The L-1 Visa is a nonimmigrant, temporary visa, enabling the worker to work in the United States for up to seven years. L visa holders are exempted from the requirement of having to establish their continued non-immigrant intent, greatly smoothing the progress of the transition to an immigrant employment based visa, leading to a "green card".

L-1 visas are available to a person (and L2 to his/her family), to transfer him/her to work in the United States for an employer, who has worked abroad for 1 continuous year within past 3 years in a related business entity in a manager/executive or specialized knowledge staff capacity. Applicant must be coming to the U.S. to continue providing services for this same employer. Worker does not need to be directly employed by the sponsor. It is OK even if he/she is paid through personal service company or an agency, or even as independent consultant, as long as the sponsor had management and control over the worker during the qualifying year.

2 types of employees may be sponsored for L1 Visa:

Manager/Executive: Legal definition of manager and executive role must be strictly followed and detailed description of duties must be enclosed along with the petition. Generally, an executive or a manager should have supervisory responsibility for professional staff and/or for a key function, department or subdivision of the employer. Managers and executives plan, organize, direct, and control an organization's major functions and work through other employees to achieve the organization's goals. Individuals who primarily perform the tasks necessary to produce the product(s) or provide the service(s) of an organization are not employed in an executive or managerial capacity. Majority of his/her duties should be related to operational or policy management, not to the supervision of lower level employees, performance of the duties of another type of position, or other involvement in the operational activities of the company, such as doing sales work, operating machines, writing computer programming code or supervising those that do. However, person is not barred from applying his professional/technical expertise to solve a particular problem. While an executive may manage a function within an organization, it should not be directly performed by an executive. Generally executives would not have subordinate staff, except for personal staff. It is not enough to have just the title of the position that indicates manager/executive position, duties also should be accordingly performed.

Persons in this category get L1A visa. Initial petition will be approved for 3 years, and can be renewed twice for 2 years each for total of 7 years.

Specialized Knowledge Staff: Person should have knowledge of the company's products/services, research, systems, proprietary techniques, management, or procedures. Knowledge which is widely held or related to common practices or techniques and which is readily available in the United States job market is not specialized for purposes of L classification. The level of knowledge required and the employment of the specific alien must directly relate to the proprietary interest of the petitioner. To be proprietary, the knowledge must relate to something which relates exclusively to the petitioner's business. Persons whose general knowledge and expertise enable them to merely produce a product or provide a service are not eligible for this visa.

Persons in this category get L1B visa. Initial petition will be approved for 3 years, and can be renewed once for 2 years for total of 5 years.


For each of these of types of L1 visa, on completing the maximum allowable period in L-1 status, the employee must be employed outside the United States for a minimum of one year before a new application is made for L or H status.

Please note that the times spent in L-1 status AND H status are added together and counted toward the total.

It is allowed for a specialized knowledge worker to come to the United States as a Manager or Executive, and for a manager or executive to come as a specialized knowledge worker, provided the US operation has been doing business for at least 1 year.

There is no restriction on the types of business that can sponsor an L1 visa – corporations(S, C, LLC etc.), partnerships, government-owned entities and non-profit organizations are all eligible. Sponsoring employer need not be US owned or incorporated. There are four business entities in the United States that can offer employment to the alien - a parent company, a branch, a subsidiary, or an affiliate. Only if these entities are able to offer full proof that they meet the definition of a "qualifying organization" will the alien be granted temporary, nonimmigrant work status in the U.S. by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS).

There are four tests to determine if the U.S. and foreign entities are of the same qualifying organization:

1. that business is executed in the U.S. during the entire stay of the L-1 Visa recipient;
2. that business is transacted in another country while the L-1 Visa recipient is working in the U.S.;
3. that there is more than just an agent's office in either the U.S. or abroad. It is really doing business;
4. that there is evidence of a systematic and continuous flow of goods or services within the context of a structured business with a business plan. However, it is not necessary that international trade be taking place.
   Therefore, it is acceptable if the company produces goods or services in the U.S. that will be used entirely within the U.S.

