L-1 Intracompany Transferee Visa

The L-1 visa is a non-immigrant visa allowing international companies to relocate certain types of alien employees to U.S. offices.  An international company may use the L-1 visa to relocate alien employees to the U.S. only if the U.S. and non-U.S. employers have one of the following four relationships: parent and subsidiary, branch and headquarters, sister companies owned by a mutual parent, or “affiliates” owned by the same person or persons in approximately the same percentages.  The employee being sent to the U.S. on an L-1 visa must have worked for the employer, or a subsidiary, parent, affiliate or branch office thereof, for at least one year out of the last three years.  There are two different types of L-1 visas, which apply in turn to two different types of employees. The L-1(a) visa is for intracompany transferee executives and managers and the L-1(b) visa is for intracompany transferees with specialized knowledge.  To qualify for an L-1(a) visa, the employee must have worked for the employer in an overseas location in an executive or managerial capacity for at least one of the last three years.

A company does not need to have a preexisting U.S. office in order to use the L-1 visa to relocate employees to the U.S.; indeed, the L-1 visa can be used to relocate employees to the U.S. for the purpose of establishing a U.S. office. If, however, the company does not have a preexisting office in the U.S., then the company will need to show that it has taken steps to establish an office in the U.S.  Examples of such steps include leasing office space in the U.S. and opening accounts at U.S. banks.  Aliens coming to the U.S. to work at a preexisting office will generally be given an initial L-1 term of three years, while aliens coming to the U.S. to establish a new office will generally get an initial L-1 term of one year.  The L-1 visa can be renewed, but the maximum cumulative length of stay on an L-1 visa is seven years.

The spouses and unmarried children of L-1 visa holders are eligible for L-2 visas;these L-2 visas are valid for exactly as long as the associated L-1 visa.  L-2 visa holders may work in the United States without obtaining any additional work permission.

The L-1 visa is a “dual intent” visa, meaning that an L-1 visa holder may apply for a green card without impact on the L-1 status.

Companies that are frequent users of the L-1 visa may apply under the “L-1 Blanket Petition Program” for a “blanket” permission to transfer a particular number of executive, managerial and professional employees to the U.S.  If the company does this, then it will not need to complete individual applications for each employee it transfers to the U.S. under L-1 status.