Frequently Asked Questions and Answers about L1 Visa

Q: What is the L1 visa?

A: U.S. Congress created the L1 nonimmigrant visa category in 1970 primarily to assist multinational companies that experienced difficulties, in bringing to the United States critical personnel temporarily from abroad. To be eligible for an L1 visa, a foreign national normally must have been employed by the foreign company continuously for at least one year during the preceding three years in a managerial or executive position or in a position where he/she gained specialized knowledge. The individual must be coming to the United States to provide services to the same employer or a branch office, subsidiary or affiliate. For this reason L1 visa holders are known as intracompany transferees. Either the employing entity abroad or the prospective U.S. employer may be the petitioner, assuming each is otherwise qualified. 

For many years, the L1 visa has been a vital tool both for U.S. companies with an international presence and for international firms expanding into the United States. Although not a heavily used visa in terms of numbers, the L1 visa has done much to help U.S. companies be competitive. It also facilitates foreign investment in the United States. In fact, it is the principal immigration vehicle U.S. companies use to bring in qualified personnel temporarily from their operations abroad to serve as managers or executives, or to apply certain specialized knowledge. 

Also, it is the principal nonimmigrant visa category that foreign companies use to build U.S. factories, open offices, and hire significant numbers of U.S. workers to staff their U.S. operations. Unless U.S. and foreign companies are able to bring key personnel to their American operations, U.S. companies will be put at a competitive disadvantage and foreign companies will be unlikely to establish or expand their presence in U.S.

Q. What is the difference between L1A visa and L1B visa?

A: Executives and managers enter the United States on an L1A visa. Employees with specialized knowledge enter the United States on an L1B visa. To qualify for specialized knowledge, the employee must possess special knowledge 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 in the organization’s processes and procedures. 

Spouses and children of principal L1 visa holders enter on L2 visas. An employee brought in on an L1A visa in a managerial or executive capacity may work in the United States for up to seven years. L1B beneficiaries may work in the United States for up to five years. 

Q: What are the general requirements for an L1 visa application?

A: To qualify for the L1 visa, the foreign national must have worked outside of the United States for a qualifying employer for at least one year within the three years prior to transferring to the United States. The time working in the United States will not count toward the one year of required employment.

Since the L1 program’s creation, U.S. Congress has consistently responded to the needs of the business community by facilitating the process by which multinational companies import key personnel via the L1 visa. Originally, the L1 beneficiary had to have worked for the company abroad during the year immediately before filing the L1 petition. A later amendment broadened the qualifying period to one year during the prior three years, thus permitting a former employee to rejoin the multinational company in the United States.

An L1 is an alien coming temporarily to perform services in a managerial or executive capacity, for the same corporation or firm, or for the branch, subsidiary or affiliate of the employer which employed him or her abroad, in an executive, managerial or specialized knowledge capacity. The employment abroad must have been as an executive or manager for an L1A visa, or require specialized knowledge about the company’s products, procedures or methods for the L1B visa. The foreign citizen must be transferred to work for the same employer in the United States, or a parent, subsidiary or affiliate company. 

Q: Why is the L visa important for some U.S. companies?

A: The L1 visa for intracompany transferees has been a vital tool both for U.S. companies with an international presence and for international firms expanding into the United States. The L1 visa enables U.S. companies to bring in qualified personnel temporarily from their operations abroad to serve as managers or executives or to apply certain specialized knowledge, thereby allowing U.S. companies to retain or develop new operations within the United States while expanding into foreign markets and promoting U.S. products. 

This, in turn, translates into more jobs for American workers. The L1 visa also helps foster foreign investment in the U.S. It is the principal immigration vehicle foreign companies use to build U.S. factories, open offices, and hire significant numbers of U.S. workers to staff their U.S. operations. Also, the L1 visa category is an essential part of this country’s arsenal to create and keep jobs in the United States. For many years, the L1 visa has been a vital tool for both U.S. companies with an international presence and international firms expanding into the United States. 

