The employee must have worked in a foreign company in managerial, executive, or a specialized knowledge job post. Fortunately, if your spouse is a U.S. citizen or green card holder, then you’re also likely eligible for a marriage-based green card, or spousal visa. This is often a quicker and more straightforward option for L-1 visa holders. Be seeking to enter the United States to provide services in a specialized knowledge capacity to a branch of the same employer or one of its qualifying organizations.
If you receive a new I-797 approval notice extending your stay prior to your departure, be sure to present the I-797 approval with the latest validity date to ensure that your I-94 card will have the latest expiration date. You must have a valid visa stamp in your passport to return to the U.S, unless you are a Canadian citizen or are making a short trip to Canada or Mexico. Your L-1 status is valid until the end validity date of your most recently issued I-94 card. The L-1 status is employment-based, so your status immediately ends on the date of employment is terminated.
L1B visas may be renewed in increments of up to two years at a time until they have reached the maximum number of 5 years in that status. At the end of their stay, the employee must leave the United States for one year before they can return on a new L1B visa. If the beneficiary starts out as a specialized knowledge worker and come to the US with L-1B visa and then promoted to managerial position, can he/she transfer to L-1A and get the benefit of full 7 years of maximum stay? The L1 nonimmigrant visa category is for intracompany transferees.
Moreover, one advantage over the H-1B is that employers don’t need to prove that the wage meets the prevailing wage of similar domestic workers. You can submit both forms together with your I-485 petition or file them separately later. If your I-131 application is approved, you will be issued advance parole which will allow you to reenter the U.S. after your journey. Leaving the U.S. without advance parole may lead to being denied re-entry as well as denial of your I-485. As an L-1B worker, you are allowed to continue working while your adjustment of status is pending. However, there are certain rules you must follow if you still want to maintain your L-1B nonimmigrant status until you receive your green card.
Similar to the L-1A, in order for someone to even consider the L-1B, they must have worked for at least one year out of the previous three years outside of the US for a foreign company that is related to the sponsoring US company. The overall emphasis on the documents and requirements/criteria of an L1B visa petition is that the knowledge possessed by the L1B visa worker must be unusual and specific towards the organization that the person works for. The L1B visas are specifically for multinational companies to send their professional employees who have specialized knowledge of the company to work at an already existing U.S. office or to start a new office in the United States. The employer must file Form I-129, Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker, on behalf of the employee. A foreign company or organization, however, must have, or be in the process of establishing, a legal entity in the United States which is, or will be, doing business as an employer to transfer an employee under INA 101.
If necessary, our ACS LAW professionals and attorneies will cooperate with your employer to complete all paperwork properly, assist you at all stages of receiving a Green Card, and help you with setting up a company and relocating a business. If the petition is denied or the applicant was not selected for the lottery, the L-1 visa is still valid, provided that the applicant can still work for the previous employer. For the H-1B visa to be approved by USCIS, the petitioning employer must submit an approved LCA by the DOL along with the I-129 petition. The L-1 visa does not have a minimum qualification requirement, whereas the H-1B visa requires at least a bachelor’s degree in the field chosen and specialized knowledge about the occupation field. One of the most significant requirements for the H-1B visa is that the foreign worker must be paid at least the prevailing wage in the area they plan to work.
As soon as you arrive in the US, you will receive a Form I-94, which states your stay’s duration. To obtain l1b visa requirements , you must schedule an interview with the consular officer. In the following, we will explain what questions are asked during the interview and how you should answer them. The process of converting an L1a visa to a green card is possible and is easy, but it has its own procedure and requires steps to follow. Boundless takes the hassle out of shipping your green card application — your complete application package arrives at your doorstep, ready for you to sign and drop back in the mail to the correct government address.
If the L1B visa holder is only coming to the United States to establish a new office, the initial maximum stay in the United States is one year. The L1B visa applicant may be able to schedule the biometrics appointment to take place at the U.S. A Canadian citizen spouse or child who is accompanying or following to join a Canadian citizen in L-1 status must be admitted as an L-2 nonimmigrant without requiring a visa. A non-Canadian citizen spouse or child of a Canadian citizen in L-1 status must have an L-2 visa when applying for admission.
What defines an employee working in a “specialized knowledge capacity” is laid out in section 214 of the Immigration and Nationality Act. Because the L-1B visa is employer-based, it’s not possible for an employee to change their employer while on an L-1B visa. The petition to change from an L-1B visa to an L-1A visa must be approved prior to the employee having worked in the U.S. for four-and-a-half years.