Introduction
The L-1 Visa, also known as the Intra Company Transferee visa, serves as a non-immigrant option designed to facilitate the temporary relocation of foreign specialized employees to work at their company’s United States branch. This visa permits the holder to obtain legal recognition as an intra-company transferee, enabling foreign workers to lawfully transfer and work in one of the affiliated U.S.-based offices of their parent company. Once within the United States, these professional employees can seamlessly continue their employment within a U.S.-based branch or subsidiary of their parent organization.
It is important to note that the L-1 visa is not exclusive to specific types of companies or particular countries. It is open to all companies, encompassing large corporations, medium-sized enterprises, and small start-ups, as long as they maintain a related entity in the United States that warrants the transfer of their employees.
Eligible Person
The Intra-company Transfer Visa is only available to employees who hold an executive or managerial position within their company or who have specialized knowledge essential to the business’s operations.
Successful candidates must have worked outside the United States for the same employer for at least one year within the three-year timeframe before their application. In addition, they must have specialized knowledge about the company’s products, procedures, and methods.
There are two different L-1 Visa tiers:
· L-1A for executive managers
· L-1B for workers with specialized knowledge
This permit is not suitable for international workers who wish to enter the U.S. to attend conferences or participate in training. If this is your case, you must apply for a Business Visitor Visa.
Eligible candidates must be transferred to work for the same employer in the United States or to a parent, subsidiary, or affiliate company.
Requirements for Employers
In order for foreign companies to be eligible to apply for L-1 Visas on behalf of their employees, they must first qualify for L-1 classification by meeting the following requirements:
ü The employer has a qualifying relationship with a foreign company (qualifying organizations are a parent company, branch, subsidiary, or affiliate)
ü The employer is currently or will be doing business in the United States and at least one other country as an employer. In addition, this business must be done either directly or through a qualifying organization for the duration of the L-1 visa recipient’s stay in the United States.
It should be noted that doing business, in this case, is defined as the regular, systematic, and continuous provision of goods and/or services by a qualifying organization.
Requirements for Employees
To qualify for the L-1 visa, employees must meet the following requirements:
ü Your company must guarantee as a sponsor for your application
ü Both your local company and your organization in the U.S. must be linked by a qualifying organization
ü The employee must have worked for their overseas company for a constant period of 12 months in the previous three years
ü You must be actively working with your employer in the U.S. and your home country as well
ü In the case of the L-1A Visa, you must be working in an executive or managerial capacity
ü If you are an L-1B Visa applicant, the employee must be working a specialized knowledge employee
ü In the case of the L-1A Visa, , The applicant must have worked for the foreign company abroad for at least one of the last three years
It should be noted that executive capacity is defined as the ability to make decisions of wide latitude without much oversight. Managerial capacity refers to the ability to manage and supervise both the professional employees and the organization’s essential function with only general supervision from higher-level executives.
Employees who provide services in a specialized knowledge capacity must possess special knowledge about the company’s products or services, methods, and/or procedures relevant to the organization’s processes. This may include Surgeons and physicians in hospitals, Engineers, Lawyers etc.