The L1 visa has allowed U.S. and foreign companies to build U.S. factories, open offices, create new jobs in the United States and hire significant numbers of U.S. workers to fill these jobs. Properly administered, the L1 visa category can offset concerns about globalization by keeping and adding jobs in U.S.

Q: What is the differences between H-1B visa and L1 visa?

A: There are some major differences between the H-1B visa and the L1 visa. The H-1B visa program allows U.S. employers to hire highly educated foreign professionals on a temporary basis who provide specialized or unique skills/expertise and relieve temporary U.S. worker shortages.   

The L1 visa programs are designed for different purposes, and the requirements of each program reflect these differences. In most cases, the foreign national must have worked for the multinational firm abroad for a full year before being eligible for the L visa category. Multinational employers use the L1 visa to transfer to this country their own foreign national executives or managers or employees who possess specialized or advanced knowledge. To be eligible for L1 visa, you must be hired by a multinational foreign company at least one year during the last three years.

Q. How large is the L visa program?

A: L1 visa holders make up only a small fraction of the U.S. workforce. In its peak year 2001, L1 visa issuance accounted for 59,384 visas, less than 1% of the total number of visas issued by the U.S. State Department. In 2003, L1 visas accounted for about 57,000 visas.

Only a portion of those visas were L1Bs, intracompany transferees that entered the U.S. to perform work using their specialized knowledge.

Q. What is specialized knowledge for L1B?

A: An L1B visa is an alien coming temporarily to perform services which entail specialized knowledge, for the same corporation or firm, or for the branch, subsidiary or affiliate of the employer which employed him or her abroad for one continuous year.

When first enacted in 1970, the statute did not define “specialized knowledge.” Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) regulations in the 1980s interpreted the term narrowly, requiring the employee to have proprietary knowledge of the company’s product or services. The INS also claimed that only a few employees in the company could have such knowledge. In 1990, U.S. Congress defined specialized knowledge simply as “special knowledge of the company product and its application in international markets, or an advanced level of knowledge of processes and procedures of the company.”

Thus, the "specialized knowledge" is the knowledge of the employer's product or its application in international markets or an advanced level of the knowledge of the employer's processes and procedures. 

A previous memorandum highlights USCIS position on what constitutes specialized knowledge: “the alien should possess a type of specialized or advanced knowledge that is different from that generally found in the particular industry. The knowledge needs not be proprietary or unique. Where the alien has specialized knowledge of the company or product, the knowledge must be noteworthy or uncommon. Where the alien has knowledge of company processes or procedures, the knowledge must be advanced.”

Q. Why not codify a list of skills that constitute specialized knowledge?  

A: The law is clear that specialized knowledge is not the general knowledge of employees. The law does not include a list of what constitutes and what does not constitute specialized knowledge, because no laws can keep up with the speed of innovation which is reflected in the changing knowledge base that constitutes “specialized knowledge” and businesses needs. 

Any attempt to do so would both not reflect the marketplace and stifle the U.S.’s competitiveness in the global economy. Instead, this visa program chose to burden U.S. companies with the task of proving that each L1B visa applicant possesses specialized knowledge.  

Q: Why does the L visa not require a labor certification?

A: When properly issued, L1 intracompany transferees do not constitute new hires that could displace U.S. workers. Rather, the L1 employee is being transferred temporarily within the company to add value or provide expertise based on his or her international experience with the company. Moreover, speed and efficiency are necessary components of the L visa program.

Inserting a labor certification requirement into the process would lead to significant visa processing delays and would subject companies to bureaucratic requirements before they could gain access to their own employees. A labor certification process would not protect U.S. workers, but it would hurt the arrival of foreign workers that could create new jobs.

Q: Why does the concept of a numerical cap not apply to L visas?

