1. The Emphasized Requirements for L1 Visa Petition and Its RFE

To reply an USCIS issued Request For Evidence, you should know what are the USCIS requirements for L1 visa petition. Most L-1A petitions have difficulty on the requirement of L-1A regulation: "a person who has worked abroad for one continuous year within the preceding three years in an executive or managerial capacity for a qualifying, related business entity."

The first requirement of L1 is that the intra-company transferee must have been employed in a qualifying company abroad in a managerial, executive capacity, or as a person with specialized knowledge, for at least one year within the past three years. The regulatory authority for the L1 visa is found in 8 C.F.R. Section 214.2(1). These regulations state that an alien who is eligible to receive an L1 intra-company transfer visa must meet the statutory requirements of the Immigration and Nationality Acts, which define a qualified alien as: 

“a person who has worked abroad for one continuous year within the preceding three years in an executive, managerial, or specialized knowledge capacity for a qualifying, related business entity and who is being transferred temporarily to work in the United States to work in a executive, managerial, or specialized knowledge capacity for a qualifying related business entity.”

Three positions, a manager, an executive, and a person with specialized knowledge, are considered employable by the USCIS, on the condition that the U.S. employer, which functions as the petitioner, meet the obligations of a qualifying organization. By working for a qualifying organization abroad for an entire year during the preceding three years, an alien can apply for a L1 intra-company transfer visa.

2. Make Sure the Beneficiary Meet the Basic Requirements for Obtaining L1 Visa

For many L1 RFE requests, USCIS wants to make sure the beneficiary can meet the basic requirements for obtaining L1 visa:

• The employee must have worked abroad for the overseas company for continuous period of one year during the preceding three years;

• The employee must have been employed abroad in an "executive" or "managerial" position (L-1A), or a position involving "specialized knowledge" (L-1B).

• The employee must be coming to the U.S. company to fill one of these capacities - Executive, Managerial, or Specialized Knowledge;

• The employee must be qualified for the position by virtue of his or her prior education and experience;

• The L1 visa holder must intend to depart the United States upon completion of his or her authorized stay. 

In many RFE requests, USCIS also wants to make sure the petitioner can meet the basic requirements for sponsoring the L1 visa:

• The company at which the employee fulfilled the work requirements must be related to the U.S. company in a specific manner, such as parent/subsidiary, sister companies with common parent;

• The company must be a qualifying organization - one that is doing business in the United States and one other country throughout the entire period of transfer;

• The prospective U.S. employer has been doing business for at least one year;

• The company has an office in the United States, as well as in the home country of the petitioner.

3. The Challenges for L-1A Visa Application and Extension

The L-1A visa is one of the most popular vehicles by which the owners of foreign businesses can obtain permanent status in the United States by expanding operations to the United States. The process is carried out in three steps:

• First, the initial L-1A visa is issued for a period of one year to set up operations of the new U.S. branch;

• Second, the L-1A visa must be renewed based in part on the first-year record of the U.S. branch;

• Third, once renewed, for an additional 2 years, the L-1A visa holder may apply for permanent residency with the support of the U.S. branch.

It would not be an exaggeration to state that the USCIS often approves the initial L-1A visa on a vision -- supported by a well drafted business plan and a convincing amount of money in the bank. However, if getting ones foot in the door seems easy, renewal of the visa frequently turns out to be a nightmare for the applicant who has uprooted hearth and home with the intention of permanently relocating to the United States.

Based on cases published by the USCIS' Administrative Appeals Office (AAO), the reasons for most of the denied L-1A visa application or extension were virtually identical:

• The petitioner did not establish that the beneficiary will be employed in a primarily managerial or executive capacity;

• The petitioner did not employ adequate or sufficient personnel;

• The petitioner did not establish physical offices;

Obtaining approvals for L-1 petitions have become much harder in recent years. The alien employee must have also worked in an executive, managerial or specialized knowledge capacity for the foreign entity for at least one year in the past three years, and is being sponsored to work in the same capacity for the U.S. entity. Most of the issues that we see in L-1 RFEs challenge whether the L-1 employee will be working in a managerial, executive, or specialized capacity.

4. The Specialized Knowledge Required by USCIS Regulation for L-1B

The issue for L-1B visa application or extension is whether the petitioner has established that the beneficiary’s position in the United States will involve specialized knowledge as required by the regulation. Section 214(c)(2)(B) of the Immigration Act provides the following:

“For purposes of section 101(a)(15)(L), an alien is considered to be serving in a capacity involving specialized knowledge with respect to a company, if the alien has special knowledge of the company product and its application in international markets, or has an advanced level of knowledge of processes and procedures of the company.”

Furthermore, the regulation defined specialized knowledge as:

“Special knowledge possessed by an individual 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, or expertise in the organization’s processes or procedures.”

The petitioners requesting L-1B classification for an employee are usually faced with having to re-establish that the beneficiary possesses “specialized knowledge”, and the employee is coming to the United States to continue to render services requiring that specialized knowledge. A beneficiary is considered to be serving in a capacity involving specialized knowledge if he or she has “a special knowledge of the company product and its application in international markets, or has an advanced level of knowledge of processes and procedures of the company.

The regulations elaborate on this definition by including knowledge of the petitioner's “product, service, research, equipment, techniques, management, or other interests and its application in international markets.” According to a USCIS Memorandum, specialized knowledge must be ''different from that generally found in the particular industry'' and ''need not be proprietary or unique, but it must be different or uncommon,” and held at an “advanced” level. There is also no need to show a labor shortage for this particular skill in the U.S.

To serve in a specialized knowledge capacity, the foreign national's knowledge must be different from or surpass the ordinary or usual knowledge of an employee in the particular field, and must have been gained through significant prior experience with the petitioning organization. A specialized knowledge employee must have an advanced level of expertise in his or her organization's processes and procedures or special knowledge of the organization which is not readily available in the United States labor market. 

When drafting a response to an RFE questioning whether a beneficiary will be employed in a specialized knowledge capacity, the practitioner must clarify that the knowledge possessed was gained within the employment of the foreign entity, not on the employer's client site.

5. Get Help for Your RFE Response, and Eventually Obtain Your L-1A Visa or L-1B Visa

If you get a Request For Evidence (RFE) notice for your L1 visa application or extension from an USCIS Service Center, it is necessary that you must work hard to provide requested evidence in a short time, and persuade the USCIS adjudicators to approve your case. It is critical to appropriately and proficiently reply the Request For Evidence. Incorrect response of the RFE will directly result in your L1 visa application or extension rejection.   

To help you replying the RFE, we provide the high quality and case-proven "Complete Do-It-Yourself Package of Request For Evidence for L-1A / L-1B Visa Application or Extension". In the RFE package, we present methods of analyzing RFE questions, RFE replying strategies, means of strengthening your case, detailed RFE cases analysis, sample cover letters, and more. With the RFE package, you get all the information you need and step-by-step knowledge and strategies of how to prepare an efficient, professional, and complete response to your RFE notice of L1 visa application or extension, and eventually get your L1 visa approval.

Green Card Apply Service - For All Your Immigration Needs	© Green Card Apply Service www.greencardapply.com