In order to sponsor an application for an L1 visa:

• A foreign parent must own at least 50% of a US subsidiary, and have veto powers over the subsidiary's actions;
• A US parent must own must own at least 50% of the foreign subsidiary, and have veto powers over the subsidiary's actions;
• Affiliate US and foreign companies must each be at least 50% owned by the same ultimate parent;
• A US organization with a branch office abroad qualifies, as does a foreign organization with a US branch (though this must be more than simply an agent or representative);
• A US organization which employs e.g. sales personnel overseas can sponsor such employees for L1's even if there is no non-US office.

Ownership requirements are not as strict in the case of vary large corporations, where a substantial minority shareholding will be a qualifying relationship.

It is possible for a manager or executive to come to US for opening a new office, provided evidence for following are produced:

• Sufficient real estate space has been secured to operate new office
• The beneficiary has been employed for one continuous year in the three year period preceding the filing of the petition in an executive or managerial capacity and that the proposed employment involves executive or managerial authority over the new operation; and
• The intended United States operation, within one year of the approval of the petition, will support an executive or managerial position, supported by information regarding:
  • The proposed nature of the office describing the scope of the entity, its organizational structure, and its financial goals;
  • The size of the United States investment;
  • The financial ability of the foreign entity to remunerate the beneficiary and to commence doing business in the United States; and
  • The organizational structure of the foreign entity.

It is expected that a manager or executive who is required to open a new business or office will be more actively involved in day-to-day operations during the initial phases of the business, but must also have authority and plans to hire staff and have wide latitude in making decisions about the goals and management of the organization.

Organizations which have been doing business in the United States for a minimum of one year and:

• Are engaged in commercial trade or services (i.e. no charitable or non-profit organizations);
• Have at least 3 offices in the US and overseas; and
• Have either:
  • Sponsored at least 10 successful individual L1 petitions in the last 12 months;
  • US annual sales exceeding $25,000,000; or
  • A US work force of at least 1000 employees.

can include an unlimited number of qualifying foreign parents, subsidiaries, affiliates or branch offices in a 'blanket' petition.

Once approved, L1 blanket petitions considerably reduces the processing timings (from 4-6 weeks to 1-2 weeks) as employer does not have to prove eligibility every time. Only the employee has to prove the eligibility at the US consulate abroad, and no processing at USCIS is required for individual cases. Applicant can take a copy of the I-797 approval notice and apply directly at the nearby U.S. consulate to obtain a L-1 visa stamp in his passport.

Only if the employer has a "blanket" L petition approved by the USCIS, the time of employment abroad is shortened from one year to six months. Otherwise, the employee must work abroad for the employer or a related company for one year before qualifying for L status. The law applies only to nonimmigrant L status. In order to qualify for permanent residence as a multinational executive or manager, he/she must still meet the "one-year" requirement. Employers of persons who enter the U.S. in L status using the new "six-month" law may be forced to submit Applications for Alien Labor Certification in order to obtain permanent residence for such persons.

The filing of Form I-129 and the special L supplement that accompanies Form I-129 is the first requirement to be sent directly to the USCIS Service Center in the same jurisdiction as the place of employment. By filing Form I-129, the petitioner is applying for a temporary, nonimmigrant work visa that will authorize the employee, the right to work in the United States.

It should show that the prior education and training make the applicant of significantly greater value to the national labor pool than the hiring of a U.S. citizen.

A letter from the U.S. employer describing both the applicant's prior duties abroad and the duties to be performed in the U.S. will be necessary for the USCIS to rule that this position may not be filled by a U.S. national. This letter must also prove that both entities are themselves meeting the guidelines of a qualifying organization. Letters must be submitted by both the foreign and U.S. entities, confirming that the applicant has met the one-year in three years requirement.

Filing fee for I-129 L is $185.00. Additionally, $500 Fraud Prevention and Detection fee must be paid. This is only for initial petition or change of employer. Extension with same employer is not subject to this fee. In case of blanket L petition, $500 for blanket petition and $500 for each L1 employee under blanket L petition.

The petitioning company sponsors the employee for an L-1 visa for temporary employment in the US, but the employee's spouse and dependent minors will receive an L-2 Visa. Spouse of L-1 visa holder (not dependent children) can get employment authorization that allows them to work freely (high tech, grocery store or restaurant or whichever legal business they want to work in.) For more information, please see E & L Spouse Employment Authorization.