A: In current law, the L visa is not only a relatively efficient visa but it is also an uncapped visa category. The absence of such an artificial restriction has allowed international companies to transfer their key employees, when a need arises without the long delays that are often associated with burdensome petitions and caps. 

If a cap were placed on the L1 program, the result would be two-fold. First, uncertainty about whether a company would be able to transfer its key personnel would deter foreign companies from investing in the U.S. and developing U.S. based operations. Second, U.S. based operations that use the L1 program might decide to move their operations overseas, if they were not certain that they could access their key managers, executives and employees with specialized knowledge.

Q: Why is there no prevailing wage requirement for the L visa program?

A: The prevailing wage concept, identifying an average wage for similarly situated occupations in a specific geographic location, is incompatible with the purposes behind the L1 visa category, in which visa holders are company employees who are transferred within their own company’s corporate structure. Since many of the L1 intracompany transferees do not intend to remain in the U.S. permanently, they often prefer to remain compensated through the overseas company.

The alternative requiring L1 employees to be paid by the U.S. based operations is undesirable. A disruption in their home country compensation may have negative consequences on their social benefits and retirement packages. In many cases, the particular foreign state’s social welfare laws make these benefits more valuable than the benefits offered by U.S. employers. This salary is paid in foreign currency and established by the cost of living and established wage rates there.

Layering prevailing wage requirements on top of this existing structure would force the Labor Department or the immigration agency to become expert in foreign currency fluctuation/conversion and comparative international costs of living.

Q: Has there been abuse in the L visa category?

A: According to reports, some L visas were granted under which the L1B visa holder was assigned to a third party site, was not using specialized knowledge, and was not under the control of the petitioning employer. These visas appear to have been erroneously granted, since using an L1B visa for in such a manner is clearly forbidden under both current law and State Department guidance. The U.S. State Department already has taken steps to close this loophole.

The State Department’s investigative teams focus on catching visa fraud. By enforcing the laws and guidance and taking proper precautions to make sure only legitimate L visas are issued, the benefits of the L visa can be enjoyed without negative consequences.

Q. What are the L visa petition requirements for an U.S. employer or foreign employer?

A: An U.S. employer or foreign employer may file the petition, but a foreign employer must have a legal business entity in the U.S. The petition must be filed with:

1) evidence of the qualifying relationship between the U.S. and foreign employer based on ownership and control, such as an annual report, articles of incorporation, financial statements or copies of stock certificates;

2) a letter from the alien's foreign qualifying employer detailing his/her dates of employment, job duties, qualifications and salary, demonstrating that the alien worked for the employer for at least one continuous year in the three-year period preceding the filing of the petition in an executive, managerial or specialized knowledge capacity; and

3) a description of the proposed job duties and qualifications and evidence that the proposed employment is in an executive, managerial or specialized knowledge capacity.

Q. What are the L visa petition requirements if the alien is coming to the U.S. to open a new office?

A: If the alien is coming to the U.S. to open a new office, the petition should include the following documents:

1) already has sufficient premises to house the new office;

2) has or will have the qualifying relationship to the foreign employer;

3) has the financial ability to pay the alien and to begin doing business in the U.S., including evidence about the size of the U.S. investment, the organizational structure of both firms.

Q. What is the blanket L visa petition?

A: An L visa blanket petition simplifies the process of later filing for individual L1A workers and L1B workers who are specialized knowledge professionals.

A blanket L petition must be filed by a U.S. employer who will be the single representative between USCIS and the qualifying organizations. A company that wishes to establish itself, its parent, its subsidiaries, and/or its affiliates as qualifying organizations under the blanket L program must first file a blanket L petition with an USCIS Service Center. This blanket petition must identify a "petitioner" in whose name the petition is being filed. The petitioner must be a member of the company’s corporate family, but it needs not be the parent or the principal office.

