L-1A Visa Lawyers

What is the L-1A visa program?

The L-1A visa classification allows an exchange between the United States and foreign businesses. Under the program, U.S. employers are allowed to transfer a foreign national executive or manager to the U.S. to work. As such, the L-1A visa classification provides beneficiaries with non-immigrant, temporary visas.

Who qualifies for the L-1A Intracompany Transferee Executive or Manager program?

This dual purpose visa — meaning that its beneficiaries can apply for permanent residency after receiving it — is designed to allow those in leadership positions to establish or further their company’s business interests across international borders. The L-1A visa requires certain levels of qualifications, and only employees who serve in executive or managerial capacities can receive a visa under this classification.

Executive capacity: The employee has the ability to make professional decisions without significant oversight
Managerial capacity: The employee has the ability to supervise and control the work of professional-level employees and/or an essential function of the organization.

In addition to serving in an executive or managerial role, the United States Immigration and Citizenship Service (USCIS) will require L-1A employees will require L-1A employees to demonstrate that they have been working for:

A qualifying organization abroad for one continuous year; and
The qualifying employer within the three years immediately preceding the employee’s transfer or admission to the U.S.

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What kinds of employers qualify to transfer employees under the L-1A program?

To petition for L-1A beneficiaries, employers must be able to show a qualifying relationship between the U.S-based employer and the employee’s foreign employer. This means that both of these employers must be either the same organization, such as a U.S. company with a foreign office, or related organizations, such as a “parent and subsidiary” or affiliate organizations.

The definition of a subsidiary is complicated under the statute, but it all comes down to the relationship between ownership and control. Affiliated organizations must be “bound to one another by substantial, but not necessarily majority, ownership of shares”. And in addition to ownership, considerations of management and control are also important.

Foreign employers who intend to send an employee to the U.S. to open a new office must demonstrate that:

The organization has secured sufficient physical premises to house a 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 L-1A petition; and
The U.S. office will be in a position to support an executive or managerial position within one year of the approval of the L-1A petition.

Ultimately, any organization with existing or planned multinational operations is likely to have a complicated business structure, which will need to be accounted for in the application process. This makes hiring a business immigration lawyer worth considering.

What is the process for applying for L-1A visas?

When a company decides to invest in the U.S. economy through its L-1A employees, the application process is straightforward Checklist for the employer include the following:

Employer files an I-129, Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker.
USCIS sends an I-797 Notice of Action to the approved employer.
Employee completes their DS-190 electronically, submits photographs and fingerprints, and interviews with their U.S. embassy or consular office.

The most complicated part of the petition and the DS-160 is documentation. It is imperative for employers to answer all the relevant questions listed on the petition. Likewise, it is also important to review the employee’s application thoroughly and provide enough evidence to demonstrate that any needed criteria is met.

By law, Canadian citizens are exempt from certain L-1 visa requirements. Canadian citizens may instead present a completed Form I-129 and its supporting documentation to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers at certain U.S ports of entry or even at a U.S. pre-flight inspection station in Canada to seek admission into the U.S. under the L-1 status.

Is there a cap on L-1A visas?

There are no caps on L-1A visas, which means that companies can bring as many of their qualified employees to the U.S. as needed to accomplish their business goals. Between 2015 and 2019, the U.S. issued nearly 80,000 visas to L-1A beneficiaries.

Employees entering the United States to establish a new office will be allowed a maximum initial stay of one year.
Employees who have been transferred from a foreign office are allowed an initial stay of three years.

All L-1A beneficiaries may request extensions of their stays in increments of two years until the employee has reached the maximum limit of seven years.

Of the roughly 160 countries that transferred employees to the U.S. in 2019,the countries with the most intracompany transfers under the L-1A program were:

India;
The United Kingdom;
Brazil;
Mexico; and
China.

Tech companies lead the pack for L-1 visas, including Amazon, Google, IBM, and Apple. Because the L-1A program is intended to encourage investment in the U.S., some believe that capping the program would prevent multinational companies from opening branches in the U.S. and encourage American companies to go offshore.

When should I hire an L-1A visa attorney?

While multinational companies’ offices in the U.S. employ four times as many Americans as they do foreign nationals, the L-1 visa program remains a critical part of the global economy that allows for the exchange of ideas. The U.S. is poised to welcome greater investment in its industries, so Farmer Law today for your immigration needs.

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