one of its qualifying organizations.
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.
New Offices - For foreign employers seeking to send an employee to the United States as an executive or manager to establish a new office, the employer must also show that: they have secured sufficient physical premises to house the new office, the employee has been employed as an executive or manager for one continuous year in the three years preceding the filing of the petition; and that the intended U.S. office will support an executive or managerial position within one year of the approval of the petition.
L-1B Specialized Workers
The L-1B nonimmigrant 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 United States. This classification also enables a foreign company which does not yet have an affiliated U.S. office to send a specialized knowledge employee to the United States to help establish one.
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 (See 8 CFR 214.2(l)(1)(ii)(D)).
Spouses
Spouses of L-1 workers may apply for work authorization and if approved, there is no specific restriction as to where the L-2 spouse may work.
Blanket L Petitions
Certain organizations may establish the required intracompany relationship in advance of filing individual L-1 petitions by filing a blanket petition. Eligibility for blanket L certification is available for companies with three or more U.S. and foreign branches, subsidiaries or affiliates; engaged in commercial trade or services, with an office in the United States which has been doing business for one year or more; and can show that among all the qualifiying organizations they have obtained either 10+ L-1 approvals during the previous 12-month period; have a combined annual sales of $25+ million; have a U.S. work force of at least 1,000 employees.
Although the approval of a blanket L petition does not guarantee that an employee will be granted L-1A classification. It does, however, provide the employer with the flexibility to transfer eligible employees to the United States quickly and with short notice without having to file an individual petition with USCIS.
The L-1B nonimmigrant 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 United States. This classification also enables a foreign company which does not yet have an affiliated U.S. office to send a specialized knowledge employee to the United States to help establish one.
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 (See 8 CFR 214.2(l)(1)(ii)(D)).
Spouses
Spouses of L-1 workers may apply for work authorization and if approved, there is no specific restriction as to where the L-2 spouse may work.
Blanket L Petitions
Certain organizations may establish the required intracompany relationship in advance of filing individual L-1 petitions by filing a blanket petition. Eligibility for blanket L certification is available for companies with three or more U.S. and foreign branches, subsidiaries or affiliates; engaged in commercial trade or services, with an office in the United States which has been doing business for one year or more; and can show that among all the qualifiying organizations they have obtained either 10+ L-1 approvals during the previous 12-month period; have a combined annual sales of $25+ million; have a U.S. work force of at least 1,000 employees.
Although the approval of a blanket L petition does not guarantee that an employee will be granted L-1A classification. It does, however, provide the employer with the flexibility to transfer eligible employees to the United States quickly and with short notice without having to file an individual petition with USCIS.