Q. What are the requirements for blanket L petitioners?

A: Under USCIS regulations, a blanket L petitioner must meet the following four conditions:

Q. What are the critics of L1 visa program by some labor organizations?

A: The L1 visa program has come under scrutiny, primarily because of the economy and the continuing shift toward outsourcing and off-shoring work. Critics of the program allege that the L1 visa is being used to import low-cost foreign contract workers to replace U.S. workers.

Current immigration law prohibits using an L1 visa to send a foreign national to the United States simply as contract labor to work alongside the workforce of a third party, under the control of the third party, performing the same kind of work done by the third entity’s employees and displacing U.S. employees.

According to law and guidance issued by the State Department, an L1 visa holder can visit a third party site only when the petitioning organization controls the time, place, and content of the work assignment. In the case of an L1B visa, if the visa holder possesses specialized knowledge, for example, if an international company has developed proprietary computer software that will improve a U.S. company’s production capabilities, it is permissible for an L1B visa holder to install the software at the third party client site and train the client’s workforce in its specialized uses.

Q. What is the relationship between L1 visas and foreign trade agreements?

A: Some international free trade agreements (FTAs) contain immigration provisions. Members of Congress have complained about immigration provisions being included in FTAs, arguing that Congress should decide immigration policy after due deliberation and debate, not have it imposed unilaterally by executive agreements. Nevertheless, several existing FTAs already contain immigration provisions, any changes to immigration law should not violate those bilateral or multilateral agreements.

For example, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which the United States signed with Canada and Mexico, has an immigration provision concerning intracompany transferees. NAFTA requires the three signatory countries to grant temporary entry to business persons employed by a foreign enterprise who seek to render services to that enterprise or its affiliate or subsidiary, in a capacity that is managerial, executive or that involves special knowledge.

Temporary entrants must have worked continuously for one year out of the past three in a foreign country for the same enterprise that they are seeking to serve here in the United States.

Q. What are the major differences between the H-1B visa and the L1 visa? is it possible for me to change from current H-1B visa to L1 visa after reaching 6-year limit of H-1B visa? 

A: There are some major differences between the H-1B visa and the L1 visa. The H-1B visa program allows U.S. employers to hire highly educated foreign professionals on a temporary basis who provide specialized or unique skills/expertise and relieve temporary U.S. worker shortages. 

In contrast, multinational employers use the L1 visa to transfer to this country their own foreign national executives or managers or employees who possess specialized or advanced knowledge. To be eligible for L1 visa, you must be hired by a multinational foreign company at least one year during the last three years.

Q. I have a J-1 visa right now, with 2-year home country service requirement. A company in my home country may be able to apply for L1 visa for me to work in U.S. What are the general requirements for an L1 visa application?

A: The L1 visa allows foreign nationals working abroad for a multinational company to be transferred to work in the United States. To qualify for the L1 visa, the foreign national must have worked outside of the United States for a qualifying employer for at least one year within the three years prior to transferring to the United States. The time working in the United States will not count toward the one year of required employment. 

The employment abroad must have been as an executive or manager for an L1A visa, or require specialized knowledge about the company’s products, procedures or methods for the L1B visa. The foreign citizen must be transferred to work for the same employer in the United States, or a parent, subsidiary or affiliate company. 

Q. I am in a B-1 visa now, a US company wants to hire me and apply for a L-1B status for me as a specialized knowledge professional with an approved blanket L visa petition. Please let me know more about the blanket L visa petition.  

A: An L visa blanket petition simplifies the process of filing for individual L-1B workers who are specialized knowledge professionals who possess specialized knowledge employed in positions, which require the theoretical and practical application of highly specialized knowledge.

A blanket L petition must be filed by a U.S. employer who will be the single representative between USCIS and the qualifying organizations. A company that wishes to establish itself as qualifying organizations under the blanket L program must first file a blanket L petition with an USCIS Service Center. This blanket petition must identify a "petitioner" in whose name the petition is being filed. The petitioner must be a member of the company’s corporate family, but it need not be the parent or the principal office.

 

 

 

 

 

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