6/8/2005

The L-1B visa section of the L-1 Visa Reform Act of 2004 took effect on 6/6/2005 and the U.S. employers will not be allowed to file L-1B petition in a number of situations to place the alien at a site outside of the company site. This change affects initial petition as well as amendment petition or extension petition. 

Permissible Work Sites: The alien beneficiary's "primary work site" should be petitioning U.S. employer site in the U.S.

Parent company of the petitioning U.S. employer: Parent company means the company in the U.S. owns the controlling share of the petitioning company in the U.S.

Subsidiary of the petitioning U.S. employer: Subsidiary means the U.S. petitioning company owns controlling shares of the subsidiary company. 

Affiliate company of the petitioning U.S. employers: Affiliate means the petitioning U.S. employer and the U.S. affiliate company have a common controlling shareholder company or individuals. 

None of the above and unaffiliated but the alien beneficiary will be placed at the work site of such unaffiliated company in connection with provision of a product or service for which specialized knowledge of the specific petitioning U.S. employer is necessary. 

Impermissible Work Sites: U.S. employer cannot file a L-1B petition to place such alien beneficiary to work primarily at an unaffiliated company site if the following applies: 

Job is performed "primarily" at such unaffiliated site and one of following two conditions applies: 

The alien beneficiary will be principally controlled and supervised by such unaffiliated company; or 

The alien beneficiary will be placed at the unaffiliated company site as an arrangement "essentially" to provide labor for hire the unaffiliated company. 

Accordingly, even if the L-1B petition is filed to place with an affiliated U.S. company site, if one of the following conditions is established, such L-1B petition should still be eligible: 

• The unaffiliated company will be "not primary" work site; or 

• The alien beneficiary will not be "principally" controlled and supervised by the unaffiliated company.